37b Cockhill Road (North of 37), Hannastown, Ballymena, BT42 2JP

This is a late 18th or early 19th century single-storey vernacular dwelling, and possibly earlier, located on the south side of Cockhill Road near Ballymena. It forms part of a linear row of similarly dated vernacular buildings and is of exceptional rarity and historic significance, both within Northern Ireland and internationally, as a surviving example of a thatched, cruck-framed rural dwelling of this type.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The building is attached and single-storey, rectangular on plan, built of random uncoursed rubblestone with lime mortar joints and vestiges of limewash over lime render. It follows a lobby-entry plan form, whereby the entrance and hearth are placed in close proximity — a traditional arrangement in which a jamb wall was positioned directly in front of the door to shield the hearth from draughts. It was also common in dwellings of this type to incorporate a small window within the jamb, allowing those inside to see who was approaching. The interior comprises a single space, formerly open to the rafters.

The principal elevation faces west and is two openings wide: a doorway to the right and a window to the left. The window has shallow splayed, cement-rendered reveals and retains remnants of a three-light upper window pane, with a side-hung casement affixed behind. The door opening contains no door or frame. The north elevation is largely abutted by the neighbouring former building (formerly No. 35), and the upper section of the north gable contains red brick walling, not laid in any discernible or consistent bond, and partially collapsed to the left side. The rear elevation faces east and has two window openings with plain rubblestone surrounds and timber casements set in a shallow recess from the face of the wall; the left-hand window is missing, though the frame remains. Window openings throughout are square-headed, without sills, and fitted largely with one-over-one timber casements having exposed frames, timber lintels, and largely replacement glass. There are no rainwater goods to the overhanging eaves.

The steeply pitched roof is of corrugated iron laid over the original thatch, which survives beneath. The roof is supported on a half-raised cruck-framed timber structure — a relatively early and rare example of this construction method. The cruck timbers are roughly hewn, having been split, riven, and axed rather than sawn, giving them a characteristically uneven surface that distinguishes them from the smooth faces of later machine-sawn timber. The joints are secured with wooden pegs, reflecting traditional joinery practice from a period before iron nails and screws were widely available. The thatch itself is carried on timber purlins supported by this cruck frame. There is a single red brick chimney to the south, which is partially collapsed and without pots.

SETTING

The building forms part of a linear row of vernacular dwellings orientated perpendicular to Cockhill Road, with the northern gable of the former No. 35 directly fronting the southern side of the road. The immediate surroundings are rural, wooded, and overgrown. To the east is a small shared yard, also overgrown, bounded by a low rubblestone wall curving from north to south. The building forms part of a wider complex of vernacular farm structures located within a separate yard to the south and east, thought to be associated with the adjoining thatched dwelling at No. 39. This yard of outbuildings, together with No. 39, is accessed separately from Cockhill Road via a sweeping path to the north-east. While the southern dwellings in the terraced row have principal elevations facing east, both the former No. 35 and No. 37B face west.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The linear group of buildings to which No. 37B belongs is first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, where it appears as part of a larger cluster that included two small outbuildings to the north-west. The group — comprising what are now Nos. 39, 37, 37B, and the former No. 35 — remained largely unchanged on the second edition map of 1853, with the exception of the removal of one of those north-western outbuildings. The footprint of No. 37B itself has remained unchanged since at least the mid-19th century, as confirmed by subsequent mapping.

The property is recorded in Griffith's Valuation of around 1859, though the handwritten numbering on the accompanying map is difficult to read. It appears that the cluster of small dwellings comprising Nos. 37, 37B, and the former No. 35 were leased by a Robert Dill to a Hugh Campbell and a Thomas Tweedy (valued at £1 and 15 shillings respectively), and by a John Hanna to a Samuel McDonnell (valued at 10 shillings). The variety of owners across the cluster suggests the settlement may have originated as a clachan — a form of informal, clustered rural settlement. Some of the buildings may also have served as lodgings for farm workers; No. 37B, with its single room and hearth, is particularly characteristic of workers' accommodation of this kind.

By the time of the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1936, the complex had been captioned "Hannastown", reflecting the continuous occupation of several of the buildings by the Hanna family since at least the mid-19th century. Census records from 1901 and 1911, used alongside Annual Revision records covering 1894 to 1920, suggest that the building was occupied by a cotton weaver named Fanny Coffel and her son, followed in the early 20th century by a labourer named David Clarke. No. 37B was the only dwelling in the townland of Cromkill recorded as having a single window on its principal elevation, which helps confirm that these records relate to this building specifically. The rateable value appears to have remained largely unchanged until at least the First General Revaluations of around 1930.

The building remained in use as a dwelling until at least the 1930s, at which point corrugated iron was placed over the thatch. No. 37B and the other buildings in the wider complex have all been vacated in recent years and the building is currently recorded as derelict.

SIGNIFICANCE

Although vernacular thatched structures were once a common feature of the rural landscape in Northern Ireland, they have come under serious threat in recent decades and are now scarce. Despite the deteriorated condition of the thatch, the chimney, and the roof structure, No. 37B remains an important surviving example of an increasingly rare building type, of considerable historic, cultural, and architectural significance at both a local and international level. The adjoining buildings and associated outbuildings make an important contextual contribution, and together the group constitutes a significant example of a large traditional farmstead or clachan.