Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/26/003 A

Address :
Glengalliagh Hall 22 Upper Galliagh Road Londonderry BT48 8LW

Townland:
Ballynagalliagh

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
26/02/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Country House

Former Use
Country House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
26/11

IG Ref:
C4178 2101

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A large 2 storey, stone built house with redbrick trim, 5 bays wide by 4 bays deep. It has a central projecting porch 3 storeys high, multiple pitched natural slate roofs with gables and hips. The 5 bay wide, east facing, entrance facade is not quite symmetrical, the 2 bays to the north of the entrance being longer than those to the south. The 12 panelled door with Tudor arched head is recessed in a handmade redbrick surround with Tudor arches and stepped brick pediment.A large lantern hangs over the centre of the pediment.The clear finished oak door retains its original brass knob, bell and letterbox. The door threshold is finished in red clay tiles with a narrow band of black. The brick surround has a low plaster plinth. On each side of the entrance there is a slim roundheaded 2 pane fixed window with half brick surround and painted stone cill. Above the entrance there is a 4 light oriel window with plain smooth rendered parapet, below the cill an inverted faceted pyramid. The top of the parapet lines with the top of the frieze which continues on either side under the overhanging eaves. Above the oriel there is the 2nd floor of the entrance tower with gabled double roof receding into the main roof. Half in the gable and half in the wall below there is a 3 light window with redbrick toothed surround each light further subdivided with 6 panes. The walls of the 2nd floor are finished in a whitish roughcast rendering. Originally the tower was not gabled but crenellated and much higher, reaching well above the main ridge line. On either side of the central entrance there are pairs of 12 pane sliding sash windows on each floor with toothed redbrick surrounds and painted stone cills. The vertical reveals have a roll moulding. These bricks are smooth red stocks. The walls are built of random rubble schist with wide clasping and handmade brick quoins matching those of the entrance door surround. The corners of the projecting centred tower have the same brick but toothed. The deep plastered frieze has a roll moulding under while the roof overhang has exposed rafter feet painted black. The gable tower has a straight bargeboard which returns as fascia. The gabled roof has large natural slates, with plain ridge tiles and a single chimney stack on the north side with tall serrated pots. There are half round metal gutters with downpipes neatly tucked into the return corners of the tower. The first floor windows are slightly less tall than the ground where the cills are quite low The base of the wall has a broad plinth projecting some 600mm finished in stone with an upstand kerb and forms a step to ground level. This detail continues around the south and west facades. The south façade is 4 bays wide with one bay projecting forward a metre forming a black painted timber and white plaster panelled gable and at ground level a bold redbrick facet canted bay with 12 pane sliding sash windows in each facet. The canted bay is crowned with white panelled narrow moulded crenellations on top of a relatively slim cornice. At 1st floor over the canted bay there is a single wide 6 pane casement window with vertical brick trim toothed into stonework. The gable is framed in clasping red handmade bricks with the deep whitish plaster frieze carried across horizontally below the timber panelled gable. A pair of little corbels decorate the frieze above the quoins. The roof terminates in a straight moulded barge. The remainder of the facade has tall 2 light brick trimmed windows toothed with random rubble schist walls. Each light is sub-divided into 4 panes and the centred mullion forms a cross with an equally heavy transom. The west corner has a matching clasping brick quoin. The plaster frieze continues along under the eaves with its exposed rafters. Rainwater goods are repeated. The broad plinth returns along this facade with a higher step to lawn level. There is a curious mixture of fenestration here which is further emphasised on the west side. The west facade, again 4 bays wide but the wall planes vary. The south gable is repeated except that the windows of the canted bay are tall casements with mullion and transom dividing them into 4 lights each with 2 panes. The next bay recedes and at ground floor is the termination of the long hall with a framed Tudoresque gothic window painted white creating a marked feature in this elevation. The window consists of 8 lights formed by mullions and one transome. The top lights are pointed with quatrefoil and single mouchette. Above this window and centred on it there is a single sliding sash 9 pane brick trimmed window. The quoin formed by the further receding 3rd bay is curious in that the ground floor is of toothed brickwork while the first floor quoin is in flat clasping brickwork. The frieze continues under the eaves of the hipped roof. The next bay recedes some 2 metres and has a single sliding sash brick trimmed window at ground and 1st floors. The last bay projects forward as a 1½ storey gable built in random rubble schist with large tripartite D/H 20 pane window which is centred above a sliding sash 12 pane window, both brick trimmed. The gable is asymmetrical with straight barges. The wall plane continues to form the enclosing yard to the rear of the house. The north or rear elevation of the house is a mish mash of windows and surface finishes, part stonework, some brick trim and smooth rendered . A small low pitched gable porch projects from the wall. The window of interest is that of the main staircase which is a 6 light casement with margined glazing. Part of the rear has 3 floors where a bathroom is formed off the half landing. The roof edge presents an untidy arrangement of gable, flat soffit to hip over staircase and a much lower roof over the gable projection on the west elevation. The roof is a complex affair but essentially an ‘L’ main roof with various hipped roofs abutting and a narrow double occurring over part of the staircase and first floor landing and in which the roof lantern is formed. The resultant valleys are causing leak problems. A number of chimneys rise from ridges as already described all with tall serrated pots. To the north side of the house is a range of farm outbuildings forming three courts. The first forms a yard to the back of the house. The second an enclosed small farmyard which also contains a coachman’s dwelling. The third is a larger court with fourth side missing. The outbuildings are a collection of two and one storey stonebuilt buildings with brick trimmed openings all arranged haphazardly. Roofs are a mixture of slate and corrugated asbestos. There are two features of interest. At the open end of the 3rd court is a brick bellcote at the gable end of the two storey barn. It still possesses its small bell which it is said has impressions of the apostles imprinted on it. It is said the bell came from an abbey. There is a gateway to the 2nd court which consists of a rendered wall with a crude Tudor arch. The opening has wooden gates. There is a date( 1940) inscribed under a horseshoe symbol. This was done by the father of the present owner. There are the remains of a walled garden and one greenhouse in reasonable order. The house enjoys a secluded
setting in sylvan surroundings of considerable extent. A long winding avenue leads from the entrance gates and lodge (see HB01/26/003B) in the Upper Galliagh Road. There are lawns and some shrub planting adjacent to the house and from the south facade a straight path leads to a tennis court. There are some good specimen trees in the surrounding wood.

