Clogher House, Old Course Road, Clogher, Downpatrick, Co Down, BT30 8[?AQ]

Clogher House is a substantial, relatively plain two-storey farmhouse set on the east side of Old Course Road, less than a mile south of Downpatrick. The building originates from before 1834, but was raised to its present height at some point after this, possibly in the 1870s–80s or later.

The symmetrical front façade faces roughly west. At the centre of the ground floor stands a large, relatively recent gabled porch or conservatory containing the original elliptical-headed doorway with glazed double doors, sidelights, and an elliptical fanlight with decorative radial and spider-web tracery. To the left and right of the porch are two windows each, all with modern frames. The first floor has six much smaller evenly spaced windows, also with modern frames. All front façade windows are finished with simple baroque moulding beneath their sills, probably added in the early 1900s. The north gable has a single window with a modern frame on the ground floor; the south gable is blank.

The rear elevation is composed of two sections, with the right third recessed. On the ground floor to the left is a sash window with Georgian panes (6/6), to the left of which stretches a large lean-to extension across much of the ground floor, fitted with modern windows and a glazed door. The first floor of the main building contains four small sash windows: the first three are plain, the fourth has margin panes, and the fifth (in the recessed portion and slightly larger) is 2/2. The façade is finished in lined render and painted.

The main roof is slated with four evenly spaced yellow brick chimney stacks. The lean-to roof has an artificial covering with a Velux window. Rainwater goods are a mixture of metal and PVC.

A building of the same footprint is recorded in the 1838 valuation at only 10 feet in height, likely corresponding to the present dwelling before its roof was raised. The yellow brick chimneys and some internal detailing suggest a late 19th-century or early 20th-century date for this alteration, though the main entrance and fire surround in the north bedroom have a mid-19th-century appearance. The timing of the roof raising cannot be determined with certainty without further evidence. Much of the rear lean-to, which contains the kitchen, was added in 1968. In 1838, George Russell occupied the property, and it remains in the hands of his descendants.