35 Knockbrack Road, Spamount, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, BT81 7LU

35 Knockbrack Road is an exceptionally interesting early-nineteenth-century farmhouse located on Knockbrack Road, Spamount, Castlederg. It is a rare and relatively unaltered example of a medium-sized farmhouse from this period, and stands as a Grade B+ listed building.

The house is rectangular on plan, comprising three bays across two storeys with a two-storey lean-to extension and lean-to porch to the rear. The structure is built of thick rubble stone walls, lime-washed lime-rendered, except for the south gable which is plain lime roughcast with a cornerstone at the south-east angle. The steeply pitched roof is natural slate with roll-moulded clay ridge tiles and three slate-hung and lime-rendered chimneystacks with stone caps. Rainwater goods are half-round cast-iron on drive-in brackets.

The principal elevation faces west and is asymmetrically arranged. The left and right bays each contain a window to both floors. The central bay has two closely spaced openings to each floor, including an original six-panel timber door with kickboard, brass lock and knocker, and replacement stainless steel knob, set within a frame supported on plinth blocks. To the left of the door is a 1/1 sash window. Windows are generally 6/6 timber sliding sashes to the ground floor and 3/6 to the first floor, all with horns, lime-rendered reveals, and contrasting painted masonry sills. Some retain original crown glazing. The north gable has a ground-floor window to the right and two diminutive 2/4 windows at first-floor level. The south gable has two diminutive windows at first-floor level: a later 3-light fixed pane to the left and a 4/2 sash to the right.

The rear elevation is partially obscured by the lean-to extension, offset to the right, and the porch, offset to the left. The first floor has a window to each bay. The ground floor has a narrow 1/1 sash at left, an 8/8 sash to the centre, and a 1/1 obscurely glazed sash to the right. The extension has a timber casement to the ground floor. The porch has splayed walls and contains a sheeted timber half-door with a 1/1 fixed pane window in the right cheek.

The interior shows signs of later nineteenth and twentieth-century alterations, but retains the original layout and some detailing, including corner fireplaces and hearths. The house comprises a kitchen, pantry, four rooms, five attic bedrooms and an attic store room.

The house is set parallel to the road and set back behind a grassed garden. It is bounded by a lime-washed rubble stone boundary wall with rubble coping. A path on axis with the principal entrance is accessed by a wrought-iron pedestrian gate hung on octagonal stone piers with contrasting pointed caps.

To the rear is a small farmyard flanked on either side by traditional outbuildings. The north range is a two-storey stable block; the south range is a single-storey byre. Both have pitched natural slate roofs (the byre partially with corrugated metal) and walls of lime-washed rubble stone with squared rubble quoins. Doors are painted timber sheeted; windows are fixed pane with timber frames. The north range loft is accessed by a set of external stone steps at the west end. At the west end of the byre range is a square-headed timber sheeted vehicular door. To the south side of the farmyard is a large barn and single-storey outhouse, detailed as the other ranges. The main dwelling house measures 50 by 22 feet; the single-storey extension measures 9 by 5 feet.

The house is likely to have originated as a single-storey vernacular farmhouse that was subsequently raised a storey while maintaining the original ground-floor wall openings and floor plan, with the addition of a straight staircase. An additional bay to the north also appears to have been added. Evidence from the Ordnance Survey map of 1833 indicates that buildings stood on the site at that time, and several of these appear to have survived, including the main dwelling house. The presence of crown glass in the ground-floor windows possibly indicates an eighteenth-century origin to some or all of the building. However, later structural changes are not recorded in valuation documents.

According to Griffith's Valuation of 1859, the house was occupied by the Reverend John Armstrong and leased from Henry C Lighton, with the buildings valued at £3. In 1870 the lessors were James Greer, William Scott and H Fleming. In 1880 the Representatives of the Reverend John Armstrong became owners in fee. The property passed to George McHugh in 1884 and to Mary Ann McHugh in 1921. By 1933 the valuation of the house had risen to £2 with £1 for outbuildings, subsequently raised to £7 and then £9 10 shillings, indicating that remodelling or rebuilding is likely to have occurred in the preceding years. The valuer at that time assessed the house to be in fair condition, with clean water a quarter of a mile away. The rear extension was on the property when the current owner's father purchased it from the McHugh family.

The house has been well maintained and retains its early appearance with original timber sash windows largely intact. The boundary wall to the front, containing stone pillars and wrought iron gate, and the group of traditional outbuildings to the rear add to the integrity and interest of the site.