Ports House, Ports, Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh, BT92 8DT

Ports House is a pleasant, modestly-sized house of good proportions situated close to the shore of Upper Lough Erne in the Ports Townland, south of Newtownbutler. The building has been sympathetically refurbished in recent times and retains some character, though few original features of architectural interest survive.

The house is a symmetrical one-and-a-half storey structure arranged in three bays, with a gablet to the central bay. The roof is pitched with artificial slate and is fitted with two cement-rendered chimneys, one set perpendicular to the ridge at the party wall between each bay. The eaves overhang with exposed rafter tails supporting half-round metal rainwater goods. The walls are harled with contrasting stepped stucco quoins and base course.

The principal elevation faces northeast. At the centre is a timber door with a glazed top panel containing nine small panes and three-paned sidelights. Above this, set into the gablet, is a window. The left and right bays each have a window to the ground floor. The left gable contains two windows to the upper floor. Windows throughout are modern 6/6 timber top-hung casements in painted reveals with stone cills.

The rear elevation is abutted to the right of centre by a single storey return with a flat tarred roof enclosed by cast-iron railings. The left bay has a window at centre. The central bay has a window placed immediately left of the return and a pair of 2x3 side-hung casements to the upper floor set to the right. The exposed section of the right bay has a window immediately to the right of the return. The return's southwest face has a pair of 2x3 side-hung casements, with a timber door to its left cheek and a blank right cheek. The right gable has a window to the upper floor.

To the north of the house is a one-and-a-half storey outbuilding, now converted to guest accommodation. It has a pitched natural slate roof supported on several stone eaves corbels. Cement-rendered chimneys are placed to either side of centre. The walls are painted and lime-rendered over rubble stone. All doors are modern tongued-and-grooved sheeted and windows are 2x4 side-hung timber casements. The interior has been refitted with modern facilities.

The house and outbuilding occupy an attractive and secluded site close to the shore of Upper Lough Erne, well concealed by a maturely planted garden and accessed by a long lane from the road.

Historical records indicate that a building stood on this site from at least 1834, when it appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map. The building was not cited in the first Valuation book, suggesting it was originally a one-storey vernacular structure. In 1862 it was occupied by John McCaffrey and valued at £1.5s.0d, a low valuation consistent with a single-storey dwelling. Valuation revision books from 1866 to 1929 show no subsequent changes to this valuation. The present substantial two-storey house, based on its architectural style, dates to the late 19th or early 20th century, representing a significant rebuilding or enlargement of the earlier structure.