14-16 Bridge Street (aka Bridge house) Castledawson, Magherafelt, Co Londonderry BT45 8AD

The house faces north-east a short distance behind a hedge and forecourt that borders Bridge Street that is accessed from an intersection with Main Street. The hedge terminates at the south-east end in a square pillar from which proceeds a railing at right angles to enclose the forecourt. The right-hand (north-west) gable of the house overlooks the Moyola River and the street continues past Christ Church to Moyala Park. A pair of curved-headed, spearheaded flat iron gates hung on large square pillars with rough stone tops, give access to the yard. A two storey five bay direct entry thatched house with roughcast or harled coloured finish. Originally a pair of two storey houses with attics that have been converted into one dwelling. Raising of the road in front of the premises necessitated the formation of a brick-vaulted structure to permit access to the houses. The thatched covering is dressed over the gables and is finished with a deep fascia at the front and at the rear. Each gable rises to a chimneystack with corbelled and flaunched top and there is a similar feature over the present dining room fireplace position. Each stack is provided with two black fireclay pots. The elevation to the roadside has two four panelled entrance doors each with Chippendale style fanlights that divide the frontage into three sections to contain a 6/6 vertically sliding window without sash stops and with sills of intermediate depths. The dressings to the openings are plain. The south-east gable contains a 6-pane casement window and the opposite gable has a fifteen-pane and a twelve-pane casement at ground floor level and with a four-pane and a two pane casement window at the upper level. The rear of the building that has a harled and coloured finish exhibits a variety of window types at varying levels. Lighting the ground floor there are two 6/6 vertically sliding windows and a twelve-pane casement window without a sill. Above this at landing level there is a six-pane casement. The first floor is lighted by a 8/8 vertically sliding window, without sash stops or a sill and with the framing exposed and set at the face of the building together with two 6/6 vertically sliding windows that on the right having exposed frames set on the face of the building and with the head level lower than the others. The sashed windows are not provided with sash stops and the sills are of varying depths at the leading faces. The windows above at landing level are a six-pane casement with narrow sill and a four-pane light that is without a sill. The right-hand (south-east) gable is heavily buttressed at the rear. A single storey annex with natural slated roof abuts the south-east gable of the house with in front a lean-to corrugated iron roofed lean-to store.