20 Bolaght Road, Clare, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7RN

A detached three-bay single-storey vernacular dwelling with attic, built around 1860, stands on the west side of Bolaght Road near Castlederg. The building exemplifies the direct-entry plan typical of rural dwellings of this period, with a rectangular footprint, windbreak porch to the east, and a bed outshot to the west. A south bay was added later, around 1910. The house is constructed of rubble masonry rendered in whitened lime. The pitched roof is now covered in corrugated metal with concrete verges and rendered chimneys topped with stone coping; there are no rainwater goods. Windows are largely replacements, though the original openings were square-headed timber-framed 1/1 sliding sash with stone sills. The principal elevation faces east, with a single window in the left bay, a casement window in the central bay flanked by the windbreak porch (which has a lean-to concrete roof and vertically-sheeted timber door), and a 6/6 sliding sash window in the right bay. The south elevation is blank. The west elevation includes a bed outshot at its centre containing a single metal casement, with exposed sections at left and right, the latter blank. The north elevation is abutted by a lower single-storey byre and stable; the exposed attic section at left contains a replacement leaded lattice window. An associated one-and-a-half-storey barn stands to the north, with pitched artificial slate roof, limewashed lime rendering, and vertically-sheeted timber doors to each floor. A single-storey corrugated metal lean-to is attached to the barn's east side.

The buildings first appear on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905, along with small outbuildings to the east and north west. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records a house and land occupied by David Johnston and leased from George T Spiller, valued at 10 shillings. The house comprised a kitchen and one room, was constructed of rubble masonry with a corrugated iron roof, and measured 33 by 17 feet. The outshot of the same materials measured 16 by 1 foot. An unroofed outbuilding measuring 14 by 17 feet was also listed. By 1905, Joseph Johnston was the occupier. From 1933 onwards, Robert Moore occupied the property; the house valuation was raised to £1 with outbuildings valued at 5 shillings. The building was originally thatched and the internal position of the hearth suggests the southern extension dates to around 1900. The house is distinctly vernacular in appearance, with simple construction and materials indicating mid-nineteenth-century origins. The property sits within private grounds accessed from Bolaght Road by an overgrown driveway to the east. The building's character has been compromised by the replacement of roof fabric and deterioration of interior fabric, and it is currently recorded as derelict.