39 Fairhead Road, Coolanlough, Cross, Co.Antrim

No. 39 Fairhead Road is a detached single-storey vernacular farmhouse constructed around 1830, located in the townland of Cross near Coolanlough, Co. Antrim, southwest of Lough na Cranagh at Fairhead. The house forms part of a traditional clachan settlement known as Coolanlough, comprising four similar dwellings irregularly arranged and first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing southeast, with a four-bay elevation. It is constructed of rubble stone rendered and painted in smooth render. The pitched roof is now covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and slightly raised cement verges with a break wall to the north bay. Three rendered profiled chimneystacks with terracotta pots pierce the roof. Cast-iron guttering is fixed on iron drive-through brackets with cast-iron downpipes. The southeast front elevation has an off-centre square-headed door opening containing a replacement vertically-sheeted timber door set deeply into the opening. Four square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills are fitted with 3/1 sliding timber sash windows (replacement), featuring angled horns and exposed sash boxes. The southwest gable is blind, rendered and painted with a chimney stack. The northwest rear elevation contains two randomly placed window openings with similar 3/1 timber sliding sash windows. The north gable is blind.

The house was originally thatched; this thatch was replaced with slate sometime before 1901, as recorded in the Census of Ireland building return for that year, which described the farmhouse as a second-class dwelling consisting of three rooms. The building was refurbished in the 1980s, when the windows were replaced with sympathetic designs maintaining traditional proportions, the roof material was confirmed as natural slate, a modern projecting porch was removed, and an additional window was inserted in the northwest elevation.

The ancillary outbuildings, three in number, are set parallel in a linear arrangement to the east, forming an informal front courtyard. The northernmost outbuilding is a single-bay diminutive structure with a pitched corrugated iron roof fitted with a polycarbonate rooflight, exposed rubblestone walling, and a sheeted timber door to the northwest face. The middle outbuilding has a pitched natural slate roof, whitewashed rubblestone walls, and a replacement timber door. The larger southern outbuilding has a pitched corrugated iron roof set at two levels, exposed rubblestone walling, and replacement timber doors; this has been recently refurbished.

The farmhouse was leased by the Boyd family of Ballycastle and was initially occupied by Hugh Butler, a local farmer. The Butler family remained in occupation until the 1920s; the 1901 Census recorded Daniel Butler as the occupant. The property had associated outbuildings including a stable, cow house, piggery, and barn. Following its acquisition by Francis Lamont in around 1956, the house was leased out to James McBride from around 1966. Griffith's Valuation of circa 1859 valued the property at 15 shillings, the First General Revaluation (1936–57) at £2 and 5 shillings, and by the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) its rateable value stood at £5 and 15 shillings.

No. 39 Fairhead Road possesses strong group value with three neighbouring dwellings (HB05.04.016A, C and D), forming a distinctly vernacular settlement enclosed by low dry-stone walling within open countryside. The integrity of the group, representing a way of life once commonplace throughout Ulster, is now increasingly rare. The 1972 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Guide to the Glens of Antrim described the clachan as comprising "small group of windswept cottages near the lough, on the plateau of Fair Head" possessing "considerable character and merit". The property was listed in 1980 and is noted for its vernacular architectural interest, including style, proportion, setting, and group value, as well as its age, authenticity, historic importance, local interest, and rarity.