McElgunn’s Cottage, 17 Mountdarby Road, Killyfole, Rosslea, Co Fermanagh, BT92 7QB

McElgunn's Cottage is a single-storey, three-bay direct-entry vernacular house with outbuildings, situated up a long lane on the north side of Mountdarby Road at Killyfole, Rosslea. The building dates to between 1840 and 1859 and survives in remarkably intact condition, retaining most of its original internal and external features.

The main house has a pitched roof aligned south-west to north-east, with its principal elevation facing south-east. The roof is now covered in corrugated metal with two cement-rendered chimneys—one to the right gable and one positioned between the left and central bays. Metal half-round rainwater goods are fixed to a plain timber eaves board. The walls are constructed of lime-dashed and painted rubble stone, with the wall head smooth cement-rendered below the eaves. A concrete path runs the length of the facade with a single step to the main entrance.

The entrance is a beaded tongue-and-groove sheeted door with a brass cottage latch, positioned to the right side of the central bay. To its left is a 2/2 vertically divided exposed box sliding sash window with horns and a painted stone cill. Single similar windows occupy each of the remaining bays. The left gable is dashed as the front and features a small timber casement window at the apex. Settlement cracks are visible around the left window opening, reflecting structural movement at this end of the building. The rear elevation is rendered as the facade and has a small 6/3 sliding sash window with horns to the central bay. The right gable is blank.

The house was formerly thatched until the late 1960s. Its more recent corrugated metal roof, while not original, is an unobtrusive element and can be understood as part of the building's vernacular evolution rather than as unsympathetic alteration.

Three outbuildings contribute significantly to the group value. An adjacent single-bay outbuilding abuts the left gable of the main house. It has walls of the same lime-dashed and painted rubble stone construction with a pitched thatched roof, now collapsed but with thatch remains visible on the wall head. It has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the front, with blank gable and rear cheek elevations.

A second outbuilding of two bays abuts the right gable of the main house. It has similar wall construction and a pitched corrugated metal roof. Two doorways appear to the front—the left has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door, while the right door opening is now empty. This outbuilding is believed to have been formerly thatched.

Across a small overgrown yard opposite the house stands a third single-storey outbuilding aligned north to south. It has a pitched corrugated metal roof and lime-rendered rubble stone walls. The front elevation has a wide doorway with timber lintel at the right end (the pair of doors is missing) and a metal casement window at the left end. The left gable has a tongue-and-groove sheeted timber door with timber lintel, now partially collapsed, and a square window above that is sheeted over. The rear elevation has a metal casement window to the right end, and the right gable is blank.

To the east of this outbuilding is a turf shed aligned west to east. It has a pitched corrugated metal roof supported on lime-rendered circular rubble stone piers positioned at the centre of the side walls and plain stone piers at the front and rear gables. The gaps between the piers are infilled with open timber framework. A smaller outbuilding abuts its rear gable.

Historical records indicate that the 1834/35 Ordnance Survey map shows three small buildings on this site, though none are recorded in contemporary valuation records of that date. The revised 1859-60 Ordnance Survey map clearly shows the present house with the adjacent outbuilding. The 1862 valuation records the occupant as Thomas Gunn, with John Brady as the immediate lessor and a rateable value of 15 shillings. Thomas Gunn was succeeded by Ann Gunn in 1880 and Edward McElgunn in 1898. The valuations remained unchanged throughout the 19th century, indicating no major structural alterations during this period. The turf house first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1905-06. The house was vacated in 1994. An owner interviewed in 1999 recalled the house when it was thatched in the late 1960s and believed that the two abutting outbuildings were also thatched at that time.

The setting of the cottage complex is very attractive, and the group of buildings has considerable value as an ensemble of vernacular agricultural structures.