28 Deerpark Road, Old Town Deerpark, Bellaghy, Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry, BT45 8LB

28 Deerpark Road, located three quarters of a mile south of Bellaghy in County Londonderry, is a one and a half storey, four bay direct entry thatched house dating from the 1820s to 1830s. The walls are harled and whitened stone, and the building faces south-west overlooking the roadway towards Bellaghy from the Toome and Castledawson road.

The roof is thatched with flax between cement skews. There are four chimneystacks with narrow projections set midway between the level of the ridge and the top. A stack rises on each gable; one stands above the kitchen hearth with a single pot, and another sits over the left-hand wall of the pair of bedrooms to the left of the kitchen.

The front elevation remains largely unchanged. The entrance is a timber-sheeted door with 2×3 glazing in the upper part. To the left of the entrance are three 6/6 vertically sliding sash windows, and one to the right. The sashes have stops and the sills are of traditional depths. Early style small-paned sash windows characterise the front appearance. Two small top-hung casement windows without sills in the right-hand gable light the upper accommodation. The opposite gable is blank.

The rear elevation has evolved over time, with metal-framed windows installed at a later period. The sequence of openings from the right-hand corner comprises a 2×3 metal framed window, a timber-sheeted door, a 2×3 metal framed window, and an 8/8 vertically-sliding window at upper level, all without sills. A lean-to scullery with corrugated iron roof adjoins at this point, with a timber-sheeted door on one side and a top-hung timber window with traditional depth sill on the other. Beyond this is a top-hung metal framed window without sill, with sashes divided into two vertically. A lean-to toilet structure with corrugated iron roof abuts the south-east gable, lit by a plain-sashed top-hung timber-framed window without sill.

The layout has been altered somewhat, as has the detailing, but the basic intention of the original builders remains clear. Internally, important features survive including the kitchen fireplace, although modified, plank doors, and the upper rooms.

The outbuildings have walls similar to the dwelling with corrugated iron roof finish on timber rafters. There are three Ulster pillars and two traditional wrought iron blacksmith-made gates—one a farm gate and the other a garden gate.

Historical records show a building on this site on the 1830 Ordnance Survey map, though not recorded in contemporary valuation. The revised map of 1856–57 shows what appears to be the same building with the enclosure but no outbuildings. The 1856 valuation records the occupants as John and Patrick McKenna, with Sir Henry H. Bruce as the immediate lessor, and a rateable value of £1. The house was re-thatched in 1979 using wheat straw, with repairs undertaken in 1985, 1989 and 1990. Re-thatching occurred again in 1991 (with a repair in 1996) and 2001, using flax on these latter occasions.

The listing extends to the house, outbuildings, walling, gate pillars and gates.