Old ('cruck') house at 77 Straid Road, Ballyminstra, Ahoghill, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT42 2JQ

Long, one and a half storey cruck construction vernacular house of possible 1600s origin, now with corrugated iron covering the thatch roof and roughcast façade. The property is set at the end of a lane to the S of Straid Road, roughly one mile SE of Ahoghill. A short distance to the E of the building is a large two storey house, built in the mid to later 1990s. The long front elevation of the house faces roughly E. To the left of centre is the front entrance which has a plain timber sheeted door (which is no longer used- the house is entered via the rear door). To the left of the door are two relatively small plain sash windows, set at marginally differing levels (that to right is slightly higher). To the right of the doorway are five further roughly similar sized windows, unevenly spaced and set at marginally differing heights (the two to far right are noticeably lower). All these windows have sash frames also, but the 2nd and 3rd windows have much smaller upper sashes and the 4th window has Georgian panes (6/6). The 1st window is marginally bigger than the rest. The S gable has a small sash window to right at upper level, with two more to the upper level on the N gable. To the left of centre on the rear elevation is a timber sheeted (tongue & groove) door. To left of this are two windows as front (with that to far left marginally larger and set at a marginally lower level). To left are three further windows. These are unevenly spaced with a sash frame to that to left, with those to its right boarded up. Directly above the doorway is a tiny upper level window with sash frame, with another to the right directly above another window). The whole façade is finished in unpainted roughcast with a smooth cement surround to the front entrance. The gabled roof has a steep pitch and is covered in corrugated iron (though the thatch is still in place underneath). There is a cement rendered parapet to the S gable and there are three unevenly spaced brick chimneystacks (two to gables, the other to the S of centre of the ridge). These chimneystacks are now is very poor condition. Odd remains of cast iron guttering. There are the remains of a small garden to the E of the house, with a portal dolmen a few metres to the SW.