Outbuilding, Ballydrumman/Leitrim Road Crossroads, Leitrim, Banbridge, Co Down, BT31 9SL

A two-storey mid-19th-century linear outbuilding located at the main crossroads in Leitrim village, north-west of Castlewellan, adjacent to an associated double-pile house incorporating shop and public house. The building exhibits fine masonry construction techniques, with its original character and detailing largely surviving. Together with the neighbouring pub and shop, it forms a traditional grouping that is becoming rare and represents a good example of this type of village commercial and domestic arrangement.

The outbuilding is of vernacular construction with a rectangular plan. It has a pitched natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and plastic rainwater goods on slightly projecting stone eaves. The walling is random rubble masonry built to courses on the main elevations, bedded in lime-render, with roughly dressed granite quoins. Window openings are varied, generally 6/6 timber sash with exposed boxes lacking horns, finished with dressed granite lintels and without cills. Doors are typically timber sheeted.

The principal north-facing elevation features, from left to right on the ground floor: a stable door, an additional stable door flanked by metal-framed casement openings, a cart-door with a painted brick relieving arch fronted by a double metal-sheeted sliding door flanked by windows, and a further stable door with a window to its right. All stable doors have a wide painted border. The loft contains, from left to right, a window without glazing, a loading door on plinth blocks, and four sash windows, with a single sash window offset above the cart door. The east gable is abutted by a set of external granite steps leading to a loft door; these steps are themselves abutted by a painted monolithic masonry pier supporting a metal field gate. A small section of gabling has collapsed, and a small patch of crude cement pointing is evident. The rear elevation is largely blank, with a stable door at the far right and a series of three small ventilation apertures formed in the masonry. The west gable is similar to the east.

The outbuilding sits at the crossroads with road frontage, earth and gravelled hardstandings, and a concrete yard to the rear. The main house incorporating the pub and shop stands to the north, with modern housing development to the south.

Historical records indicate that although a building existed on the site prior to the first Ordnance Survey of 1834, valuation records suggest the early structure was a single-storey thatched building. The present byre was rebuilt after 1860. The Townland Valuation of 1828-40 records James Savage as tenant of the public house, with dimensions given for a thatched pub, slated annexe, and two single-storey outbuildings, one slated and one thatched, valued together at £8. Griffith's Valuation of 1856-64 lists the house and outbuildings at £11, with Patrick Murphy leasing over 20 acres of land and the buildings from the Earl of Annesley. The outbuilding dimensions are recorded as 72 by 17 feet, but it remained single-storey and thatched at this date. Annual revisions raised the valuation to £20 10 shillings in the mid-1860s, suggesting additions or improvements. Michael McCartan took over the farm and buildings in 1884, and in 1885 a new outbuilding was added to the site. The third edition Ordnance Survey map shows the new building to the rear of the pub and a further single-storey shed beside the present building. Michael McCartan died on 24 December 1897 as an exceptionally wealthy man, leaving a fortune of nearly £18,000. He bequeathed £500 to his brother, a parish priest of Seago, for the support of poor priests in Ireland, with the remainder of his estate divided equally among his two brothers, including Owen McCartan. The pub passed to Owen McCartan in 1899. The 1901 census records him as a spirit merchant and Irish speaker aged 64, living in the house with six servants, three employed as grocer's assistants including a 15-year-old boy, one working on the farm, and two women as general domestics. The public house comprised 16 rooms designated first class, with 16 outbuildings including two stables, a coach house, harness room, and numerous agricultural buildings. By 1911, Owen McCartan described himself as a general merchant, employing a live-in shop manager, two shop assistants, and two female domestic servants. He died on 7 January 1912, leaving a considerable fortune of over £9,000 apparently to his brother the priest. Edward McAnulty subsequently purchased the premises in 1912 for £4,060, including the licence, goodwill, and 20 acres of land near Leitrim station. In 1915 the designation "shop" was added to the description and the valuation was raised to £30, indicating improvements made at that time. In 1920 a second pile was added to the rear of the pub-house, raising the valuation to £37, though this was lowered to £30 in 1921 following an appeal. A petrol pump was added to the site in 1929, with the valuation raised to £34 as a consequence. Valuer's notes from the 1930s describe the current building as a "byre". A coach house and further byre are shown to the north of the current building, with stables, a Dutch barn, and potato house to the rear of the pub. The pub owner had his own electric plant in the 1930s and supplied electricity to the parish priest's house and chapel. The outbuilding continues in agricultural use by the owner of the nearby bar.