Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/06/006 A

Address :
Ashbrook House 20 Ardmore Road Co. Londonderry BT47 3QP

Townland:
Currynierin

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Survey 2:
A

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:
37/9SW

IG Ref:
C4636 1405

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay, two-storey, double-pile, rendered stone residence, built c.1740 with a further wing added to rear in c.1880. L-shaped on plan, facing west and set within its own mature landscaped grounds on the North side of Ardmore Road, accessed via a long winding gravel driveway. Natural slate roofs with black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys and a mixture of cast-iron, replacement moulded steel and plastic rainwater goods. Guttering supported on moulded eaves cornice to front elevation. Rendered chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling with rusticated sandstone ashlar quoins. Square-headed window openings with sandstone ashlar sills and largely timber sliding sash windows. Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation (west) with a central full-height bow to the entrance bay having a semi-conical roof. Irregular fenestration with single windows to the outer bays at ground floor level and two windows at first floor level. Block-and-start sandstone ashlar window surrounds, curved to the central bow. 6/3 timber sliding sash windows to the first floor, 6/6 to the ground floor, curved to the central bow with some historic glass. Central square-headed door opening to the bow with block-and-start surround and a timber door, flush panelled to the lower half, glazed to the upper half, surmounted by a rectangular fanlight. Door opens onto curved threshold stone to front gravel area. North side elevation is five windows wide and comprises three distinct sections; the gabled front block having two windows at ground floor level and a round-arched niche to the upper level with sandstone surround and a carved bird statue. The central section is also gabled rising to a chimneystack with two window openings at each level having 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with convex horns to the first floor and 1/1 timber sliding sash windows to the ground floor. The rear section has a hipped roof with irregularly placed window openings; uPVC to the first floor and 2/2 to the ground floor with iron grille. Rear elevation (east) is abutted by two-storey multi-bay return extending into the attached range of outbuildings (HB01/06/006B). The rear elevation has steel rainwater goods supported on steel drive-through brackets. The rear block has 2/2 timber sash windows with iron grilles to the ground floor. The return has a combination of 6/3, 2/2 and bipartite timber sliding sash windows. South side elevation comprises two gables (detailed as per north side elevation) and the south elevation of the return. The return has a wall-head dormer window with timber casement windows, a semi-circular opening with a spoked timber fanlight and a further round-arched window opening with timber casement window and spoked fanlight and iron grille. Setting: Set back on the north side of Ardmore Road within mature landscaped grounds, accessed via a long winding gravel driveway through a pair of decorative iron gates hung on a pair of robust rendered piers with stepped sandstone capstones and stone finials at the entrance. The access is shared with an adjoining garden centre business (to the southeast) set within the walled garden. The property is also accessed to the north-west off the Ardmore Road by a further gravel driveway through a pair of plainly detailed iron gates hung on a pair of robust rendered piers of similar detail to those at the principal entrance. Gravel rear yard is enclosed by two ranges of outbuildings (HB01/06/006B). The outbuildings are also accessed off the Ardmore Road by a utilitarian access to the south-west of the walled garden. The demesne is on the Register of Parks, Gardens & Demesnes of Special Historic Interest and the N.I. Heritage Gardens Inventory. Materials: Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron / replacement steel / PVC Walling Ruled-and-lined render Windows Timber sliding sash

