No 5, 7 & 9 Main Street, Gortin, Omagh, BT79 8PQ

Terrace of three two-bay two-storey stone houses built around 1850, located on the south side of Main Street in Gortin village.

The terrace is rectangular in plan, aligned east-west. The roof is pitched artificial slate with black clay ridge tiles and rebuilt brick chimneystacks with cement-parged verge. The eaves are finished with a timber box fascia supporting cast-iron guttering and cast-iron downpipes.

The walling is squared-and-snecked coursed stone with tooled stone quoins and red brick dressings to all openings. The rear elevation and gables are smooth rendered. Windows are camber-headed with stone sills and red brick surrounds, originally fitted with single-pane timber sash windows. Doors are replacement timber panelled with incorporated fanlights, each opening onto a concrete step to the footpath.

The principal north-facing elevation contains access to three separate dwellings. Number 5 at the right is three-bay wide with a central square-headed door opening in red brick with a flat brick arch to the left, a single window at each side, and two windows at first floor. The dwellings at the left are subdivided: Number 7 is accessed by a door at the right of the central bay and is three windows wide on the first floor; Number 9 at ground floor is accessed by a door flanked by a single window to the right and two windows to the left.

The east gable is abutted by a neighbouring terrace. The rear south elevation has three bays with cement-rendered walls and plastic rainwater goods. Number 5 retains original timber sash windows to the centre and right openings, while those to the left have been replaced with landscape openings and timber casement windows. The remainder of the rear elevation has had original window openings replaced by smaller openings with concrete sills and replacement timber casement windows. The west gable is blank, with an adjoined gravel access route to the rear.

Originally rendered, the stone facades have been exposed, displaying the squared stone and red brick construction materials. The terrace has been compromised by extensive alterations and does not meet the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural or historic interest.

Historical context indicates that buildings are shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 but are unidentifiable as the current mid-nineteenth-century structures. The 1905–6 map shows the buildings extended to the rear and captioned 'Court House'.

According to Griffith's Valuation of 1858, Number 5 was recorded as a house, offices, yard and land, occupied by Margaret Mac Farland and valued at £9.10 shillings. The property was leased from Arthur W. C. Hamilton. William Kyle is listed as occupier in Valuation Revisions. In 1890 the valuation increased to £10.10 shillings as it housed a 'photo gallery'. Valentine Kyle is recorded as occupier in 1905, with the valuation decreasing to £7.10 shillings in 1907.

Number 7 was recorded in Griffith's Valuation of 1858 as a Police Barracks, office and yard, valued under exemptions at £7.10 shillings. It contained a Petty Sessions room valued at £3.10 shillings and a rent office valued at £2, probably on the first floor which extended over the adjoining property, Number 9. The property was listed as occupied and leased by Arthur W. C. Hamilton. No reference is made to the Police Barracks in Valuation Revisions dating from approximately 1867. The building is instead listed as a house, office and yard occupied by John Barrett (same valuation of £7.10 shillings), with the first floor still being used as the Petty Sessions room and rent room. The ground floor was occupied by John Barrett with a marginal note reading 'post office', though this appears in only one valuation book. The rent office changed occupancy to Francis Ellis in 1881 and back to A. Hamilton in 1882. Mary Mc Kinnon became the new occupier of the ground floor in 1898. The rent office changed to Alex Campbell in 1903.

Number 9 was recorded in Griffith's Valuation of 1858 as a house and garden, occupied by Anne Scott and valued at £1.10 shillings. Valuation Revisions record John Scott Carpenter as occupier, until Alex Campbell in 1903. Numbers 7 and 9 have since been divided into separate ground floor and first floor dwellings.