38 Ballygoskin Road, Ballygoskin, Crossgar, Co. Down, BT30 9LW

38 Ballygoskin Road is a substantially altered single-storey vernacular farm house of pre-1834 origin, located to the north of Ballygoskin Road approximately 3 miles north-east of Crossgar, County Down.

The building originated as a linear cottage dwelling with a thatched roof, a form it retained when first surveyed in September 1978. It has since undergone extensive renovation and alteration, with large gabled extensions in breeze block added to both front and rear, and the thatch replaced with natural Spanish slate. At the time of survey, the building was undergoing substantial renovation with extensions in active construction.

The front (south) façade features a large gabled projection in breeze block positioned right of centre, to whose east face is a timber-sheeted doorway with small glazed panel. The gable itself has a right-of-centre sash window with Georgian-like panes (six over six) and thick glazing bars; unusually, the top sash slides open. To the left of this projection on the main front façade are five unevenly spaced sash windows, the rightmost of which has eight panes over eight. A further eight-over-eight sash window appears to the right of the gabled projection on the main front façade.

The main east gable displays two tall narrow windows with modern frames and merges with the east face of a recently added single-storey rear return in breeze block, which features a large picture window with modern frame. The gable of this return is blank; its west face contains a large modern sliding patio door ensemble. The main west gable likewise has two windows and merges with the west side of a single-storey rear return containing a single modern window; this return's gable also bears a modern window. The rear façade of the main building, positioned between the two returns, contains a door matching that at the front, with small four-pane fixed-light windows positioned to both far left and far right.

The original main building is constructed of random fieldstone rubble (greywacke); the extensions and returns are in unrendered breeze block. All timber windows retain timber cills. The roofs are gabled and covered in natural Spanish slate with plain barge board overhangs. Two small brick chimney stacks rise from the main roof. Solar panels have been added to the front of the main roof and to the east return. A well lies to the north of the house. Former gates to the south have been removed, though the gates themselves have been preserved by the owner.

A building is recorded on this site in Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and 1859. The 1837 valuation records suggest either this house or one slightly to the north-east was occupied by James Wilson, though some uncertainty exists regarding which building the valuation map key refers to. The 1861 valuation unambiguously states the house was home to William White, who leased it from Charles Mathews. The current owner reports possessing documents indicating the house was built in 1732 and once belonged to a man named Taylor; whilst these dates could not be confirmed by the surveyors, a Thomas Taylor is recorded as owning the nearby farmstead now known as 'The Fort' for much of the 19th century.

The property was acquired by the current owner after lying derelict for some years. The building is not listed for architectural or historical interest.