Architects

Buchanan, R Eccles

Historical Information

The O.S. map 1830 Londonderry 13 does not show a building on this location, however the O.S. map 1850 Londonderry 13 shows Glengalliagh Hall with a different plan form from that at present but equal approximately in area. Griffith’s valuation book of 1858 records Mary McCorkell, the lessee and the lessor, Marquis of Donegal and a valuation of £35. Mary McCorkell was probably the wife of Archibald McCorkell, solicitor who died March 1854 age 50 who was probably the son of Archibald McCorkell who died in New York in 1829. It is possible the house was erected c1846 and later renovated c1890, the architect probably R.E. Buchanan. Major McCorkell occupied the house until his death in 1923 and Judge R. Cooke for the next 6 years. The property was acquired by W. Porter in 1929. He was the proprietor of a number of shops in Londonderry trading under the name of All Cash Stores, with principal offices in Strand Road. The present owners acquired the property in 1940. Porter installed the stained glass windows at the west end of the hall and removed the crenellated or battlemeted top to the Entrance Tower. References Primary Sources 1. O.S. map 1st Edition 1830 Londonderry 13 2. O.S. map 1st Revision 1853 Londonderry 13 3. Val. 1831 Parish of Templemore, Londonderry 4. Griffith’s Valuation 1858 Parish of Templemore, Londonderry 5. Present owner (1999) 6. McCorkell burial ground, City Cemetery, Londonderry Secondary Sources 1. Alistair Rowan : North West Ulster : The Buildings of Ireland P.403 2. J A K Deans : Gate Lodges of Ulster P.116 3. Record notes of 1st survey EHS Hill Street Belfast May 1972 4. Heritage Garden Inventory 1992 No.L/028

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Essentially a late Victorian style county house with much of the original detailing retained. It contains many Arts and Crafts references such as the entrance, the canted bays, the interior timber chimneypiece, wooden cornice and the heating stove in the hall. It has a dramatic internal progression of spaces with varied use of materials and eclectic choice of Well sited within interesting woodland with good long avenue approach.

General Comments

Date of Survey

13 May 1999