78 Marshallstown Road, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 9DE

This is a detached, symmetrical three-bay, two-storey farmhouse, built around 1850. It is situated to the north of Marshallstown Road, Carrickfergus. The building presents a rectangular plan, with a central single-storey porch to the south and a single-storey lean-to extension to the west gable. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate, featuring brick corbelled eaves, half-round cast-iron rainwater goods, and brick gable chimneystacks topped with clay pots. The walls are roughcast rendered, however, the windows have been replaced with uPVC casements designed to imitate 6/6 timber sliding sashes, and have painted masonry cills, with poorly detailed lead sheeting to the rear.

The principal south-facing elevation is symmetrical, with a pitched natural slate-roofed porch at the centre, two windows flanking either side, and five windows on the first floor. The left gable is abutted by a single-storey lean-to extension, while the exposed section of the gable remains blank. The rear elevation features scattered windows and a timber-sheeted entrance door off-centre to the right. A timber-sheeted loft door is located off-centre to the left, alongside a single window, while the first floor has three windows to the right, two of which are diminished in size. The right gable is blank and includes a cast-iron rainwater hopper.

The property sits on an elevated site to the north of Marshallstown Road, affording views over Carrickfergus. Behind the house is an elevated yard containing outbuildings, enclosed by dry stone walling and cast-iron gates. A circular roughcast random rubble pier and cast-iron gate define a small front garden in the south-east corner.

The building appears on the 1832 first edition Ordnance Survey map and was, according to Griffith’s Valuation of 1857, occupied by James Mann, who leased the ‘house, offices and land’ from the Marquis of Donegal. The building was valued at £4.