Drumnasole House, 8 Tower Road, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0JW

Drumnasole House is an early 19th century country house of considerable architectural distinction, built in a clearly proportioned classical style. It was constructed in phases between approximately 1810 and 1840 for Francis Turnly, possibly to his own designs. The 1832 Ordnance Survey map shows the front portion complete, and by 1857 the whole house appears finished. The 1835 Ordnance Survey memoirs described it as "a very capacious and extensive building" but noted it was still "far from finished internally" at that date. The house stands near the site of an earlier house of the same name, which had been occupied in the 1760s by the Donaldson family and in the 1780s by Francis Shaw, who sold the estate to Turnly in 1808. Turnly had accumulated considerable wealth while in China during the 1790s, and on returning to Ireland in 1801 purchased two estates, one at Drumnasole and another at Cushendall. To ease his frequent journeys between them, he cut the Red Arch near Waterfoot in 1817, and then the Split Rock — known locally as Turnly's Cut — near Garron Point in 1822, effectively creating a forerunner of the present Coast Road. He also erected the building in Cushendall known as Turnly's Tower. Within the Drumnasole estate he built a schoolhouse around 1820, and a descendant later added a gate lodge around 1860.

The house is a two-storey building with an exposed basement, constructed in masonry with hipped roofs arranged around a low central lantern light. The roofs are covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The walls are of random rubble basalt with some galletting, built to rough courses, and are finished with a moulded sandstone cornice and a plain sandstone platband at ground floor level. Two chimneys stand behind the front ridge; both have smooth cement rendering and a block cornice, one also has a plain block string course. Both have modern pots.

The main entrance faces east. The entrance elevation is symmetrical, with a central breakfront three windows wide at first floor level, and one window to each side of it. The ends of the building are broken forward and surmounted by a blocking course; they contain narrow niches — square-headed at first floor level, semicircular-headed at ground level, and square-headed at basement level — with ashlar sandstone dressings to the ground and first floor openings. There is a small central flush rooflight.

The windows throughout the entrance front are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, six over one panes without horns, set in sandstone block dressings with a slightly raised square surround and projecting sandstone cills. First floor windows have segmental tops to their lintels, surmounted by segmental relieving arches. Basement windows are sashed six over six without horns, set in plain reveals, and fitted with iron bars.

The central breakfront is surmounted by a blocking course and contains a projecting sandstone doorcase at ground floor level. At first floor level, a central window is flanked by two false windows; all three are sashed two over two without horns, and in the false windows the stonework is visible through the panes. Small circular motifs are recessed into each corner of the cills at this level.

The doorcase is a fine composition of four unfluted Doric columns, paired to either side of the round-arched entrance to contain narrow sidelights and support an entablature. The entrance itself has rectangular timber panelled double doors, surmounted by a frieze and cornice, with a semicircular fanlight above and radial glazing bars. The sidelights are sashed two over two without horns, with small circular motifs recessed into each lower corner of their cills, matching those at first floor level. The entrance is approached by a flight of six sandstone steps flanked by a curling balustrade of plump stone balusters. This balustrade is carried on a basalt rubble half-arch, and a large circular window with radial glazing is recessed to each side at basement level beneath.

The south elevation is also two storey with exposed basement, roofed and walled as the entrance front but without end piers, and with two flush rooflights. It is six windows wide at first floor level, though the second bay from the right is blind on all floors, its recessed openings filled with basalt rubble. Window dressings are similar to those on the entrance front. First floor windows are sashed as before; ground floor windows are longer, with cills dropped to floor level and sashed six over nine without horns. The sixth opening from the right is a doorway containing a rectangular timber glazed door with a two-light fanlight with a segmental arched top rail above it; this is approached by steps and a walkway bridged over the basement well, with rustic timber balustrading. To the left of the doorway is a small narrow window sashed four over four. Extending further left, in the same wall plane, is a lower single-storey gabled rear return with a slated roof and basalt rubble walls containing some blocked-up openings with brick filling.

The rear elevation of the main front block is two storey, roofed in slates as before but largely concealed by a pair of tall and broad chimneys linked by raking screen walls to a central stilted semicircular-arched belfry, all built in basalt rubble. The chimney to the north has two modern pots. The main walling is similar to the entrance front but without end piers. Windows here are rectangular timber sliding sash, six over six without horns, set in plain reveals with flat arches to the head. The first floor window opening at the extreme right is blocked up with basalt rubble. Much of the lower storey is obscured by gabled return blocks. Cast iron downpipes are fitted.

The north elevation is two storey with exposed basement, roofed and walled as the south elevation. It is six windows wide on all floors, with the second opening from the left blind, as on the south side. All windows are sashed six over six without horns. Projecting forward from the right-hand extremity is a gabled single-storey rear return block with basalt rubble walls; its north-facing gable contains two small-paned windows with red brick dressings to the jambs.

The house retains ornamented interiors of exceptional quality.

The setting is notably unspoiled. The house stands in a very rural area well back from the public road within its own extensive demesne, positioned high on a hillside and viewed against a wooded mountainous background. It is approached by a driveway marked at the main road by a 19th century gate lodge and ornamented gateway. The driveway is surfaced for the most part in concrete and crosses two 19th century stone bridges of modest dimensions. A ruinous early 19th century schoolhouse lies within the demesne in view of the driveway. The driveway terminates in a gravelled area in front of the house and continues to a yard at the rear. The rear yard is approached from the north through a three-centred stone archway and contains a two-storey outbuilding to the west with slated roofs, whitened rubble walls, and rectangular openings including sheeted timber doors, small-paned windows, and two open doorways. The east side of the yard is occupied by gabled outbuildings with whitened rubble walls, slated roofs, sheeted doors and small-paned windows, abutting the rear return wings of the main house. A small lean-to building with a slated roof and low bounding walls to a front enclosure appears to have been a pig-house. Together with the associated estate buildings — the gate lodge, gateway, schoolhouse, and outbuildings — the house forms part of an interesting group of considerable historical and architectural value.