House & Outbuildings, at 11 Desert Road, Beragh, Sixmilecross, Co Tyrone, BT79 0QL

A five-bay two-storey house dated 1712, located on the south side of Desert Road at Roscavey, Beragh. The building is a fine example of an early gentleman's residence, displaying the 18th-century device of blocking stones on the gables at the eaves.

The house is rectangular in plan with an attached two-storey outbuilding to the south and a single-storey lean-to to the west. The roof is pitched natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles and raised sandstone verges over corbelled sandstone eaves. Lime-rendered red brick chimneys rise from the structure. The walls are lime-rendered over rubble construction.

The principal elevation faces north. From left to right: bays one, two and four each contain two sash windows at each floor; bay three contains a vertically-sheeted timber entrance door in a painted stepped sandstone surround surmounted by a painted datestone inscribed 'McA 1712', flanked on the right by a single window, with two windows at first-floor level; bay five contains a vertically-sheeted timber entrance door with transom light surmounted by a single window at first-floor level. The windows are square-headed timber-framed sliding sash, with variations of 6/6, 2/2 and 1/1 arrangements, all with sandstone sills. The east gable is blank. The south elevation is abutted at its centre by the attached two-storey outbuilding; the exposed section at right contains a vertically-sheeted timber entrance door flanked on the right by a single window at ground floor, and three windows at first floor (the rightmost being a timber casement). The exposed section at left is not accessible. The west gable is blank, abutted at ground floor by the lean-to.

The interior consists of four rooms at each floor centred around a stairhall. The linear arrangement of rooms remains unchanged and detailing largely survives, although the styling is somewhat later in date. Remains of a wall hearth to the east end indicate the original position of the kitchen.

The building is set within a farm to the rear of a modern house. To the south-east, an enclosed court is formed by the attached outbuilding on the west (detailed as a house), which contains vertically-sheeted timber stable doors at ground floor and an external stone stair to loading doors at first floor. Further one-and-a-half-storey roughcast farm buildings enclose the yard to the south and east. Original access from the road at north was through a wrought-iron gate supported by a pair of circular lime-rendered pillars.

The contiguous outbuildings enhance the presence of the whole complex. Historical records indicate the property was known as Roscavey, the family seat of the Galbraiths. The Townland Valuation records a 'house and office' on the site occupied by John Galbraith Esq. and valued at £7.11s. Griffith's Valuation of 1858 records the property as unoccupied although leased from John Galbraith and valued at £8. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the period note that Roscavey was 'surrounded with trees and well situated but the house is fast falling into ruin and the whole place is very much neglected'. Valuation Revisions record a decrease in valuation from £8 to £5 in 1877 as the property was noted as 'dilapidated'. In 1882 Robert McClery was the occupier whilst Thomas Dickie was the lessor, and in 1887 the occupier changed to James Mulligan. The building first appeared on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map without a rear extension, which increased in size on each subsequent edition.