2-9 The Entry, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7AS

An attractive and well-detailed series of multi-bay single- and two-storey outbuildings built around 1840, located on the west side of Main Street in Castlederg. This is an urban vernacular group of considerable integrity, retaining original style, proportions and materials in largely intact condition. The outbuildings form part of an important architectural group within Castlederg town centre. Adjacent to them are outbuildings at No. 17, built around 1870, and the main house built around 1820, which together create a significant group.

The buildings comprise three rectangular structures aligned east to west, forming the south boundary of an enclosed courtyard. The roofs are pitched with natural slate and blue-black clay ridge tiles. Cast-iron u-profile rainwater goods are supported on corbelled eaves. The walls are roughcast-rendered random rubble. Windows are typically 3-over-3 vertically divided timber sliding-sashes with projecting masonry cills. Doors are vertically sheeted timber.

The eastern two-storey block containing numbers 2 to 4 faces north and is three bays wide. The left bay (No. 2) has a central door flanked by a fixed eight-pane window on the right and left, with three evenly spaced four-pane metal casements at first-floor level. The central bay (No. 3) contains a central door flanked by a window on the right, both surmounted by a window at first-floor level. At the left is a 1-over-1 timber sliding-sash at ground floor, topped by a small round-arched-headed niche containing a carved whitewashed head statue. The right bay (No. 4) has a door on the left with an eight-pane fixed metal casement on the right. At first-floor level, there is a vertically sheeted timber loft door on the left and a single window on the right. The left gable is abutted by an adjacent building. The right gable adjoins a single-storey block containing numbers 5 to 8.

The single-storey block containing numbers 5 to 8 faces north and is four bays wide, set back from the previous building line. The left bay (No. 5) has a central folding door with six-pane metal casements on each side. The two central bays (No. 6 and 7) each contain a single door, with a six-pane metal casement on the right. The left bay (No. 8) on the right has a door on the left with a six-pane metal casement on the right. The right gable is abutted by a smaller single-storey block, similarly detailed, containing a single door on the left. The right gable of this smaller block is blank. The buildings enclose a courtyard containing further similarly detailed outbuildings to the south, west and north.

The north-south aligned block at the west boundary of the site, together with a section of the east-west aligned block at the south, were built around 1820, at the same time as the adjacent house to the north. The adjoining building to the east of the entry is similarly constructed and was built around 1870.

These buildings form part of the outbuildings of a house and shop which was formerly a hotel. The outbuildings are identifiable on the Townland Valuation Town Plan of around 1834, at which stage two dwellings, numbered 49 and 50, were marked on the plot. The yard contained outbuildings to the west and south of the plot which have survived to the present day. The buildings are not valued, listed or occupied separately from the main houses. By the time of Griffith's Valuation (1856-64), the two main houses are shown as one. The outbuildings were extended forward along the southern boundary of the plot, creating the buildings now known as 2-9 The Entry. Revision records show no further changes to these outbuildings. The north-south aligned block at the west boundary and the southern section of the east-west aligned block were built around 1820, at the same time as the adjacent house, which at that time comprised two separate dwellings. The buildings now numbered 2-9 The Entry were constructed around 1840, after completion of the main house. The adjoining building to the east of the entry was similarly constructed and built around 1870.