House at 15 Ardcame Road, Strabane, Co Tyrone BT82 0LT

This is a record-only entry for a former vernacular farmhouse and associated outbuildings at 15 Ardcame Road, situated in the townland of Castlemellan, on the south side of Ardcame Road at its junction with Carrickatane Road. The complex dates to around 1830 or earlier and formed part of a clachan — a small cluster of rural dwellings and farm buildings — which is visible on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833. From the second edition of 1854 onwards, the group is named 'Lower Town'. The site is now rated Record Only following significant alteration: by October 2012, the north gable wall and chimney of the house had been demolished and rebuilt in concrete block, without reinstatement of the chimney, and then re-rendered in lime and lime-washed. The information below reflects the condition of the buildings as surveyed in July 2009, before that demolition and rebuilding took place.

The group lies within the curtilage of a large detached house built around 1930, to the west of the historic buildings. A related group of traditional structures on the north side of Ardcame Road forms a separate record. Together, the surviving buildings on both sides of the road are evidence of the gradual development of the clachan over time.

THE HOUSE

The house is a detached, four-bay, single-storey former thatched dwelling, rectangular on plan and facing east. It is built of rubble stone finished in lime render and lime wash. The roof is pitched corrugated iron, which may conceal the original thatch beneath, and retains the remains of two yellow brick chimneystacks. Window openings are square-headed with tooled stone sills and two-over-two timber sash windows with semi-exposed sash boxes.

The front east elevation has four bays. The door opening sits in the centre-right bay and retains its original four-panelled timber door with bolection mouldings, together with a rectangular overlight with geometric glazing. The south gable was not visible at the time of survey. The rear west elevation has an asymmetric arrangement of window and door openings, and includes an outshot with a curved wall to the north and a corresponding catslide corrugated iron roof over it. The north gable was blank at the time of survey (though subsequently demolished and rebuilt in concrete block as noted above).

BUILDING 1

To the north of the house and on the same axis stands a detached, multi-bay, single-storey outbuilding. The main section has a pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods on iron drive-through brackets. Walling is lime-washed rubble stone. A further bay to the north has a pitched corrugated iron roof. The front east elevation has a single corrugated iron door on an iron sliding mechanism and a further square-headed window opening. The south gable is blank. The rear west elevation has a door opening and a window opening, with some wrought-iron gates attached.

BUILDING 2

Set perpendicular to Building 1, this is a two-bay, single-storey rubble stone former workshop, rectangular on plan, facing south, with an attached lean-to. The main roof is pitched corrugated asbestos with cement flaunching to the gables; the lean-to is roofed in corrugated iron. Walling is lime-washed rubble stone with square-headed door openings fitted with tongue-and-groove timber doors.

The south front elevation has a pair of door openings with timber lintels and tongue-and-groove timber doors; the right-hand door opening has a further opening above it rising to eaves level. The west gable is blank and retains the remains of a rubble stone structure. The north rear elevation has a single window opening. The east gable is abutted by the lean-to structure, and at the apex of the gable there is a series of small owl-holes. The lean-to has a large corrugated iron door to the south and, to the north, an elliptical-headed stone arch, now half-blocked in stone with a single sheeted timber door.

BUILDING 3

Located to the north of the rest of the group and running along Ardcame Road, this is a multi-bay, single-storey stone building with a single-pitched corrugated iron roof. The walling is rough coursed rubble stone, and the door openings are segmental-headed, formed in red brick.

SETTING

The group occupies a rural setting to the south of Ardcame Road and is contained within the curtilage of the large early 20th-century house to the west. The traditional buildings on the north side of Ardcame Road contribute to the wider setting of the vernacular house and farm.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

None of the buildings appear in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40, suggesting they did not reach the minimum threshold value for inclusion. By the time of Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, the group was divided into three separate plots with different occupiers, all leasing from the Marquess of Abercorn. Two dwellings to the west were occupied by James Gibson and James Todd respectively, each valued at £1 10s. A dwelling to the east was occupied by Joseph Bogle and valued at £3 10s. In 1870 new outbuildings were added to Bogle's plot, raising its valuation to £4 10s. Between 1875 and 1889 one of the buildings to the north was temporarily designated as a schoolhouse. In 1892 William Gibson became the occupier of the higher-value dwelling, and by 1890 he was the owner in fee. By 1913 he had acquired a further plot, and by 1920 appears to have owned all the buildings in the clachan. The First Northern Ireland General Revaluation of 1933–57 records that William Gibson had by around 1930 built a large new house to the west of the cottages. By 1933 the original buildings were described as outbuildings to this new house, with the exception of one to the north, apparently occupied by a member of the Gibson family at no rent. The outbuildings were in use for housing hens, pigs, potatoes and turnips, and included two byres, a barn, and a motor house. All outbuildings were roofed with corrugated iron or slate at that stage.