Glendun Road, Altaguire Bridge, Co. Antrim

Altaguire Bridge, Glendun Road

A detached, three-bay, single-storey rubblestone vernacular house built around 1800, located on the banks of the Glendun River in the Glens of Antrim. The dwelling and its associated outbuildings form a distinct group of early 19th-century rural farm buildings set within an isolated landscape on the south side of Glendun Road, accessed via a long winding lane.

The main house is rectangular on plan, facing southeast, with accretions to either gable end. It retains much of its historic external fabric. The pitched natural slate roof covers the central three-bay section with cement-rendered verges and two rendered chimneys. Corrugated iron roofs cover both side extensions. The walls are whitewashed rubblestone throughout. Window openings are square-headed with painted concrete sills, fitted with 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with convex horns and partially exposed sash boxes. The southeast front elevation is three bays wide and features a central windbreak entrance porch with a flat roof and steel gutter, whitewashed squared stone walls, and a vertically-sheeted timber half-door. To the left (south) of centre is a single sash window opening to the south accretion; to the right (north) is a single door leading to the north bay, which is vertically boarded with a vertically boarded gate to the lower section. The southwest gable of the south accretion is blank; the northeast gable of the north accretion is also blank. The rear elevation has two timber sash windows to the central section and a single window to the south accretion.

Two single-storey rubblestone outbuildings enclose a small informal yard in front of the house. A two-bay building is located to the front, with a further rubblestone accretion to the north. A single-bay outbuilding stands to the south. All outbuildings have pitched corrugated iron roofs, whitewashed rubblestone walls, and some vertically-sheeted timber doors and half-doors.

The building group was constructed prior to 1832, as recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of that year, which depicted the two main farm ranges and the smaller southwestern outbuilding in their current layout. The Townland Valuations of 1834 did not record the buildings, as they fell below the minimum £3 per annum value required for inclusion. Subsequent Ordnance Survey editions (1857, 1903–04, 1922) show no discernible change to the farm layout, indicating the buildings have remained unaltered since the early 19th century.

Griffith's Valuation of 1859 valued the farmhouse and outbuildings at 10 shillings and noted that the site was leased to Bryan McKillop by St. Clair Kelburn Mulholland, a Belfast-based linen merchant and prominent landowner who resided at Eglantine House in Hillsborough. Mulholland's daughter Sarah had married into the local Dobbs family of Glenariffe Lodge. Bryan McKillop continued at the farm until around 1896, when his son John took possession. The 1901 Census of Ireland describes the farmhouse as a second-class dwelling with a thatched roof, two rooms, a stable, cow house, barn, and piggery. By the 1911 Census, the thatch had been replaced with a slate roof. John McKillop purchased the farm outright from the Mulholland estate around 1922 and remained until his death in the 1930s. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) increased the value to £2 and 5 shillings. Around 1956 the farm passed to John McKillop's daughter Mary McKillop, who occupied it until at least 1972. By the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the total rateable value had risen to £4 and 15 shillings.

This group exemplifies the once-dominant vernacular dwellings of rural Ireland. Its significance is enhanced by its relatively unaltered rural setting and by the rarity of such structures surviving in their original character and appearance.