21 Fernagh Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT78 1HH

A detached four-bay single-storey house built around 1820, constructed from rubble stone and whitewashed, with a rectangular plan facing east and positioned perpendicular to the road. A byre is attached to the north gable. Two detached ranges of single-storey outbuildings to the east and south form an informal rectangular front yard around the property.

The house features a pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and two brick chimneysstacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods are installed throughout. The square-headed window openings are formed in painted brick with timber lintels and concrete sills, containing replacement 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with angled horns and exposed sash boxes. An off-centre shallow windbreaker porch is formed in painted brick, incorporating a Liscannor stone shelter with a tongue-and-groove painted timber door. To the rear, a short outshot in painted brick contains a diminutive window opening and a square-headed door opening with timber lintel and painted tongue-and-groove timber door. A detached painted stone structure to the rear has a pitched natural slate roof and timber sheeted door.

Both ranges of outbuildings are single-storey with pitched natural slate roofs, cast-iron rainwater goods, and painted rubble stone walling. Square-headed door openings are formed in brick with timber lintels and vertically-sheeted timber half-doors. The south range contains two small window openings with timber casement windows.

The property has undergone recent sensitive refurbishment with replacement timber sliding sash windows, natural slate roofs, and vertically-sheeted half-doors. Much salvage material has been incorporated, making it difficult to distinguish original fabric from replacements, though the overall composition remains intact. The forecourt is grassed with some modern paving in front of the outbuilding opposite the house, with a few mature shrubs and trees in the boundary hedges.

Cartographic evidence shows a structure on the site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, along with an outbuilding to the east side. A small building to the west elevation first appears on the 1906 Ordnance Survey map. The exact dating before 1833 is uncertain due to remodelling.

Griffith's Valuation of 1858 records a house, offices and land valued at 15 shillings and 6 pence, occupied by Michael Higgins and leased from Alexander McCausland. The occupier changed to Bernard McAteer by 1910.

This property is a good example of a traditional small holding in a sheltered rural setting, representing a building type that is fast disappearing. Its survival is noteworthy.