Oakfort, 47 Moneydig Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5JN

Oakfort is a detached multi-bay two-storey gabled stone and brick house built circa 1892, located on the west side of Moneydig Road near Coleraine, County Londonderry. The building stands within an extensive site and is set back from the road at the end of a winding bitumac drive through landscaped gardens, which opens onto the road via a pair of rubblestone piers with curved wings.

The house is constructed to an L-plan, later altered to an F-plan, with pitched natural slate roofs bearing terracotta ridge tiles and polychromatic brick chimneystacks topped with terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are UPVC, fitted to boxed eaves with plain bargeboards to all gables supported on timber brackets.

The ground floor walls are built in uncoursed squared and snecked basalt ashlar set below a yellow brick drip course, with a basalt plinth course having yellow brick trim. The upper floor is rendered in red brick laid in Flemish bond, featuring a black and yellow flush brick course and yellow brick corners. Window openings are formed with gauged yellow brick in camber-head style with yellow brick surrounds, fitted with sandstone sills and original single-pane timber sash windows. The main entrance comprises a gauged yellow brick camber-headed door opening with yellow brick surround set on sandstone plinth blocks, containing a replacement six-panel timber door with brass furniture and rectangular overlight.

The asymmetrical front elevation facing south is three windows wide, with the left bay forming an advanced gable. The east side elevation is symmetrical and four windows wide, with paired windows at ground floor. The rear elevation contains randomly placed windows with a flush gabled bay to the right, a tall staircase window, and a recent glazed conservatory to the left.

The rear yard is enclosed to the north by a range of high-quality rubblestone outbuildings of considerable quality, arranged around two courtyards. These are largely constructed in coursed rock-faced basalt ashlar with red brick openings. A two-storey range built in red brick to the upper floor features a central integral carriage arch.

The house is recorded as a late nineteenth-century model farm. Documentary evidence indicates that buildings stood on this site from at least 1831-32, initially captioned as 'Fort Cottage' and located northeast of an ancient rath or fort. A further structure had been added by 1849-53, but the existing house and outbuildings were newly constructed in the 1880s and 1890s, with the old house and outbuildings demolished at that time. According to Griffith's Valuation dated 1856-64, the occupier was Hugh R Morrison, who leased the farm from the Marquess of Waterford. The original farmhouse was valued at £4 and sat on a farm of over 59 acres. In 1884, a number of single and two-storey outbuildings were added to the plot, and in 1892 the new house was built, resulting in a rise in valuation to £30. The 1901 census records Hugh Rankin Morrison as a 78-year-old farmer living with his wife and a domestic servant named Peggy Dougherty, aged 25. By 1911 Hugh Morrison also served as a Justice of the Peace for County Derry. The twelve-room house was classified as first class. The dwelling continues in domestic use.