Vacant Cottage, 721 Feeny Road, Feeny, Co Londonderry

This is an early 19th century vernacular three-room cottage with an attached outhouse, all arranged in a line and featuring a bedshot to the rear. Despite the corrugated metal roof replacing what would originally have been thatch, the building retains an intimate charm and is well-preserved. Windows have been enlarged.

The cottage is constructed of stone and whitewashed, with a pvc half-round gutter, a red-painted corrugated metal roof, and a cement barge painted white. The gabled ends feature low chimney stacks, one next to the outhouse and another between the kitchen and upper room. The upper gable has no windows but includes a pair of high supporting walls for an oil tank. An outhouse is located to the right of the entrance door, featuring a single wooden door. The entrance door itself is square-headed, with a heavy frame and sheeting on the outside level with the interior floor. To the left of the door are two windows with modern metal inserts of three panes; one is a casement window, and the other is a top-hung vent, all with a concrete cill that has been painted. A single, similar window is located on the other side of the door.

The rear bedshot has a corrugated iron roof that sweeps down, with one barge barely standing proud of the roof covering. It has three windows, one to each room, positioned almost under the minimal eaves (for the upper room) and halfway between ground and eaves (for the other two). The rear windows are boarded up and have timber lintels, revealing the unwhitewashed stone walls.

The cottage is situated at a right angle to Feeny Road and close to it. The area in front is gravelled, with an untended garden area behind. A modern house, occupied by the owner, stands opposite the cottage and parallel to it, sharing a common entrance from the road. A trimmed hedge between the cottage and the road has a drain or spring issuing from it.

The cottage is shown on an Ordnance Survey map from 1830. It was formerly occupied by a blacksmith, Frank Farren, who also operated a smithy on the site.