20 Cloneytrace Road, Broughshane, BT43 7HY

Two-storey late Georgian style detached house, probably dating to around 1810. The property stands within spacious wooded grounds on a slight rise to the east of Cloneytrace Road, roughly 2 kilometres north-north-east of Broughshane.

The front elevation faces south and is symmetrical. At the centre is an elliptical-headed door opening with margin panes, topped with a moulded surround and keystone. On either side are flat-headed window openings with 8/8 timber sash frames set on cut-stone sills. The first floor contains three similar, evenly-spaced windows of the same type. The pitched roof is covered with natural slate and red clay ridge tiles. Both gables have replacement rendered chimneystacks with modern concrete coping and plain clay pots. The eaves project slightly; the verges have pronounced overhangs with painted bargeboards. The walls are finished with plain render.

A building of similar plan and orientation appears on the 1832 Ordnance Survey map, marked "Oakfield" though contemporary sources refer to it as "Oaklands". The 1832 valuation records it as a "not new" building occupied by Mr Duffin, measuring 47½ feet by 28½ feet by 16 feet in height, with a rear projection of 44½ by 19 by 12½ feet and a return office of 11½ by 11½ by 6½ feet. The occupant was Adam Duffin, member of a notable local family; his diary confirms he was living at Oaklands in 1814, suggesting the house was standing by that date and possibly over 25 years old by 1832. Adam Duffin left before April 1833, when the Ordnance Survey Memoirs note the property was uninhabited after Counsellor White departed. By 1846 William Sayers, apparently a relation of Adam Duffin, occupied it.

The 1860 valuation records the main section height as 21 feet rather than the 16 feet noted in 1832. This discrepancy may reflect the earlier valuers measuring only to eaves level and overlooking an attic space, or possibly the roof was raised in remodelling around the 1830s or 1840s. Externally the house could date to the 1830s or 1840s, suggesting potential remodelling during this period.

Substantial outbuildings were added after 1832. The 1832 inventory included a poultry house, cow house and stables, but the 1857 and 1860 maps and valuations record larger structures. The 1860 valuation lists outbuildings measuring 71 by 21 by 15 feet, 89 by 21½ by 8 feet, and 60 by 19 by 7 feet, plus detached offices at 29 by 18 by 7 feet (thatched), 29 by 14½ by 6 feet (thatched), 25 by 18 by 10 feet (described as a weaving shed), and 83 by 18 by 6½ feet, located a considerable distance north of the main house. By 1860 a flax mill is noted, rated at £10, though it is unclear whether this was newly built or refers to the existing weaving shed. By 1874 it was no longer in operation, the boom years of the American Civil War having passed. The rateable value rose from £18 in 1832 to £30 by 1860, then declined to £27 in 1870, £25 in 1883, and £21 in 1903.

William Sayers was succeeded in 1880 by James Sayers. James and John Sayers were joint residents from 1886; John Sayers remained sole occupant until around 1933. The property then passed to or was acquired by James Shannon. John A. Shannon was listed as owner in 1960 and was recorded there until 1972.