54 Mullanahoe Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, BT71 5AT

A detached two-storey three-bay Victorian farmhouse and former rectory, built in 1858, with associated farmyard and outbuildings. The house faces east towards the road and has a certain charm in its proportions and materials, though it is a common type and relatively late, and inappropriate alterations have further compromised its worth.

The front east elevation is built of coursed rubble with cut-stone quoins. The square-headed doorway is positioned at the centre, now fitted with replacement uPVC with overlight and red brick surround. The doorway is flanked by two square-headed windows with replacement uPVC windows, stone sills and red brick surrounds. Three similar windows appear on the upper storey. Above the door a plaque set into the wall reads: "built by the Rev. Charles Montague P.P. Ardboe 1858".

The south gable elevation is a mixture of stone and red brick, with one window matching those described above and a smaller window to the attic. A red brick chimney rises to the apex. The rear west elevation is stone with cut-stone quoins. It features a segmental-headed door opening with replacement uPVC door and various window openings with segmental heads to the ground floor, all with replacement windows and surrounds as described. The north gable elevation is similar to the south, with two window openings and a small concrete boilerhouse attached to it.

Throughout, the external walls are coursed rubble with some red brick to the gables. Cut-stone quoins face all corners, and red brick surrounds all openings. The pitched roof is slate-covered. Red brick chimneys with two clay pots each rise to both gables. All rainwater goods are plastic. An Ordnance Survey benchmark has been carved into one of the lower quoins on the southeast corner.

To the rear of the house is a small single-storey rendered outbuilding with a monopitch corrugated metal roof. Further outbuildings to the south, generally rendered with corrugated metal roofs, contain the original six-over-six timber sash windows from the house.

The house is adjacent to the road with a small garden to the front and outbuildings to the south. A road junction lies immediately to the north, with a side road extending west alongside the house. A side garden to the north is separated from the front garden by a stone wall. The front is enclosed by a timber fence and the side by a hedge. A cast-iron pedestrian gate to Mullanahoe Road has rendered piers, while another cast-iron gate to the side road leads via a path through the garden to a similar gate opening into the yard. A rear garden lies behind the house to the west.

Historical Background

An earlier building occupied this site, shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833-34 and recorded in the first valuation of the same date as an old thatched house occupied by John Purvis. The house and its associated offices were then rated at the modest sum of £2-4-0, but declared exempt from valuation in the 1838 revision. In the second valuation book of 1859, Reverend Charles Montague is listed as occupant, with John Mackey as immediate lessor. The property was clearly serving as a parochial house. The valuers noted that the house was "in progress" (being rebuilt) at that point. The new dwelling was completed the following year with a rateable value of £8. Reverend Charles Montague died around 1893, after which the house appears to have lain vacant for a period. By 1903, Daniel O'Donnell was tenant, followed by William J. Ferguson in 1906. Mr Ferguson acquired the freehold sometime between 1929 and 1935 and remained in residence in 1957.