9 Cliff Terrace, Castlerock, Co. Londonderry, BT51 4RQ

9 Cliff Terrace is a terraced single-bay one-and-a-half-storey stone former labourer's cottage, built around 1875 as one of twelve similar houses commissioned by Sir William Harvey Bruce to designs by Frederick Henry Godwin. The terrace, known locally as the 'Twelve Apostles', is first recorded on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1906, though the houses date from circa 1875 and appear in the valuation fieldbook between 1873 and 1878 as recently constructed. The Irish Builder described them as "recently erected" in February 1882. Godwin, a nephew of the better-known Edward William Godwin, had only three local structures attributed to him; he moved to England around 1890 and is thought to have designed additions to Westburton House, Gloucestershire. The terrace has been described as "an English design in an Irish setting".

The house is rectangular on plan, facing north, and retains its original external appearance and internal layout. The steeply pitched natural slate roof features roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and a tall rendered chimneystack to the east, shared with the adjoining house. A pair of dormer windows to the front pitch, with the western one shared with the adjoining house, have hipped slate roofs and original timber frames with replacement glazing. Replacement metal guttering is supported on timber fascia. Deep overhanging eaves have timber sheeting and exposed timber beams supported by two stop-chamfered timber brackets on sandstone corbels.

The walls are of random coursed rock-faced basalt with tooled sandstone ashlar dressings and cement pointing. A square-headed window opening has painted stop-chamfered dressed sandstone surround and sandstone sill with an original timber window frame, now reglazed. The front elevation contains a single window and a segmental-headed recessed entrance porch with painted stop-chamfered dressed sandstone surround and keystone. The entrance porch is shared with No.10 and has a square-headed door opening set at right angles to the facade with an original sheeted timber door. The porch has a clay tiled floor and a large worn sandstone step opening onto a slightly raised area laid in cobbles running the entire length of the terrace. The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining house No.8, and the west elevation by No.10. A flat-roofed single-storey rendered extension was added to the rear around 1980.

The original design, shown in the Irish Builder, consisted of a single room on the ground floor and a washhouse or scullery to the rear, with a staircase leading to the upper floor where space was partitioned to form two bedrooms. The stone used was local basalt with freestone dressings to doors and windows. These small cottages, often accommodating large families, were built for estate workers, though not all inhabitants were employed by the Hervey Bruce family. The valuation of all houses in the terrace was reduced from £2 5s to £1 10s in 1887, with rent recorded as 10d per week that year. At the 1901 census the three-room houses were all designated second class. The first tenant listed for number nine was Robert McConachy. By the 1901 census the occupier was John Bell, a retired RIC constable, who continued to live there with his wife at the 1911 census. At the early 1930s general revaluation the buildings remained much as originally constructed with kitchen on the ground floor and two small bedrooms upstairs. A separate single-storey washhouse stood in the rear yard and water supply had to be carried from a pump. Rents varied from 6s to 8s 8d per month. Since the 1960s and 1970s the majority of houses have been extended to the rear and refurbished internally. The building is now in use as a holiday let.

The house retains its original front door and some internal joinery, although the original lattice windows have been replaced. The distinctive steeply pitched roof, deep overhanging eaves, tall chimney stacks, original basalt stone walling with freestone dressings, and setting as part of the terrace greatly contribute to the late nineteenth-century character of Castlerock.

The terrace is built on an elevated site overlooking the sea to the west of Castlerock. It is street-fronted with a small rear yard enclosed by a rendered concrete block wall. The cobbled area fronting the terrace is included in the listing extent.