124 Keady Road, Derryad, Co. Fermanagh, BT42 0DF

A one-and-a-half storey three-bay lobby entry house with thatched roof, built between 1835 and 1857. The building is constructed unusually of brick, and represents an important example of rural 19th-century vernacular architecture in County Fermanagh.

The house sits about half a mile north-west of a secondary road that branches north-westerly from the Lisnaskea/Newtownbutler road, approximately one mile north of Newtownbutler. Two plain plastered and whitened chimneystacks serve the kitchen, parlour, and bedroom fireplaces. The brick walls are finished with whitened and harled surfaces to front and rear, with rendered gables. The north-east gable is lined; the opposite gable retains the imprint of a formerly thatched building of increased height that once rose above the existing outbuildings. Render returns short distances at the front right corner and rear left corner.

The entrance comprises a timber door that is ledged and sheeted with unequal split to provide increased internal clearance when open. The fanlight consists of six small square horizontal panes. The door is flanked by plain sashed vertically sliding windows with moulded sash stops and traditional-depth sills. A disabled access ramp of concrete now eliminates the original entrance step.

The rear wall contains three openings: a top-hung timber framed window in plain cement surround with matching sill, a metal framed top-hung window with sashes divided vertically in plain surround with traditional-depth sill, and a top-hung timber window without surround or sill. The north-east gable contains a plain timber framed window with traditional-depth sill. The opposite gable is blank.

The original layout remains identifiable, with the floor-level hearth, front sash windows, and doors all retained. The purlin roof structure is of considerable architectural interest.

Contiguous outbuildings largely contemporary with the house complement the dwelling. These are finished with harling to the front, with ledged and timber sheeted doors to two compartments. The front wall, internal gable wall of the house, and partition are of brick construction. The end wall is of rubble stone; a section of the rear is concrete block. Beyond this stands a further structure constructed entirely of corrugated iron, with corrugated iron roof coverings supported by sawn purlins.

Documentary evidence shows the site undeveloped on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834–35, but a matching house appears on the revised map of 1857. The property is recorded in the 1862 valuation with Hugh Crawford as occupant and John Madden as immediate lessor, with rateable value of £1–5–0.