3 Corliss Road Corliss Crossmaglen Co. Armagh BT35 9AY

3 Corliss Road, Corliss, Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh

A detached, asymmetrical single-storey four-bay lobby-entry vernacular dwelling with an attached outhouse to the right-hand side and a flat roof entrance porch to the south. The building predates the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey maps (1832–1846), with outbuildings to the south and southwest documented by the 3rd Edition map (1900–1907). Access from Corliss Road to the north is via a rock-hewn laneway.

The principal building is constructed of roughcast-rendered rubblestone walling. The central portion of the roof is covered with corrugated tin sheeting, which conceal remnants of thatch beneath, with a flush verge marking its junction with adjoining natural slate roofs. These pitched slate roofs are flanked by lime-rendered brick chimneys and finished with terracotta ridge tiles and flush concrete verges to the end gables. The porch roof has a flat concrete finish. There are no rainwater goods present.

The south-facing elevation contains square-headed window openings with stone heads and granite sills, though the timber window frames have been laterally replaced with timber and metal sheet boarding. A square-headed door opening at the front of the entrance porch retains a timber door frame with vertical sheeting to the door. The right-hand end bay, assumed to be an outhouse, has a single door opening. The rear (north) elevation is partially retaining, with one square-headed window opening with a stone sill and a single timber-framed window to the right-hand side of the central corrugated roof section. The east elevation of the outhouse consists of exposed rubblestone with a flush verge and the remains of a single window opening near the apex of the gable, featuring a stone head and boarding with timber planks. The west elevation is blank, presenting an exposed rubble wall with flush verge.

To the southwest stands a single-storey detached outbuilding (Outbuilding 1) with a pitched natural slate roof and flush verge. It has no rainwater goods. The north-facing front elevation displays exposed rubblestone walling with a centrally positioned double door-sized opening clad with horizontal corrugated sheeting. Both side elevations have timber-framed single door openings with remains of vertical timber-sheeted doors. Attached to the rear (south) are the remains of a corrugated-sheeted mono-pitched roof enclosure with rubblestone walls interspersed with concrete block and vertical corrugated tin infill. Ruinous rubblestone walls to the east are linked to Outbuilding 2 (to the southeast) via double gated rubblestone piers with original gates in situ.

To the southeast is a single-storey three-bay asymmetrical detached outbuilding (Outbuilding 2) with a pitched corrugated tin roof and flush verge. It has no rainwater goods. The north-facing front elevation shows exposed rubblestone walling with an off-centre timber-framed door and a high-level metal-framed four-paned window to the right. Attached to the left is a lower pitched corrugated tin roof with a fully exposed opening to the north. Rubblestone walling with flush verges faces east, featuring a single stone-headed square window aperture in the centre of the gable. Attached to the right and to the left-hand side gate pillar is a nondescript mono-pitched corrugated tin roof with exposed rubblestone walls.

The complex is located to the south of Corliss Road, set within descending, uneven ground with rock outcrops. The outbuildings are arranged around the forecourt of the south-facing dwelling, with the eastern enclosure of the forecourt defined by a more recent mono-pitched concrete structure. The principal dwelling retains a strong vernacular quality with a protruding windbreak and irregularly placed openings with pitched corrugated tin and slated roofs, likely replacements for thatch. The surviving outbuildings and rubblestone walling delineating the complex contribute to a pleasing farmyard composition. The survival of interior fittings and furniture provides insight into the way of life of farmers with small holdings in earlier times and demonstrates the rich variety of vernacular house styles and types in rural Armagh. The principal dwelling house predates 1835 and represents a relatively untouched vernacular complex in this rural setting.