Ballagh Cottage, Ballagh, Lisnaskea, Co. Fermanagh, BT92 5DJ

Ballagh Cottage is a charming cottage orné erected in 1857 by James Haire of nearby Armagh Manor. It forms part of a coherent and striking group of estate buildings aligned north-west to south-east along the road to Armagh Manor, and despite its present condition retains much of its original character.

The building is a two-storey structure with an H-plan form comprising four bays as viewed from the façade. The principal elevation faces south-west, with the greatest decorative emphasis placed on Bay 4, the tallest and most ornately detailed block. Roofs are pitched artificial slate with overhanging eaves featuring exposed rafter tails and decoratively carved 'teardrop' bargeboards with point-headed finials to the front and rear elevations; other roof sections are plainly detailed. Three chimneystacks are present: that to the left gable of Bay 1 is brick with terracotta pots, while Bay 3 and Bay 4 each have cement-rendered brick chimneys with tall octagonal shafts and moulded caps. The chimney to Bay 3 is placed to its left gable with three shafts, whilst that to Bay 4 is set perpendicular to the ridge with four shafts. Metal rainwater goods are almost entirely gone.

The walls are constructed of random rubble stone with dressed sandstone stepped quoins and window dressings to the canted bay of the main block; other openings have brick dressings. The apex of Bay 4 is brick. A number of walls have been repaired with concrete blocks.

Bay 4 is the principal feature, a tall block with a three-quarter height canted bay topped with an artificial slate roof with lead flashings and plain timber bargeboards. Each face contains a window to each floor with stone cills; those to the ground floor have timber hood moulds. All windows are pairs of 3x3 side-hung timber units, those to the first floor diminished in height. A timber canopy supported by columns between first and second floors of the canted bay has now collapsed. The left gable is abutted by Bay 3, which is set back slightly, leaving the exposed section blank. The right gable is abutted centrally by a single-storey entrance porch with pitched roof; the exposed left section shows an infilled door opening. The left cheek of the porch has been rebuilt using concrete blocks and formerly contained a door, whilst the end gable has a window opening with stone cill and the remains of a fixed 2x6 timber window. The right cheek is blank.

Bay 3 is a one-and-a-half storey block with a central oriel window supported on four chunky moulded stone brackets. This oriel has a hipped roof tying into the front pitch with wavy timber bargeboards and timber-sheeted cheeks; it formerly contained a three-paned fixed timber window. A door opening is present to the ground floor. Its left gable is abutted by Bay 2, the exposed section remaining blank.

Bay 2 is a narrow single-storey block with three narrow window openings with stone cills to the principal elevation, formerly containing 1x4 fixed-paned timber windows. The left gable is abutted by a taller single-storey carriage-house.

Bay 1 comprises a single-storey carriage-house with a lower front section projecting forward and free on all three sides. The right cheek of the front section has a horseshoe opening with stone voussoirs, now infilled with rubble stone and containing a narrow window opening to the centre with stone cill. The principal elevation has a pair of sheeted timber doors with a brick jack arch above, surmounted by a point-headed brick-dressed window opening with brick mullion. The left cheek has a window opening with the remains of a 2x4 field stone cill. The rear block of the carriage-house is completely abutted to the right by Bay 2 and to the front by the lower section. Its left gable has an advanced rubble stone chimneybreast to the centre; either side contains a window opening—that to the right containing a 2x4 fixed timber window with stone cill, whilst that to the left is infilled with concrete cill.

The rear elevation of the cottage has been extended by unfinished concrete block additions with timber casement windows of no architectural interest. The rear of Bay 1 has a door opening with brick dressings set to the right, with a side-hung casement window above to first floor centre. The rear of Bay 2 has a door opening to the right. Bay 3 is blank to the rear, and Bay 4 has an infilled window opening to the centre.