Burleigh Hill, 36 Middle Road, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9DN

Burleigh Hill is a substantial eighteenth-century farmhouse of plainly detailed design and good proportion, located on an elevated site to the north side of Middle Road, Carrickfergus. Built around 1793 by George Burleigh Esq., the house is a detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey structure with a rectangular plan flanked by lower two-storey wings to either side, and a single-storey lean-to extension to the rear. The pitched and slated roof features blue-black clay ridge tiles and smooth rendered corbelled chimney-stacks with tall decorative clay pots to the gables.

The principal elevation faces south and contains a central entrance door recessed within a round-headed opening with a decorative fanlight above, flanked by moulded timber pilasters. The entrance is accessed by seven masonry steps and enclosed to each side by alcoved roughcast walls with flat smooth rendered coping. Two windows flank the entrance to each side at ground floor, with five windows at first floor. The walls are roughcast rendered over a smooth rendered plinth. Windows are predominantly replacement square-headed uPVC casements with extended masonry cills unless otherwise stated, though the rear elevation retains some original timber casement and sash windows. The rear elevation is multi-bay with the single-storey lean-to extension extending to the right.

The left return wing is detailed as the main block, with two timber casement windows at ground floor and a central timber sliding sash window at first floor on its south elevation. The west gable contains a timber panelled entrance door and a timber casement window, with a sliding sash window at first floor. The right return wing is similarly detailed, with two windows at each floor. The east gable contains replacement uPVC doors and windows.

The entrance door retains original cast-iron ironmongery. The cast-iron rainwater goods comprise half-round gutters and round downpipes throughout.

The house retains a largely intact plan form and significant internal detailing despite the loss of its original windows. It is approached by a lane from Middle Road to the south. The property is bound by a garden to the south and to the north by a series of multi-bay one and two-storey outbuildings arranged around a farmyard. The most notable of these is a well-constructed random-rubble outbuilding with a pitched slated roof, located to the east of the house and flanked by a pair of random-rubble round pillars with cast metal gates. Matching pillars with large random-rubble pointed caps and cast metal gates are found to the west of the house, providing access to the rear yard.

The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows a building on the site captioned "Burleigh Hill", similar in orientation but smaller in size than the current structure, consisting of a group of buildings arranged on a quadrangular plan around a central courtyard. The Townland Valuation of 1836 records "Burleigh Hill" as a house with south and north wing, basement storey, return, offices and cellar, with the occupier listed as John Robinson Esq. and the property valued at £46 7s. 4d., later revised to £44 10s. Griffith's Valuation of 1860 shows no change in occupancy, with the land held in fee. The property is valued at £86, suggesting an enlargement had occurred. An unpublished Ordnance Survey Memoir of Carrickfergus dated 1838 describes the house as "a spacious and modern looking residence two storeys high and having a wing at each side. It is situated in a handsome lawn of about 36 acres. There is a good garden and the offices are of suitable extent."

The house contributes significantly to the rural landscape and architectural heritage of the local area, retaining its original setting with the traditional farmyard to the north.