19 Edenreagh Road, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, BT81 7SH

19 Edenreagh Road, Castlederg

This detached, three-bay, single-storey dwelling dates to around 1840 and stands on an isolated site to the west of Edenderry Road. Built as a vernacular holding typical of nineteenth-century rural County Tyrone, it remains largely intact with many characteristic features preserved.

The house is rectangular in plan, facing east, constructed of rubble stone with lime render over the walls. The pitched roof is now clad in corrugated iron with a pair of rendered chimneystacks and plastic rainwater goods. The original thatch has been replaced, but the trussed roof construction that supported it remains in place above canted timber boarded ceilings.

The front elevation incorporates an open byre to the left, exposing relatively recent timber roof construction. Three bays contain square-headed window openings with timber sash windows: a 6-over-6 sash to the left, a 1-over-1 sash to the left of the entrance, and a 2-over-2 sash to the right of the entrance. A lean-to projecting windbreaker entrance porch with corrugated iron roof and vertically-sheeted timber half-door provides the main entry. A rubble stone outbuilding is abutted against the south gable, also with corrugated iron roof and vertically-sheeted timber door.

The rear elevation contains a bed outshot to the centre with a pair of 3-over-6 timber sash windows and is partially obscured by vegetation. The north gable is blank, with the rubble stone ruins of earlier structures nearby.

The interior retains appropriate period detailing. The central kitchen bay features a large hearth now fitted with a cast-iron range, a boarded ceiling, a boxed partition to the outshot, and a gas lamp. The three-bay direct-entry plan form with rear bed outshot is typical of the region and survives largely unaltered.

The house is accompanied by a group of associated stone outbuildings that form an increasingly rare vernacular complex. Facing the house is a two-bay single-storey rubble stone outbuilding with corrugated iron barrel roof, whitewashed rubble stone walling, and a pair of vertically-sheeted timber half-doors. To the northeast stands a further lofted rubble stone barn with pitched corrugated iron roof, whitewashed rubble stone walls with tooled quoins, and a flight of stone steps to the west gable.

Historical records show that a building identified as a ruin appeared on the site in the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833. By the second edition of 1853, this had developed into the structure that survives today. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 records the long building divided into two separately leased plots held from the Representatives of Anne Tennant. The southern half was occupied by James McGobrick and valued at 12 shillings, later raised to 15 shillings, together with outbuildings. The property passed to the McPhelimy family in 1894, with Michael McPhelimy becoming the owner in fee in 1914. Post-1933 records value the house to the south at £2 and the outbuildings at 5 shillings, at which time it comprised a kitchen, two rooms, and a porch. The structure was recorded as rubble masonry and thatch measuring 46 feet by 18 feet by 10 feet high, with a single-storey porch also of rubble masonry and thatch measuring 7 feet by 3 feet by 6 feet high. By 1946, the house and associated agricultural buildings forming the northern part of the structure were noted as being in a deteriorated state.

The house, its isolated rural setting, and its associated stone outbuildings together represent an increasingly rare example of nineteenth-century vernacular settlement in this part of Northern Ireland.