3 Corliss Road Corliss Crossmaglen Co. Armagh BT35 9AY

3 Corliss Road is a detached, single-storey, four-bay lobby-entry vernacular dwelling with an attached outhouse to the right-hand side and a flat-roofed entrance porch to the south. The principal dwelling pre-dates the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1835, making it an increasingly rare surviving example of a hearth-lobby vernacular building in rural County Armagh. Together with its attendant outbuildings, the complex retains its historic farmyard setting and provides a remarkable insight into the way of life of small-holding farmers in earlier times.

The building is asymmetrical in plan and sits to the south of Corliss Road, accessed via a rock-hewn laneway from the north. The complex is 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 walling throughout is roughcast render over rubblestone construction. Window openings are square-headed with stone heads and granite sills; the original timber window frames have largely been supplanted with timber and metal sheet boarding. The front entrance porch has a square-headed door opening with a timber door frame and vertically sheeted door. The end bay on the right-hand side is assumed to function as an outhouse and has a single door opening. There are no rainwater goods anywhere on the complex.

The roofing arrangement is notable: the central portion of the roof is corrugated tin sheeting, beneath which remnants of thatch survive, with a flush verge defining its junction with the adjoining natural slate roofs on either side. The slated sections have terracotta ridge tiles and flush concrete verges to the end gables, and are flanked by lime-rendered brick chimneys. The porch has a flat concrete roof finish.

The rear north elevation is partially retaining, with one square-headed window opening featuring a stone sill and a single-opening timber-framed window to the right-hand side of the central corrugated roof section. The east elevation of the outhouse section has exposed rubblestone walling with a flush verge and the remains of a single window opening near the apex of the gable, with a stone head, boarded with timber planks. The west elevation is blank with exposed rubblestone walling and a flush verge.

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

To the southeast stands a single-storey, three-bay, asymmetrical detached outbuilding (Outbuilding 2) with a pitched corrugated tin roof, flush verge, and no rainwater goods. Its north-facing front elevation has 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. The east-facing elevation has rubblestone walling with flush verges and a single stone-headed square window aperture at 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.

Although the dwelling is no longer inhabited, its interior remains relatively intact. It retains what appear to be original roof timbers, an original hearth with a rotary bellows and fire crane, and a jamb wall with a logie hole. Original interior fittings and furniture survive throughout, further enriching the complex.

The history of the site is well documented. Evidence of settlement predates the first edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1832 to 1846. A dwelling of vernacular proportions is shown on both the first edition map of 1835 and the second edition of 1862. In Griffith's Valuation of 1864, the house and outbuildings are listed as the residence of Peter Roddy (also recorded as Ruddy in later documents), who leased the property at a valuation of 15 shillings from the local landlord Thomas P. Ball. Two detached outbuildings were added to the site between 1862 and 1907, a change that may be connected to a rise in the valuation of house and outbuildings to £1 10 shillings in 1890. The house appears also to have extended lengthwise between 1862 and 1907, likely through the addition of the attached outhouse to the right of the dwelling.

In the 1901 census, farmer Peter Ruddy was recorded as living in the house with his wife Anne and seven children ranging in age from four to fourteen. By 1911, Peter had died and Anne remained at the house as a widow with five of their children. In both census years the house was recorded as thatched, with three windows to the front elevation and three rooms, and with five to six outbuildings on the site. At the time of the First General Revaluation in 1933, the property was still occupied by the Ruddy family. Recorded dimensions at that time show the building comprised a kitchen and two bedrooms: the central two bays, measuring 26 by 17 by 10 feet, were still thatched, while the left-hand bay, measuring 16 by 17 by 9 feet, was slated. The detached outbuilding to the west of the site was extended after 1956.

This is a good example of a relatively untouched vernacular complex. The protruding windbreak, irregularly placed openings, mix of corrugated tin and natural slate roofing — which likely replaced an earlier thatch covering — and the survival of rubblestone walling delineating the complex all contribute to its strong vernacular character. Its rarity, age, authenticity, and the quality of its surviving interior make it of considerable architectural and historical interest.