Lurganville House, 4 Lurganville Road, Lurganville, Moira, Craigavon, BT67 0PJ

Lurganville House is an asymmetrical three-bay two-storey detached house built in rubble stone with galletting, located north of Lurganville Road on the outskirts of Moira. A date stone at the front indicates construction in 1772, which is supported by field inspection. The house originally comprised a one-and-a-half storey dwelling, probably thatched, measuring 45 by 22 feet in height of 13 feet, as recorded in the Townland Valuation of circa 1830 when it was classified as a b+ class building in sound repair and valued at £5 11 shillings. The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as part of a freestone quarry operation, with an associated small quarry located to the south-west of the site.

Between 1833 and 1858 considerable alterations took place. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 records that rear outbuildings became connected to the house, which was first named 'Lurganville' at this time. The house was raised by one storey circa 1850, most likely between 1833 and 1861 when Griffith's Valuation recorded an increased value of £10. In 1861, the house was occupied by Reverend James Mulligan, a retired Unitarian minister who had preached at an Arian Meeting House in Dunmurry in the 1830s. After Mulligan's death in 1869, the house passed to Reverend John Dixon, who resided there from 1874 to 1884. The property subsequently changed hands several times until Edmund McBride, a Moravian farmer, came into possession in 1898. The 1911 Census recorded McBride as a 57-year-old farmer residing with his wife Harriet, also 57. The Census Building Return described the house as first class, consisting of eight rooms with associated farm buildings including a stable, cow house, piggery, boiling house and barn housed in the eastern and rear outbuildings. McBride purchased the house from the Marquis of Downshire in 1913 and continued to reside there until 1929. A modern outbuilding to the north was constructed between the third edition (1903) and fourth edition (1916) Ordnance Survey maps.

The rectangular plan includes a single-storey return to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and two replacement brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are set within boarded eaves. The walling is roughly squared rubble stone laid in courses with galletting and dressed quoins; stone differs between storeys. The principal elevation faces south and is six irregularly spaced openings wide. The entrance, positioned right of centre, has a six-panelled raised-and-fielded door with cast-iron furniture set in painted smooth render surround. The west gable is concealed to ground floor with a first-floor window to the left. The east gable is similarly concealed to ground floor with a blank first floor. The north (rear) elevation was not accessed during survey.

Windows throughout are uPVC replacements. The building was restored in the late twentieth century and re-roofed. An inappropriate redbrick porch recorded in the 1979 First Survey image has since been removed.

The house and outbuildings are set back from the road with a small lawned and shrubbed garden and gravel path to front, bounded by a rubble stone wall. Access from south and east is via early decorative cast and wrought-iron latch gates. A side garden to the east is similarly accessed by wrought-iron gate and enclosed by rubble stone wall. Square gate piers with pointed caps to the east gable support modern timber gates enclosing the rear yard. To the east stands an early slated rubble stone range of outbuildings with timber vent to attic at south gable (some cement render repair work to east elevation) and roof-light to west; other elevations are concealed. The house and outbuildings retain an early appearance and form a historically intact group in an unspoiled rural setting with the original boundary wall and wrought-iron gates. The house and its outbuildings remain in excellent state of preservation and continue to be occupied.

Although an interesting medium-sized rural farmstead with significant historical interest, the building does not meet the criteria for listing as it has been significantly altered both externally and internally.