39 Low Road, Newry, Co. Armagh, BT35 8RH

A restored single-storey vernacular dwelling set within a traditional farm complex on the west side of Low Road, Newry, dating from the early 19th century. The house is aligned north-east to south-west and formerly comprised two bays with an outbuilding to the left gable; the outbuilding has since been incorporated into the dwelling, adding two further bays.

The pitched roof is thatched and decorated at the ridge and overhanging eaves with four straw birds perched on the ridge. The roof has raised skews and three lime-rendered chimneys—one to each gable and one between bays two and three as viewed from the east. The walls are lime-rendered and whitewashed with a contrasting basecourse.

The principal elevation faces south-east. Each bay has a window, all 2/2 exposed box sliding sashes with horns and painted granite cills; the window to bay one (formerly the outbuilding) has a concrete cill. To the right of bay three is a windbreak porch with a tongue-and-groove half door. The left and right cheeks are blank, as are the left and right gables of the main house. The left gable has been reconstructed using coursing resembling 'crazy paving'. The rear elevation has been altered; original openings have been modified to create a façade-like appearance with the addition of a windbreak porch and several window openings. From left: bays one and two have a single window each; bay three has a windbreak porch set to the left with two windows to its right; bay four has a single window set at a lower level. All windows on the rear have external security grilles.

To the front of the site stands a single-storey outbuilding with its left gable facing the road. It has a pitched natural slate roof and half-round cast-iron rainwater goods draining into a timber barrel. The walls are lime-rendered, with exposed random rubble facing the yard to the north-east. The outbuilding has two broad tongue-and-groove sheeted half doors with external grilles and a window opening set below eaves level to the right end. The left gable and rear elevation are blank. The right gable is abutted by a lean-to cart-house with a corrugated metal roof.

The dwelling and outbuildings are enclosed to the road by a lime-rendered and whitewashed random rubble wall. At each end are pairs of gate piers supporting wrought-iron gates; those at the left end are cylindrical whilst those at the right are square-in-section. The front site is gravelled with a garden to the rear.

Valuation records indicate a small one-storey structure on this plot in 1835 with no valuation recorded. By 1862 the valuation was £1 10s 0d, rising to £2 5s 0d in 1869 and remaining unchanged thereafter. This increase likely relates to the addition of the outbuilding extension to the gable and/or yard outbuildings. The house was occupied until 1994 by Mr Leo Jordan and has since been restored. It is presently leased to Drumintee Jonesborough Senior Citizens Club.

The restoration work is generally well executed and attractive; however, some detailing—notably the decorative embellishment to the thatching and the render to the gable—is not historically accurate.