54 Ballyversal Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 2ND

54 Ballyversal Road is a single-storey vernacular farmhouse in the townland of Ballyversall, built before 1830 and first recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1831. It was originally a direct-entry dwelling of rectangular plan with three bays and an attached byre. The building is located at the end of a lane off the west side of Ballyversal Road, set within open farmland in a concrete-paved farmyard.

The house is not listed. Although it was assessed for listing and was considered of national importance as a rare survivor of its type, the loss of key historic fabric before the listing process was completed meant it no longer met the criteria for designation.

Exterior

The exterior walls are finished in brown pebble-dashed render with plain render to the corners, plinth, door architrave and window reveals, and concrete sills. Until recently, the roof retained its original thatch covered by corrugated asbestos sheeting, with cement verges, three rendered brick chimneys, and round metal gutters. The openings are square-headed. The front south elevation is four windows wide, asymmetrically arranged with two windows on each side of the entrance door, the western pair set closely together. A new opening has been formed to the right of the front door, where an existing timber lintel was revealed internally during the assessment process. The windows — which were various replacement timber-framed units — and the replacement sheeted door were removed during consideration for listing.

The west gable is abutted by a lower byre. The rear north elevation had a lean-to extension containing a small window; the windows on the main wall behind had been widened, with two windows east of the lean-to and one to the west. This lean-to has since been removed. The east gable has a single, centrally placed high-level window.

Outbuildings

A group of farm buildings sits to the west and northwest of the house. Outbuilding 1, a single-storey structure, abuts the west gable of the house; a round cone-topped gatepost stands against its own west gable. It has a corrugated metal roof, random rubble limewashed walls, and a wide corrugated shed door. Outbuilding 2 is a detached two-storey barn to the rear (north), with an open shed attached to the northeast. It has a natural slate roof, random rubble walls partially limewashed, brick-dressed openings, and plank doors. This barn had been erected by the time of the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1849–53. Outbuilding 3 is a single-storey building running parallel to and opposite the barn to the west, with its south gable in line with the house front. It has a corrugated metal roof, random rubble limewashed walls with some blockwork infill, and plank and replacement doors. Outbuilding 4, further to the west and also in line with the house front, is a single-storey building with a natural slate roof, rubble stone walling with cut stone quoins, brick eaves and a brick door lintel, and a plank door. Outbuildings 3 and 4 were constructed between 1853 and 1904, when they first appeared on the third edition Ordnance Survey map.

Setting

The house sits in a concrete-paved farmyard at the end of a lane off the west side of Ballyversal Road. To the west and northwest are the associated farm buildings described above. A modern detached bungalow, present before 1979, sits immediately to the east. Modern farm buildings are located to the southwest, and a patch of lawn lies to the north. The group as a whole was considered an increasingly rare example of a vernacular farmstead set in unspoiled countryside, though slightly compromised by the adjacent modern bungalow and the concrete farmyard.

Historical background

The farmhouse was first depicted on the Ordnance Survey map of 1831 and predates all of the surviving outbuildings. The first recorded occupant was Martin Curry, a local farmer who leased the site from the Reverend John Lyle of Knocktarna. Griffith's Valuation of 1858 valued Curry's property at £1 10s. His relative Hugh Curry took over in 1862, followed by Hugh's son John between 1864 and 1880. John Curry remained until 1901, when Joseph Dunlop assumed possession. The 1901 Census records Joseph Dunlop (aged 80, Presbyterian) living there with his wife Isabella (aged 70) and their three children John Reid (35), Lizzie (32) and Robert (29), all of whom worked the farm alongside three farm servants. The census building return described the house as a second-class thatched dwelling of seven rooms, with a stable, a cow house, two piggeries and a barn among its outbuildings.

After Joseph Dunlop's death in 1906, his eldest son John Reid Dunlop took over the farm, purchasing it outright in 1912. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) recorded the farm's value as having risen to £8. By the Second Revaluation of 1956, John Reid Dunlop had vacated and a Miss Elizabeth Dunlop was recorded as owner. Robert Dunlop took possession in 1960 and remained until 1971, when a Mr Robert W. Kearney was recorded at the site immediately prior to the cancellation of the revaluation survey in 1972.

Loss of historic fabric

At the time of assessment, the building retained considerable historic significance: the roof still held its original trusses, purlins and thatch beneath the corrugated asbestos covering, and the interior retained its historic floors, joinery, chimneypieces, sheeted ceiling and plaster. Before the listing process was fully completed, the Historic Environment Division (HED) received a photograph from the owner showing that the thatched roof, historic roof structure and two chimneys had been removed. As a result of this loss, the building no longer meets the criteria for listing.