Marburn Cottage, 19 Gobbins Path, Cloghfin, Islandmagee, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 3SP

Marburn Cottage is a single-storey thatched vernacular cottage, built in the early 19th century (circa 1820–1839), representing a now-rare building type that retains much of its original character, particularly on the exterior. The house stands in a spacious rural garden at the end of a lane and is not readily visible from the main road.

The main structure is of rubble stone rendered and whitened, with a steeply pitched thatch roof. The south front features an outset porch with gabled sides and a projecting entrance, with one window to the left of the porch and four to the right. Extensions project forward at each extremity. Three rendered and whitened chimneys rise from the building: one on the left-hand gable and two on the ridge, each topped with apparently thick black tiles as a cornice and modern earthenware pots. The roof thatch is bound with chicken wire at the eaves and overhangs considerably.

On the south front, the window to the left of the porch is a rectangular double timber casement. The first window to the right of the porch matches this pattern, followed by three timber sliding sash windows, vertically hung with 1-over-1 panes and horns, each with projecting concrete cills. The entrance porch is rectangular with gabled sides swept over by the main roof thatch. The door, recently replaced, is timber ledged in half-door type with a modern bracket lamp. The porch's south face contains a three-light window comprising a fixed pane between two casements, and the east side has a double timber casement. This porch originally had a flat roof, which was replaced with a pitched thatch roof circa 1993.

The north facade features windows of varying heights, all timber sliding sash, vertically hung 1-over-1 with horns, replaced circa 1987 but respecting original openings with projecting concrete cills. Along the base of the north face runs a drainage channel laid with concrete pavoirs and stones. To the right of the right-hand window stands a buttress with a stepped profile and internal drainage channel.

Modern extensions have been added to each end of the house. The right-hand extension (built 1990) is a conservatory with walls rendered and whitened to match the cottage. Its west face has a four-light window comprising two fixed panes between two casements with an uneven parapet profile in vernacular idiom. The south face features two timber-framed French doors with small panes and narrow single-pane sidelights, a strawboard soffit with PVC gutter and downpipe, and a shallow-pitched roof. A modern kitchen extension to the right of the north front has two small timber casement windows and a low-pitched corrugated metal roof with projecting rafter ends.

The left-hand extension is of modern construction with smooth rendered and painted white walls, timber fascia, PVC gutter and downpipe, and a shallow-pitched corrugated metal roof. The west wall contains rectangular timber casements and a timber ledged door. To the left of the north front stands a small extension in the same wall plane with a corrugated iron roof and timber fascia but no downpipe.

The roof timberwork is original. The east gable of the house is blank above its own extension of lower ridge height. The east wall contains a three-light timber casement with concrete cill and a small timber casement without cill, followed by a four-light window in the conservatory projection.

The building is recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1831–32, though it does not appear in the contemporary valuation. It was first included in the second valuation of 1860, when it was occupied by John Murray with Col. Charles P. Leslie as the immediate lessor, with a rateable value of £2 for both the house and an associated 'good slated office'. According to the present owner, the property originally contained three dwellings and was converted to a single dwelling circa 1930. The 'office' mentioned in 1860 was probably one of these original dwellings. The roof was re-thatched in 1988 by Gerry Agnew and repaired in 1996.