116 Dromore Road, Ballynahinch, County Down, BT24 8HX

A two-storey vernacular farmhouse of mid-nineteenth century appearance, possibly with earlier origins pre-dating 1834, located south of Dromore Road in Burren on the outskirts of Dromara. The building is rectangular on plan with a single-storey extension. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles, and rendered chimneystacks with single pots. The walling is painted roughcast render. Replacement cast-iron half-round rainwater goods and timber-framed multi-paned casement windows are throughout.

The principal northeast elevation is asymmetrically arranged with four openings. To the left is a single-storey extension with a large window to the centre and a diminutive window to the right. A replacement timber door sits to the right of centre. The southeast gable is blank and abuts the lower extension. The southwest rear elevation has three first-floor windows set into gablets, with a diminutive window to the left of centre. At ground floor to the right of centre is a conservatory; to the right is a small window; to the left are three windows. The single-storey extension to the far right has a large window to the centre. The northwest gable has a single window to the left at first floor.

To the northeast of the house is a slated rubble-stone threshing barn complete with a working thresher. To the west are slated rubble-stone stable blocks with brick dressings and timber-sheeted doors and half-doors. An outbuilding connected to the house has been fully renovated and now acts as a modern office with replacement doors and skylights.

The setting is rural, surrounded by farmland. The house is accessed from the main road via a long single-track lane, with entry through a replacement timber farm gate into a gravelled yard to the front. A lawned and wild shrubbed garden surrounds the front and rear, with a small pond to the rear. The gardens are enclosed by mature trees and hedgerow.

Historical Development

The Freeholders Register of 1813 records that a Mr. John Blaine had leased land from David S. Ker. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps from 1834 shows that the current farmhouse had been constructed by that date, depicted as an oblong structure with an outbuilding to its east-facing gable. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1859 shows two smaller outbuildings had been constructed to the northeast of the farmhouse, one of which was used as a threshing barn; only one of these now survives.

In 1861, Thomas Blaine was recorded as the occupant of the farmhouse, offices and land in Griffith's Valuation, valued at £6. Thomas Blaine had let the property from David S. Ker. He lived at the farm with his wife Jane and their children until his death in 1893. The house then passed to Thomas's oldest son, James Blaine, who occupied the farm until at least 1911. The 1901 Census describes the house as a first-class dwelling comprising six rooms with a slated roof. James lived there with his widowed mother Jane and his sister Agnes. Jane Blaine died in 1907, leaving effects valued at £260 0s. 2d.

The third edition Ordnance Survey map (1902–03) shows that the northeast threshing barn had been extended between 1859 and the end of the nineteenth century. By 1911, the group of outbuildings comprised a stable, cow house, piggery, fowl house and turf house. The slated rubble-stone stable block to the east of the farmhouse first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey maps and was constructed between 1902 and 1920, though field inspection suggests a mid-nineteenth century date. The farmhouse either replaced or was modified from an earlier vernacular building. The threshing barn still possesses a working threshing machine. The stable block is well maintained although its roof has been replaced with corrugated iron.

The building has been significantly altered internally, has replacement windows and rainwater goods, and does not meet the criteria for listing. The setting and the stable blocks and working threshing barn contribute to the historic integrity of the group.