21 Gault'S Road, Cushendall, Co.Antrim

21 Gault's Road is a detached three-bay, two-storey rendered vernacular farmhouse located in the townland of Cloghs, to the west of Cushendall in County Antrim. The original farmhouse on the site was built as a single-storey vernacular dwelling prior to 1832, when it was recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map as a simple rectangular structure with an outbuilding to its north side, since demolished. The building is believed to have been raised to its current two-storey appearance in around 1843, a date supported by a plaque within the entrance porch. A front entrance porch and lean-to extension were added around 1965.

The house sits on an elevated site on the north side of Gault's Road and faces east. It is rectangular on plan, with a further lean-to extension to the rear, and shares a concrete-paved front yard with two neighbouring houses. Access is via a long concrete driveway enclosed by hedgerows.

The roof is pitched and clad in natural slate with clay ridge tiles, uPVC rainwater goods, and masonry copings to both gable ends, each surmounted by a rendered chimneystack. The front and rear elevations are finished in painted roughcast render; the side elevations have smooth render. The front elevation and porch feature painted rusticated masonry quoins and a plinth.

All window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and smooth rendered surrounds. The front elevation is three bays wide with an off-centre flat-roofed entrance porch. On the first floor, both end bays have original three-over-six sliding timber sash windows with convex horns, while the centre bay has a six-pane timber casement window. The ground floor has six-over-six sliding timber sash windows without horns. Historic glass is retained throughout. The entrance porch has a torch-on felt roof with uPVC rainwater goods and contains a replacement timber glazed door and steel casement windows. The gabled south side elevation has a single-storey lean-to extension with a corrugated iron roof and steel top-hung casement windows. The rear elevation is largely obscured by a further lean-to extension with a cast iron roof; a single small square-headed window opening survives at ground floor right, and a first-floor window at left, both with replacement timber casement windows. The gabled north side elevation is blind.

Internally, the simple plan form of the farmhouse has been largely retained, and the building preserves much of its historic fabric and detailing, including the original sliding sash windows with their exposed sash boxes.

The farmhouse has a well-documented ownership history. Because it was not worth the minimum £3 per annum required for inclusion, it was not recorded in the Townland Valuations of 1834. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1859, the enlarged house and outbuildings had a total rateable value of £1 and 15 shillings, and the site was recorded as leased to a Ms. Esther McKillop from the Earl of Antrim. Esther McKillop was succeeded at the property around 1864 by a Ms. Rose McKillop, and the farmhouse remained with the McKillop family until around 1884, when it passed to a local farmer, John McCarry. The 1901 Census of Ireland records John McCarry living there with his wife Ann and their five children, and describes the building as a second-class dwelling with a slate roof, four rooms, and a range of outbuildings including a stable, cow house, piggery, fowl house, and barn. The third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903 shows that several additional outbuildings had been constructed to the south-east of the farmhouse between 1857 and the early 20th century. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland, carried out between 1936 and 1957, raised the rateable value to £4 and 15 shillings and noted that by at least the 1930s the McCarry family had purchased the farm outright from the Earl of Antrim's estate. Following John McCarry's death in 1934, the property passed to a Ms. Margaret Mooney, who remained at the address until at least the 1970s. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the total rateable value had risen to £7 and 15 shillings. In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described it as "an excellent farmhouse, with quoins and Georgian glazing, hidden up a laneway on the north side of Glenballyemon; the (later) porch bears the date 1843; but though it seems much earlier, this is said to be the date of the main house; very well painted in blue and white." The building was listed in 1976 and is now flanked to its south and east sides by modern replacement dwellings and outbuildings.

Despite the addition of the lean-to extensions, No. 21 Gault's Road remains a good example of an early, formalised vernacular farmhouse, retaining its simple historic character and sitting within a fine rural setting.