25 Ballymote Road, Glenavy, County Antrim, BT29 4NS

25 Ballymote Road is a single-storey, hearth-lobby, three-bay vernacular dwelling pre-dating 1830, located at the end of a long lane off Ballymote Road, approximately 1.5 miles southeast of Glenavy in County Antrim. The building sits within a secluded rural setting with mature trees obscuring views from the public road, and the immediate grounds to the front are well maintained with open countryside beyond.

The dwelling retains much of its early external character. It features rubble field stone walling, lime rendered to the principal (west-facing) elevation with red brick upper courses at eaves level. The pitched roof is corrugated tin with timber fascia board and uPVC replacement guttering with cast-iron downpipes; the original thatch was completely removed and replaced with corrugated tin around 1960, and no historic roof structure remains. A brick chimney with corbelled upper course rises from the ridge.

Windows are 6/6 and 2/2 horizontally divided timber sliding sash windows with stone cills and timber lintels. The front door is ledge-and-braced timber sheeted construction. The principal (west) elevation is asymmetrically arranged, with a gabled porch entrance abuting the façade left of centre. The porch comprises a shallow pitched slated roof with decorative timber barge boards and small windows to the left and right cheeks. The principal elevation has one window to the right and two to the left. The left elevation is blank and partially of brick construction, with remains of a possible earlier abutting outbuilding, now deteriorated. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with various sized window openings and a distinct break in the rubble walling suggesting an additional bay; the right gable is blank.

The interior has undergone alterations resulting in loss of some original character, although the hearth-lobby plan form remains identifiable. To the north of the dwelling stands a flat roof garage, adapted from an earlier rubble building; to the south is a small corrugated tin mono-pitch outbuilding.

The dwelling is adjacent to a rath that is a scheduled monument (ANT059:073). The house is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–3 as a single-range farmhouse with a large irregularly-shaped rath to the west. No other rath appears in the townland, and the townland name 'Ballymote' (town of the mote) likely relates to this feature, mote being an archaic form of motte or rath. An additional bay, probably an outbuilding, shown on the first edition north of the farmhouse was unroofed by the second edition of 1858 but appears to have been rebuilt on subsequent editions; it is today derelict.

Griffith's Valuation lists the house as the home of tenant farmer Hugh Loughlin, who leased the house and over 17 acres of land from the Marquess of Hertford. The house and outbuildings were valued at £1. Several changes of occupier are recorded: Francis Reid in 1874, Thomas Hall in 1878, Nathaniel Reid in 1879, and Nathaniel Hall in 1883, who became owner in fee in 1893. Nathaniel Hall is listed in the 1901 census as a farmer aged 66, unable to read or write, living in the house with his wife. Nathaniel Hall died in March 1906, leaving £375 15s 3d, a considerable sum for the time and his situation. His wife Rachel died days later. The cottage could not be identified in the 1911 census and may have been vacant at the time, but no further changes are recorded in Annual Revisions. The house remains in use as a domestic dwelling.

The parish of Glenavy comprises low-lying fertile agricultural land to the east of Lough Neagh. The first edition map of 1832–3 shows the area dotted with cottages and farmsteads, and it has remained largely agricultural. Lewis's topographical survey of 1837 found that 'the soil is well cultivated, and there is very little waste land or bog'. A quarterly fair in Glenavy town was principally for horned cattle and pigs, and there was access to additional income from cotton and linen industries, with a large cotton mill present and much flax spun and woven in cottages. The current house is sited within the better arable land, lying between the 100-foot and 300-foot contours; land below 100 feet was liable to winter flooding, while land above 300 feet ran to pasture, furze and rough grazing. The area experienced population decline during the second half of the nineteenth century when a drift began from rural districts into Belfast. The hearth-lobby dwelling type exemplified here is prevalent in this area and throughout much of central and south-west Ulster.