Killymain House, 15 Maloon Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone

Killymain House is an unusual example of a vernacular farmhouse that underwent gentrification, probably in the 1930s. Built around 1830, it represents an individual interpretation of robust formality that expresses the historic development of the property. As vernacular houses become increasingly rare, one with such decorative elements is particularly noteworthy. The setting amongst a well-preserved group of mainly vernacular outbuildings adds further significance.

The main house is a single-storey rendered farmhouse of long, rectangular plan with a single-storey return to the rear. A single-storey outbuilding stands to the North gable, and a single-storey lean-to adjoins the South gable. The front East elevation is rendered with ruled-and-lined cement and is six bays wide. A projecting single-storey porch projects from the fourth bay, featuring a square-headed door with rendered surround and pitched roof with artificial fish-scale or diamond-pattern tiles. Decorative carved timber fascia boards embellish the porch gable. The front façade rests on a rendered plinth.

The front elevation windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash with painted concrete sills. To the left and right of the porch are three and two square-headed windows respectively. These have projecting painted concrete shouldered and heeled square-moulded surrounds with central keystones, and feature 2/2 timber sliding sash frames with margin panes, set on painted concrete sills. The South elevation is obscured at ground floor by the lean-to and has no gable openings. The North elevation is unpainted roughcast render with no openings.

The rear elevation is painted roughcast render with an assortment of square-headed windows—a mix of 1/1 and 2/2 timber sliding sash frames, some with margin panes, set on cut-stone sills. The single-storey rear return has a square-headed timber sheeted door to the North and a replacement uPVC window to the rear; its walls are painted brick and the roof is pitched with artificial tiles. The South lean-to has painted roughcast render walls, a square-headed timber door to the East elevation, and a sloped corrugated metal roof.

The pitched roof of the main house is clad with artificial fish-scale or diamond-pattern tiles. Three brick chimneys with profiled stepped capping sit on the ridge line. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

The single-storey North outbuilding has a square-headed timber sheeted door, no openings to the North gable, and a single square-headed opening to the rear elevation. Walls are painted roughcast render, and the roof is pitched with the same tile pattern, sagging slightly at the centre.

The L-shaped outbuilding adjoins the North elevation of the house via a single-storey lean-to with a square-headed timber sheeted door facing the yard and painted corrugated metal roof. The North wing of the L-shape has a timber sheeted half-door to the South elevation, largely blank North elevation with ventilator openings, and a gable-ended East elevation with a single square-headed opening at high level. The roof is pitched with corrugated metal. The South wing has two timber sheeted doors facing the yard and two small square-headed timber casement windows at high level; the roadside East elevation has no openings. External walls throughout are painted rubble stone and roughcast render. The South gable is partially obscured by a projecting single-storey lean-to with a square-headed opening, and a wrought-iron wind vane surmounts the gable apex.

The farmyard setting includes additional outbuildings to the Northeast. A small single-storey lean-to links the North outbuilding with the L-shaped outbuilding. South of the L-shape is another single-storey lean-to with a water pump opposite. A single-storey painted corrugated metal shed with rounded roof stands to the South. Across Maloon Road to the East are larger concrete and metal sheds built around 1960—one with pitched metal roof to the north and one with rounded metal roof to the south.

Historical records show a house occupied this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34, though it was not noted in the contemporary valuation. By the second valuation of 1857, William Faulkner occupied the property as tenant of Messrs Gunning & Moore, local mill owners who had purchased much of the Stewart family's Cookstown estate in 1852. The rateable value was a modest £1–5–0. The property remained with the Faulkner family until 1942, when John Gourley is recorded as owner. Gourley was still in residence in 1957.