15 Turnavall Road, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1LZ

15 Turnavall Road is a one and a half storey, three bay farmhouse of late 19th century date, set in large mature gardens on the south side of Turnavall Road opposite the Flax Mill. The building shows good architectural detailing though is not of special interest.

The pitched natural slate roof is aligned north to south with a crested terracotta ridge and overhanging eaves carrying decorative tails with half-round metal rainwater goods. End gables have king-post bargeboards resting on central masonry corbels. Painted and rendered chimneys sit to each gable with moulded copings. The front east pitch carries three gabled wall-head dormers, and the rear pitch ties into the rear return roof. Walls are lined rendered and painted with projecting chamfered basecourse. All window cills are dressed granite, stooled.

The front elevation faces east. At ground floor centre is a timber porch with hipped natural slate roof and chamfered timber frame, four panels wide and one deep. Each panel contains a shouldered glazed light and diagonally sheeted apron panel, with the central two panels forming doors. A dressed granite threshold runs across. Left and right bays at ground floor are identical, each with a canted single-storey bay window under natural slate roof. The three cheeks of each bay contain pairs of side-hung casements with integrated square transoms. Three wall-head dormers punctuate the façade, one to each bay, all with decorative Gothic Revival style bargeboards. The central dormer is slightly larger than the other two and contains three narrow 1/1 sash windows; the left and right dormers each contain a pair of similar windows. All have stop-end chamfered reveals and shared granite cills. The right gable has a pair of French windows with transom at ground floor. At first floor there are three regularly spaced 1/1 sash windows detailed as those to front.

The rear elevation is abutted on its right by a lower two-storey return. The remaining narrow right section and left section of the rear elevation are smooth rendered and painted, each with a 1/1 sash at first floor. To the centre of the rear elevation at the join with the return is a small single-storey bay of full quadrant curve under a slated quarter conical roof, containing a pair of 2/2 sash windows to each floor with walls matching the rear elevation.

The rear return has a pitched natural slate roof aligned west to east with tiled skews to the west gable. Two chimneys sit on the ridge, one at the join with the main block and one halfway along. The north pitch carries a cast iron skylight. The north elevation is in two bays. The left bay has a modern uPVC conservatory abutting it. The right bay has two infilled windows at ground floor and is blank at first floor. The end west gable has a 2/2 sash window at first floor. The south elevation of the return has a modern 1/1 timber casement window. The right bay has two small wall-head dormers with plain bargeboards. Ground floor left bay has a glazed modern door and modern 1/1 casement window; the right bay has a similar window at ground floor. A small lean-to links the return to the ground floor right corner of the main house, with a modern four-paned casement window to its south face.

The left gable of the main house has two windows at ground floor left: the left one is a 1/1 sash with stop-end reveals, and the right one is larger, containing two modern casements with a transom over and plain reveals. At first floor are three regularly spaced 1/1 sash windows with chamfered reveals.

The large mature garden features a serpentine driveway from the road with a concave screen consisting of a modern painted brick wall and a pair of 19th century wrought iron gates with dog bars, diagonal braces and pinched hoop tops, hanging on slender reeded cast iron posts with bulbous caps. A modern driveway serves the farmyard with mostly modern agricultural buildings. Immediately to the rear of the house a traditional farmyard is enclosed to its rear west side by a two-storey outbuilding with hipped natural slate roof and rendered, whitewashed rubble stone walls.

A building stood at this location on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6 inch map. The 1836 Valuation book records its occupant as Andrew Scott with dimensions of 45 feet 6 inches by 24 feet by 11 feet 6 inches, with a return of 21 feet by 19 feet by 6 feet. It was captioned 'Greenlawn' on the 1860 map. The 1862 Valuation notes its owner as John Glenny and its dimensions broadly similar, described as a one storey building with attic. Its valuation at this time was £9, continuing at this rate until 1891 when it increased to £25 10 shillings. Although still cited as Greenlawn on the 1903 Ordnance Survey map, the significant rise in value suggests a major extension of the original house or complete rebuild, likely occurring in the 1880s to 1890s.