83 Creamery Road, Cloyfin, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 2NE

83 Creamery Road, Cloyfin, Coleraine

This is a detached, asymmetrical, two-storey, three-bay rendered farmhouse built around 1915, set within a rural farmyard that has been in continuous agricultural and domestic use since before the first Ordnance Survey map of 1831. The house is privately owned, currently in use as a dwelling, and is not listed for special architectural or historical interest, though it forms part of a historically significant cluster of farm buildings and represents a transition from vernacular building traditions toward the more formalised stylistic influences of the early twentieth century.

Architectural Overview

The main house is rectangular on plan, with a two-storey gabled return to the east that was built and/or modified in stages during the mid-twentieth century. The roof is pitched slate with terracotta ridge-tiles and two rendered chimney stacks at the centre, fitted with terracotta pots. The lower roof to the gabled east return has unequal angles of pitch, the southern portion having been added or remodelled in the mid-twentieth century. Two gabled wall-head attic dormers rise from the west elevation, flanking the central first-floor window. Eaves project on a plain timber fascia with exposed and painted rafter tails; cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are in place, some of which are replacements. Plain timber bargeboards finish the gables.

Walling is pebble-dashed over a brick base laid to English garden wall bonding (on the main house only), with a smooth rendered strip separating the two finishes. Window openings are square-headed with smooth rendered reveals and projecting concrete or reconstituted stone sills. Windows throughout the main house are generally three-light multi-pane original timber casements; the rear return has six-over-six side-hung timber sashes, except where noted otherwise.

Principal (West) Elevation

The principal elevation faces west and is asymmetrical in composition. The two wall-head dormers sit either side of a central window. To the left of centre is a three-light plain casement. The entrance door is segmental-headed with a moulded rendered architrave; a replacement timber panelled and glazed door is currently fitted, with a side-light to the left, a panelled lower section, and a segmental transom with glazing bars above. The original panelled door is retained in storage by the owner. To the right is a canted bay window with a hipped slate roof, lit by plain windows with multi-paned upper proportions.

Other Elevations

The north elevation has one window on each floor, positioned left of centre. The east elevation is abutted by the two-storey return, which contains two upper windows — the left being a one-over-one timber sash — and a single window below (a timber casement). The right cheek of the return contains two windows to the right, above a replacement timber sheeted and glazed door, with the lower portion of a half-door in front. The left cheek forms part of the south elevation and contains three irregularly spaced one-over-one timber sashes on each floor, with cement or concrete sills. The south elevation has three windows, with a modified opening to the left containing a multi-pane double-leaf modern timber and glazed door, a small plain glass transom above, and a large side-light to the right.

Interior

The interior comprises a small central hall with a timber stair directly opposite the entrance, featuring a curved handrail and stick balusters. The primary room to the left is accessed through a six-panelled timber door with timber lining and a brick arch over the opening; a large rendered fireplace opening remains, and the window reveals are chamfered. A doorway to the east leads to a small room. The former kitchen occupies the south-east corner and retains timber sheeting to the stair with a cupboard beneath, a brick fireplace opening to the south with a full-height rendered fire surround, and an iron cooking crane still in place. Vestiges of clay floor tiles remain in this area. Historic plaster and lath survive to walls and ceilings in places; replacement timber sheeting covers the coved ceiling in the attic rooms.

Setting

The house sits on an elevated site at the end of a narrow road on the eastern side of Creamery Road, a short distance north-east of Coleraine town, within a mature rural farmland setting. A hedge-lined garden surrounds the main house, which looks out over fields to the south and west. A concrete path wraps around the house, and the former main entrance is reached via concrete steps. The farmyard to the north-east is largely gravel-surfaced; that to the east is bitumen.

The site contains substantial ranges of historic outbuildings alongside mid-to-late twentieth century farm structures. Two ranges of pre-twentieth century whitewashed rubble-stone outbuildings, generally slated, run east to west to the north-east of the main house, with a third range directly to the east. All have been partially altered and modified throughout the twentieth century; some have been re-roofed and partially modernised internally for farm use, with concrete dividers and multi-pane metal-framed windows fitted. One of these outbuildings, now roofed in asbestos, retains vestiges of a chimney and fireplace to the eastern gable, windows with chamfered reveals, and a roughly hewn timber brace between the gables.

A previous farmhouse, predating the current dwelling, survives in a derelict condition on an elevated site a short distance to the east. It is detached, asymmetrical, and single-storey with attic, under a pitched slate roof with vestiges of gable chimney stacks. The building is four openings wide, with a tall doorway right of centre and brick dressings over large squared window openings with projecting sills. The timber-framed windows retain the top portion of a sashed arrangement, each containing a single pane with margin lights.

Historical Background

The site has been occupied since before the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1831, which shows a number of dwelling houses and outbuildings. This pattern of development — in which several vernacular dwellings occupied by members of the same family were built in a cluster with land radiating outwards, gradually consolidated into a single holding — is characteristic of rural areas in this region.

At the time of Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), the plot was divided into three holdings, all occupied by members of the Norris family. The north-west plot was held by James Norris Junior, with house and offices valued at £1 10s. A plot to the south was held by James Morris Junior (later Senior), valued at £4 10s. The north-east plot was held by William Brown Norris, also valued at £4 10s. Later Ordnance Survey maps caption the farm as "Mount Norris."

By 1901 John Norris was the sole occupier of all three plots, recorded in the census as a farmer living alone and employing a farm servant and a general domestic — Hannah McLoughlin, aged 24, from County Donegal. By 1911 John Norris had married and the couple lived alone on the farm; their ten-room house was designated first class. In 1912, Norris became the owner in fee of the farm under land purchase legislation, and in 1915 he built the present two-storey house on the plot, with the other buildings on the site subsequently designated as outbuildings. The new house was valued at £12. Valuer's notes from the same period record that at least one of the outbuildings was still thatched at this time. By the 1930s, valuer's notes recorded the accommodation in the new dwelling as three reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery and pantry, five bedrooms, a bathroom, and a WC. The valuer described the house as "well built." The building continues in domestic use.