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The Old Rectory

Map Location: Town Area, 25

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In a quiant garden, a large two-storey whitewashed and thatched cottage is flanked by two large hedges.

Where is it from?

The large, stone-built, two-storied house came from the townland of Lismacloskey, about one mile east of Toomebridge on the old road to Randalstown, County Antrim. It was dismantled and moved to the Folk Museum in 1971.

There are no known records to show when the house was built. In 1972, scientists at Queen’s University Belfast analysed the growth rings in samples of oak timber taken from the roof and fixed the date of construction as 1717.

Why is it special?

The house is remarkable for its age, with its steeply pitched thatched roof and impressive chimney breast. The wall oven in the kitchen is a feature associated with early English Planter settlement. Such a feature is rare in Ulster, where the majority of settlers were Scottish in origin. 

A whitewashed cottage with a thatch roof stands in the sun.
The steep thatched roof is an impressive feature of the Old Rectory.
A large chimney breast stretches from floor to ceiling. It is white washed and tiered.
The chimney breast stretches from floor-to-ceiling of the second storey.
The interior of a cottage bedroom. A side table with a wash basin is visible.
An extension was added in the early 1830s.
A whitewashed cottage with a thatch roof stands in the sun.
The steep thatched roof is an impressive feature of the Old Rectory.

In the early 1830s a building extension at one gable end behind the hearth added two new rooms to the house: the parlour downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. 

Who lived there?

The McCullagh family lived in the house for most of its history. According to McCullagh family tradition, an earlier resident of the house was a Captain Archibald McCallion who had fought as an officer in the British forces during the American War of Independence.

An old black and white photograph of a man. His dress is formal and he stares off to the right.
David McCullagh. Photograph courtesy of the McCullagh family. HOYFM.SCH2022.46.1
An old black and white photograph of four women posing for a photograph in a garden. Their dress suggests this photograph is from the early 1900s.
Abigail McCullagh with three of her daughters. Photograph courtesy of the McCullagh family. HOYFM.SCH2022.46.2
A black and white photograph portrati of a woman. She is turned towards the camera with a slight smile.
Anne McCullagh. Photograph courtesy of the McCullagh family. HOYFM.SCH2022.46.4
An old black and white photograph of a man. His dress is formal and he stares off to the right.
David McCullagh. Photograph courtesy of the McCullagh family. HOYFM.SCH2022.46.1

The Reverend Robert McCullagh was the first McCullagh to live in the rectory. He was a Church of Ireland clergyman and curate of the parish of Duneane, Toome, County Antrim. He died of an apoplexy in 1824, on the day his twelfth child Frederick was born.

Frederick McCullagh inherited the house and farm and lived there until his death in 1911. In the early 1900s the household consisted of Frederick’s widow, Abigail, and two unmarried daughters: Emily Jane, a national school teacher, and Margaret, a clerk in the post office. There was also one young household servant, Bridget Donnelly.

The property passed out of family ownership in the 1930s when it was sold to a local farmer. By the 1950s the house was unoccupied and used as a farm store.

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