Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB11/12/001

Address :
Mullaghmore House 94 Old Mountfield Road Omagh Co. Tyrone BT79 7EX

Townland:
Mullaghmore

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
23/11/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
121-13

IG Ref:
H4662 7361

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A detached three-bay two-storey Georgian double-pile house with extended first bay and attic, built c.1750, front pile built c.1800, located on north side of Old Mountfield Road. L-plan, facing south; two-storey return to rear with extended lower two-storey addition; single-bay two-storey annex to east of return; lean-to two-storey addition to west of return, lean-to single-storey porch to north of extension. Pitched natural slate roof (M-profile at west elevation), hipped at return junction, angled blue/black clay ridge and hip tiles, painted rendered chimneystacks at gables with octagonal terracotta chimneypots, deeply projecting painted timber box eaves on carved brackets, half-round cast-iron gutters. Walling is painted roughcast render. Windows are round-headed painted timber 12/6 sashes (intersecting tracery over), stone sill. Principal (south) elevation is asymmetrical; Bipartite windows to each bay (left end ground floor is tripartite), flanking central round-headed painted timber moulded panel door with (replacement) elaborate brass nautical-themed clipper door knocker, moulded architrave, stilted 8-light radial fanlight over. West elevation is abutted by modern orangery, of no interest. Exposed section first floor has two single 12-light casements (intersecting tracery above). Rear (north) elevation is abutted to left by return and to centre by extension. Exposed section has two square-headed painted timber 6/6 sashes at first floor. Return is abutted by lower return extension, exposed section is blank; right cheek is abutted by addition, exposed section has single square-headed painted timber 1/1 stained glass sash at first floor; left cheek is abutted by annex. Annex has single square-headed diminutive painted timber lattice-glazed casement; left cheek is blank; right cheek right end has square-headed replacement timber door with central diminutive lattice-glazed casement over. Return extension north gable has single square-headed replacement timber door at first floor left end, accessed by external decorative cast-iron stairs with balcony; left cheek has single painted timber lattice-glazed window to left end of each floor; right cheek first floor has two square-headed painted timber 2/2 sashes, ground floor has two central square-headed entrances (that to right is blocked with render), painted timber raised-and-fielded four-panelled door with central fillet, flanked by two 2/2 sash windows. Addition west elevation has two square-headed windows; right cheek entirely abutted by house; left cheek is abutted by porch, exposed section has single square-headed painted timber 1/1 stained glass sash to left end. Porch north elevation is blank, left cheek is entirely abutted by return and return extension, right cheek has single square-headed painted timber with moulded panelled door. East elevation right end has tripartite windows to each floor (first floor has 6/6 flanked by 2/2 sashes, ground floor has 6/6 flanked by 4/4 sashes). Setting:- The house is situated on an elevated site in landscaped lawned gardens, set back from road by a pebble forecourt enclosed by a standing stone, moulded stone piers and rubble stone boundary walls. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Painted roughcast render Windows: Timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The late Georgian front pile may have been built c.1800 but the rear is likely to be older. The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833 captioned ‘Mullaghmore’. It is recorded in the Townland Valuation as ‘house and offices’, occupied by William Laney. The building is valued at £17. Lt. William Lancey in the OS memoirs of 1834, claims that ‘Mullaghmore house is a substantial dwelling…’(Vol 5, pg, 17). Griffiths Valuation of 1858 records the owner as George H Stack, the lessor is the Rev [W?] Stack. The building valuation is revised at an unknown date to £28. No further increase or decrease in the building valuation is found, except various changes in occupier. According to the owner, the orangery was rebuilt in 2002 on the site of an early-nineteenth-century predecessor that collapsed in the 1940s. The interior was modernised in 1952 when the central heating system was installed. Many historic features were altered during this period. The house was restored between 2000 to 2002 by the present owner. Upon the removal of render during that renovation, the front pile was discovered to be built of random rubble stone with very large quoins that likely came from a more substantial structure. The owner believes the reused tooled quoins may be late medieval and are not in keeping with late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth-century front pile. The temporary removal of render also revealed several blocked low doors and diminished windows with deeply splayed embrasures. Additionally, two low brick tunnels originating from the kitchen were discovered, one leading outside to east of the kitchen and the other running under the boiler room. During that renovation, a toppled twelve-foot standing stone was discovered buried in front of the house. The stone weighs several tons, is tooled and not indigenous to this area. According to the owner, it is believed to have fallen in the twelfth century because of pottery found underneath; the stone was not recorded on OS maps because it was buried. Alistair Rowan in ‘North West Ulster’ (1979) describes Mullaghmore House as a ‘Late Georgian (c.1800)... charmingly unsophisticated double pile that is little more than a cottage.’ (Rowan, pg.449). The following information is from the current owner of the house, who claims that Mullaghmore means the “Mound of the high place” and that the present house as it appears today was built by the Stack family, who have connections to several properties in the area and in England, and who also constructed the nearby Knock-na-moe Castle (1875), which was demolished c.1990. The Stack family donated stained glass windows in St. Columba’s Church of Ireland Church (HB11/13/002), where one member, the Rev. William Stack, had been curate (Allen and Taylour). Another Stack family member; Richard, was rector in Cappagh Parish Church on Gortin Road from 1807 to 1812 (Mitchell, pg.85). The original window pane (now lost) is inscribed “R. Stack 1838.” The house was later owned by the Scott family, who had many military connections and frequently rented out the house. In 1922, Major General Patrick Scott rented the house to the Gorman family and Sir John Gorman, an influential member of the Northern Ireland peace process, was born here in February 1923. Sir John’s father had been a Royal Irish Constabulary district inspector for County Tyrone, and during the partition, he along with several other former RIC members formed the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the house. The house served as the RUC headquarters for a number of weeks before the group moved to the more secure Seskinore House (demolished 1952), which was owned by Col. J. F. McClintock and had boundary walls and a walled garden. (Gorman, pg. 3-4) According to the owner the present house was built in stages and the oldest section is likely to be the kitchen. Supporting the claim that the present kitchen is an incorporated earlier structure is the room’s north-south alignment; while the double-pile section is aligned east-west. Further, the thickness of several of the internal walls, particularly between the kitchen and snooker room and stair hall and those rooms between the dining room and library, indicates that these walls were potentially load-bearing exterior walls. Based on an examination of the wall thickness, the kitchen (G09), boiler room (G12) with outdoor toilet (G14) and servants quarters (G13) suggest a vernacular house plan. Wall thickness further suggest that this initial rectangular vernacular house was extended west with the stair hall (G02) and the snooker room (G07). The owner suggests that the court-facing entrance and series of rooms (G03-G04, G10-G11) were added later as the entrance to this extended house; while the present front pile was added last, probably corresponding to the creation of the present Old Mountfield Road. The different stages of construction would explain the asymmetrical nature of the façade, which relates the pre-existing narrow kitchen and the wider snooker room to the front pile elongated bay of the dining room, which has near identical dimensions as the snooker room and the square-in-plan library in front of the kitchen. Externally, the bipartite round-headed sash windows with intersecting glazing above are similar to the windows of a house in nearby Parkanure, Dungannon. On the ground floor, the present pale square tiles in the kitchen and G03, which are one-and-a-half inches thick are Victorian and replaced sandstone slabs, which were scattered throughout the property in stacks used as steps for dismounting off of horseback. The tripartite window in the kitchen dates from c.1990 and replaced a 1960s picture casement window. Previously, the kitchen was lit by two loop windows. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1 -First Edition OS Map (1833) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1854) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905-6) 4. PRONI VAL/1/B/645/B -Townland Valuation 5. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/47A -Griffith’s Valuation (1858) 6. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/ -Town Plan of Omagh (1858) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/176/36 A-M -Valuation Revisions (1860-1929) 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929) 9. PRONI VAL/12/E/186/1/5 -Town Plan of Omagh (1882-1909) 10. PRONI VAL/12/F/7/7/1- Valuation Revisions (1930-35) 11. PRONI OS Memoirs: 1821,1823,1831-6 Vol 5: 12. PRONI OS Memoirs: 1825, 1833-5, 1840. Vol 20. Secondary Sources 1. Gorman, John. “The Times of My Life: An Autobiography.” Barnsley, S. Yorkshire: Leo Cooper, 2002. 2. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979. 3. Mitchell, Haldane, Ed. Images of Omagh and District. Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999. 4. Allen, R. H. ‘Organs & Organists of St Columba's Church: An in depth historical account of the organs and organists of St Columba's Church in Omagh from 1865’ 5. Taylor, R. K. A Hundred Years of St. Columba Church. 1971. 6. Information from current owner.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A detached three-bay two-storey Georgian double-pile house with extended first bay and attic, originating c.1750, with front pile built c.1800. This house is notable for the asymmetrical façade that formalises essentially vernacular elements, such as the narrow front door, and represents a complex spatial organisation reflecting both the existence of an earlier house and the development towards a standard Georgian plan. Changes made in the 1950s and more recently have added further layers to the history of the house, not always with clarity. However, the survival of the early changes and the unusual detailing of the façade are of interest, as is the record of construction discovered during the 21st century work.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 January 2009