Cargabane House, 5 Cargabane Road, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1SB

Cargabane House is an attractive symmetrical farmhouse of early 19th-century date, set in mature grounds on the south side of Cargabane Road near Newry. The building retains its original external features, though a full evaluation cannot be made until internal access is gained.

The house is a two-storey, three-bay structure with a pitched natural slate roof aligned north-east to south-west. Cement rendered chimneys rise from each gable, with a third chimney from the wall-head to the right of centre on the rear pitch. The gables have plain bargeboards and timber eaves carrying modern half-round plastic rainwater goods. The front elevation faces north-west and is built in harled rubble stone (with harling mostly lost) with brick dressings to the window openings. A single dressed granite step with curved ends leads to the front door at ground floor centre. The door is a reproduction four-panelled design with bolection moulding, fitted with an original cast iron knocker and knob. It is flanked by four-paned sidelights with margin panes and a fielded apron panel. Above the door and sidelights is a semi-elliptical fanlight with radial spider's web glazing, with a modern light fitting on the wall above. Each remaining bay on the façade has a 6/6 exposed box sash window with no horns and a dressed granite cill; those to the first floor are slightly diminished in height and width. The left gable is lined rendered at ground floor with harled stonework above (mostly lost). It contains a 6/6 sash at ground floor left and a similar window at first floor right, both of the same size. The right gable is lined rendered in cement. The rear elevation is cement wet-dashed and abutted at ground floor by a lean-to return with a mono-pitched natural slate roof. The first floor has four modern top-hung casement windows of varying sizes with rendered cills, while the ground floor is blank. All windows throughout are fitted with dressed granite cills.

A lean-to return projects from the rear elevation, with a t-and-g sheeted door on its left gable and one on its front wall. Its right gable has a small metal-framed window.

The rear yard is accessed through a pair of flat iron gates with dog bars and rams-horn finials, approached up a long lane. The yard is enclosed on three sides by outbuildings and to the north-west by the rear of the house. It is partially cobbled with the remainder in concrete.

Six outbuildings of rubble stone construction with natural slate roofs enclose and define the rear yard. In the south-west corner is a single-storey, single-bay woodshed with its south-east gable rebuilt in concrete blockwork and fitted with a t-and-g sheeted door. Enclosing the south-west side of the yard is a linear single-storey block with a curved west corner to accommodate access into the yard from the drive. Its roof has an apsidal west end with a red brick chimney on the ridge and two cast iron skylights on its drive-facing pitch. The north-west gable is blank, while its south-east gable abuts the large two-storey barn. Its yard-facing elevation has three t-and-g sheeted doors, one 2/2 sash window, and a similar vented opening.

A large two-storey barn aligned south-west to north-east encloses the rear of the yard. Its pitched natural slate roof has six cast iron skylights on its rear pitch. The yard-facing elevation has a t-and-g sheeted door at the left, to its right is a small corrugated iron lean-to with a small window above. To the centre is a large sliding metal door, with a t-and-g sheeted door to its right. This elevation is abutted at its extreme right end by the linear block described above. The left gable is abutted by a single-storey block and is blank above. The rear elevation features a large return to centre under a cat-slide of the main roof. The remaining right part of the rear elevation has a t-and-g sheeted door, while the remaining left part has a small metal-framed window. The left gable of the barn opens onto the driveway and has a small window at ground floor left and a loading door in the gable.

A small single-storey block occupies the north-east corner of the yard, abutting the left gable of the barn. It has a pitched natural slate roof with a pair of t-and-g sheeted doors on its yard-facing wall. Its left gable has a small metal-framed window, with building 5 abutting its rear elevation.

A single-bay block with a steeply hipped natural slate roof abuts building 4. Its front wall abuts building 4, while its left and right walls each have a t-and-g sheeted door. Its rear wall is blank.

A single-storey block encloses the north-east side of the yard, with a hipped natural slate roof slated with exaggerated vertical gaps to ventilate the roof. Its yard-facing elevation has a large t-and-g sheeted sliding door, with the remaining elevations blank. To its east is a one-and-a-half-storey rubble stone block of lesser architectural interest. Behind the barn, to the immediate rear of the traditional farmyard, stands a large modern farm building.

The setting is substantial and carefully composed. The front gates to Cargabane Road are hung on large one-piece dressed granite posts with moulded pyramidal caps. The pair of wrought iron gates have cast iron finials and collars to the main bars and dog bars. The gates and posts are flanked to left and right by short lengths of hoop-topped railings supported at their outer ends by small plain granite posts. The long main driveway is lined with beech hedges. As it approaches the house it branches left into the front garden and continues ahead to the rear of the house. The mature front garden is enclosed by a pair of hoop-topped wrought iron gates on dressed granite piers. The drive curves to the front of the house, with a corrugated iron garage positioned just to its left.

The property is shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, though the first Valuation map of around the same date is missing, making it impossible to ascertain from the first Valuation book whether its dimensions match those of the present house. It may be of early 19th-century date. The house is shown on the 1859 Ordnance Survey map and was occupied by William Young at the time of the 1862 Valuation. Its valuation increased from £8 to £8 10s 0d in 1877, and by a further 10s 0d in 1881 – these increases probably reflect the addition of outbuildings.