Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB11/04/001

Address :
The Old Rectory, Lower Langfield, Sloughan Road, Drumquin, Co.Tyrone, BT78 4PF

Townland:
Lisky Glebe

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
25/01/1980 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
Rectories/ Manses etc

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
119-15

IG Ref:
H3179 7407

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached five-bay two-storey with basement and attic-storey rendered former rectory, dated 1762. Rectangular-on-plan, located to the south of Sloughan Road, facing northwest. Pitched natural slate roof with four rendered chimneystacks having clay pots. Clay ridge tiles and stone raking coping to gable ends. Plain stone pediment to the gabled entrance bay with a pitched natural slate roof, hipped to the eaves of the principal roof with roll-moulded clay ridge tiles. Half-round cast-iron guttering on projecting eaves course, supported on wrought-iron drive-through brackets, with cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Hipped natural slate roof to corner canopy with lead ridge and cast-iron gutter. Three iron roof lights to the rear pitch with a further three iron roof lights to the lean-to roof over the basement. Walling is painted rough-cast render, front and rear elevations. Cement smooth render walling to both gabled side elevations. A slight projection to the walls at basement level to all four elevations. A carved sandstone date plaque to the centre of the east elevation, states… “A.D. MDCC:XII Peu, A.? BENSON. DD Parochias, Rector. SIUI ET RectoriBus, SuccedenTiBus., POSUIT.” Square-headed window openings throughout with painted stone sills and timber sash windows. Mainly six-over-six with no horns, six-over-three to the three central bays of the rear basement elevation with thick glazing bars (a single bulls-eye pane). At attic level, to either gable, is a diminutive square-headed window opening with four-pane timber casement windows. Symmetrical front elevation of five-bays with two-storeys over part-roofed and part-concealed basement area with a central single-bay two-storey gabled entrance projection, with the entrance to the east cheek of the projection and a canopy to the inner corner. To either side of the entrance projection, on both floors, is a slender window opening with four-over-four sash windows. At first floor level of the entrance projection is a round-headed window opening to the front and east side elevations with multi-pane pivot windows, timber to the gable and iron to the east cheek, with an incorporated bats-wing fanlight. Round-headed door opening to the east cheek of the entrance projection with a moulded timber frame, six-panelled timber door of flush profile with decorative iron door furniture. An iron bats-wing fanlight matches that to the window opening above. Door opens onto a stone paved area, bridging the basement and sheltered by the canopy supported on a plain timber post with a wrought-iron rail to the east. Gabled east elevation with a single window opening to the basement and a diminutive window opening at attic level, with a rendered chimneystack rising from the gable. Five-bay two-storey over exposed basement rear elevation with regular placement of window openings and a three-sided canted oriel window to ground floor level (left) with a hipped natural slate roof, rendered base and six-over-six timber sash window flanked by two-over-two sash windows on a continuous stone sill course. Gabled east elevation, as per above, with a square-headed door opening to the west elevation of the lean-to basement, flush with the west gable, having a tongue-and-groove timber door and slender rectangular overlight. Setting: Abutting the west gable is a single-storey stone outbuilding, built of squared limestone with a half-hipped natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods to exposed rafter feet. The building has three square-headed openings without doors. A single stretch of decorative cast-iron railing on a low wall with a matching pedestrian gate, is located to the east of the house. Further to the east is a pair of rusticated ashlar stone piers with a pair of wrought-iron gates. Further east is a linear range of single and two-storey rubble stone outbuildings, now roofless and in a derelict condition. Setting The house occupies a large landscaped site opposite Lower Langfield Church (HB11/04/003) to the northeast. The site descends from the level of the road to the Black Water River. A long curved gravel driveway opens onto the road to the north through a pair of wrought-iron gates on octagonal rendered piers flanked by a pair of matching pedestrian gates, also on octagonal piers. In the northern boundary wall opposite Lower Langfield Church of Ireland is a wrought iron pedestrian gate between stone pillars with steps down to the road. Roof Natural slate Walling Rough-cast Windows Timber RWG Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The building dates from 1762 (datestone). A number of buildings are on the site at the time of the first edition OS Map which captions them ‘Glebe Ho’. On the second edition OS Map the buildings are captioned ’Lower Longfield Rectory’ In the Townland Valuation Records, (1828-40) the buildings are described as 2 dwelling houses, a kitchen, underground pantry, 3 offices, a carhouse and shed. In Griffiths Valuation the Glebe House and offices are valued at £30 0s 0d and leased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The value remains the same throughout the Annual Revision records. The property is used as a rectory throughout the period covered by valuation records. The rectory appears in the OS Memoirs; “West Longfield, Glebe House, the residence of Rev Gilbert King, is the only gentleman’s residence in the parish. It is situated three quarters of a mile to the west of the town of Drumquin. There is nothing remarkable in its appearance. It is a plain but large whitewashed building of an oblong form, with a good quantum of fir trees about it.” (p. 128) Rowan comments; “1762. A large and unusually early rectory, built into the side of a hill in park-like surroundings below the church. Five-bay, two-storey, with a two-storey central pedimented porch. Only one room thick. Five-panelled doors in lugged surrounds inside. The date-stone is inscribed: AD MDCCLXII REV Ar BENSON DD PAROCHIAE RECTOR SUET RECTORIBUS SUCCEDENTIBUS POSUIT” (p. 254) This translates (partially) as follows; ‘In the year 1762 Rev Benson DD, the parish rector…established…’. Sash windows dating from c.1850 have been added to the house (except basement) and the staircase has been re-arranged in the late 19th or early 20th century. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/33/1-3 – Ordnance Survey Maps (1833, 1854, 1906) 2. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/33 – Townland Valuation Map 3. PRONI VAL/1/B/635/A-B – Townland Valuation Records (1828-40) 4. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/33/A – Griffith’s Valuation Map 5. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/37/A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/35/11/A-F – Annual Revision Records (1860-1929) 7. PRONI VAL/12/D/6/33/A-J – Annual Revision Maps 8. Day, A and McWilliams, P eds. ‘OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1831-36, Vol 5’ Institute of Irish Studies, 1990 Secondary Sources 1. Rowan, A ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’, Penguin Books, 19799

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Detached five-bay two-storey with basement and attic-storey rendered former rectory, dated 1762. A plain but imposing former rectory in a low-lying woodland setting, this house retains a wealth of original features including early sash windows to the basement and displays later 'improvements' such as the slightly later windows in the main elevations . Its proportions and detailing reflect its former status and the survival in virtually original condition of such an early house is of note. The overall impression is of an intact early rectory and attendant grounds in close proximity to the associated church (HB11/04/003); together these are one of the best groupings of church and glebe house.

General Comments

Date of Survey

04 February 2009