Architects

Priestly, Michael

Historical Information

Calley (p. 11) observes, ‘If not architecturally the most important house in the city vicinity it is genealogically’. For centuries this property has been associated with the Ash family. The best known of the early members of the family is John’s son Thomas who was in Derry during the siege of 1689 and who left a diary of the episode. In 1692 he married Elizabeth Rainey, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. He was involved in various charitable and educational ventures in the early eighteenth century. The house is constructed as an irregular double-pile plan. The HB file suggests that the second, central pile may be from the 1690s and may incorporate a fortified tower, however the external appearance of the house does not suggest construction at different times. The present front is eighteenth-century; Calley (pp 10-11) suggests a date of 1740, while Rowan (p. 195) proposes 1760. A further wing was added to rear in c.1880. The HB files put forward Michael Priestley, the leading architect in north-west Ulster in the eighteenth century, as the man who designed the house front. In 1802 Sampson (pp 433-4) noted that the trees around the house had been planted within his own recollection not above 14 years ago. He noted ‘a neat house’ and that ‘the late proprietor went to much expense in additions’. In 1833 Atkinson (p. 284) called Ashbrook ‘a good mansion house’. Two years later, the Ordnance Survey Memoir of the parish of Clondermott, noted that the house ‘has a small old-fashioned front, but an ample rear’; the family arms were displayed in niches on each side of the entrance front. The grounds were noted as being ‘tastefully arranged’. It was then in the possession of William Hamilton Ash. The House Book of 1856 provides the following dimensions for the house. Building Code Length Breadth Height House 1 B+ 59 26½ 22 Projection (front bow) 1B+ 18 6 22 Return 1B+ 58 21½ 21 Return 1B 12 15 15 Return 1B 26 16½ 12 Return 1B 51 20½ 17 Griffith’s Valuation of 1858 shows that the property was still in the possession of William H[amilton]. Ash and that the buildings had a valuation of £44. William Hamilton Ash died on 20 November 1866. The Valuation Revision Book shows that the property came into the possession of his son-in-law John Barre Beresford of Learmount, Park, County Londonderry in 1867. His son, William Randal Hamilton Beresford, assumed the additional name of Ash by Royal Licence in 1901. At some point, fireplaces from Willsborough House, near Eglinton, were placed in the hall and a bedroom. An inspection report by the rateable valuer in the 1950s noted that the property was ‘an old mansion house. Built before the siege of Derry. In well laid out grounds.’ It was then in the possession of Col. W. R. H. Beresford Ash. The house has undergone repairs on a number of occasions in its recent history. In 1992 repairs to the roof and guttering were carried out as well as dry-rot treatment. In 1997 further repairs to the roof and guttering took place. The south-west elevation of the house suffered fire bomb damage in 1998. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI First Valuation fieldbook, c. 1835 – VAL/1/B/549A-D 2. PRONI Primary Valuation house book, 1856 – VAL/2/B/5/50 3. PRONI Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930: VAL/12/B/32/1A-G 4. PRONI Valuers and Revaluation Binders, Faughan Ward, Currynierin townland, 1956-75 – VAL/4/C/6/3/15/4 5. PRONI Valuation map, 1856 – VAL/2/A/5/22C 6. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps, 1830 – OS/6/5/20/1, 22/1 7. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch maps, 1904-32 – OS/6/5/20/1, 22/3 8. NIEA First Survey record – HB01/06/006A 9. NIEA HB Records – HB01/06/006A Secondary sources 1. George Vaughan Sampson, Statistical Survey of the County of Londonderry (Dublin, 1802) 2. A. Atkinson, Ireland in the nineteenth century (London, 1833) 3. Angélique Day & Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 34 (Belfast, 1996) 4. Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979) 5. Dan Calley, City of Derry: An Historical Gazetteer to the Buildings of Londonderry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form E. Spatial Organisation F. Structural System H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance U. Historic Associations Z. Rarity V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest R. Age

Evaluation

A detached double-pile, two-storey, three-bay rendered stone house, built for the Ash family and set within extensive, mature landscaped grounds on the north side of Ardmore Road. The front pile was built c.1740 to designs by Michael Priestly, a leading architect in north-west Ulster in the eighteenth century. The rear pile may have earlier origins however this has not been confirmed. A further wing was also added to the rear c.1880. The Ash family were prominent within the history of the region from the days of the Siege of Derry in 1689. The house has group value with its outbuildings (HB01/06/006B) which enclose the rear yard. Its interest is enhanced by its mature landscaped setting which is on the register of parks, gardens and demesnes of special historic interest and by its two entrance gates and piers. This is a fine early example of a robust country house which has evolved over time. Having historic associations with prominent local families gives this site added significance. An impressive country house of significant architectural and historic interest.

General Comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity, T-Historic Importance & U-Historic Associations The front elevation faces north-west, for ease of description this is referred to as west and the naming of all other façades follows this convention. Previously recorded as HB01/06/006

Date of Survey

14 April 2014