Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB11/09/004 D

Address :
Tread-wheel Castle Place Omagh Co Tyrone BT79 5ER

Townland:
Gortmore

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
17/09/2010 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Store

Former Use
Outbuildings

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Yes

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OS Map No:
137-4NE

IG Ref:
H4486 7297

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Owner Category

Private Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A detached single-cell double-height stone tread-wheel block, built c.1800, located west of Castle Place in former Omagh Gaol complex. Rectangular on plan, facing west. Hipped natural slate roof, angled blue/black ridge and hip tiles. Walling is random rubble basalt (built to courses). Windows are square-headed painted timber six-light casements; dressed sandstone surrounds and sills. Principal (west) elevation is asymmetrical; walling is uncoursed rubble with red brick eaves corbel, except that to right is sandstone ashlar over splayed plinth with sandstone eaves corbel; upper storey two windows to either end, right window over square-headed entrance opening (painted timber half-door not visible), dressed sandstone jambs and lintel with painted sign: “TREAD WHEEL.” North elevation is inaccessible. Rear (east) elevation is four openings wide at upper storey level; right end of upper storey window is infilled (with concrete blocks) surmounting square-headed replacement corrugated tin sheeted wide door. South elevation is rendered (detached rendered reveals coursed squared and tooled sandstone walling) with two square-headed double painted timber vertically sheeted doors. Setting:- The gaol treadwheel is situated in the centre of the former gaol complex, which is at the west of Castle Place on an elevated site visible from the south on Abbey Street; it is located northeast from the former gaol gatehouse (HB11/09/004B-C) and east of the former governor’s house (HB11/09/004A). Remains of various gaol structures remain as housing to the south and east of the governor’s house; while the former prison cells, which were laid out on a half-octagonal plan, were to the west but have been entirely demolished apart from some surviving four-metre-high boundary wall features. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Basalt Windows: Timber RWG: None

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833. The OS Map of 1905-6 captions the Gaol site as ‘disused’. Griffith’s Valuation records the property as a whole as ‘County Gaol and yards’, the building valuation is £250 Lt. William Lacey’s OS memoirs of 1834 describes the Gaol as follows; ‘…it consists of the old and new gaols. The former was built in 1796…and is now used as the women’s and debtors' prison. The new part was erected in 1823 of cut freestone in a semi circular form, divided into [?] wards, each having a separate yard for the different classes of prisoner. Both old and new gaols are three storeys high. In front of the old building an open space has lately been enclosed for the prisoners to work in and the whole building is surrounded with a high stone wall to prevent their escape. This establishment can accommodate 300 prisoners and is guarded by 14 keepers… The tread mill is of small dimensions and its power is only applied to raise water for the building from a deep well adjacent to it. (pg 104,105). Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland claims the ‘...county prison, [was] built in 1804 and enlarged in 1822, according to a plan adapted to the better classification of prisoners. It has a tread mill, which is not applied to any profitable use. (pg, 449). Rowan writes: ‘In Castle Street, west of the court house and churches and on the west bank of the river, is a little precinct entered through a pointed archway. This was the site of the old Prison, built in 1796 and rebuilt by John Hargrave in 1823. Various late Georgian terraced houses remain, together with the octagonal three-storey sandstone block of Hargrave’s Governor’s House. It has a gallery on the first floor and short wings on either side’ (Rowan, p.448-449). Omagh Tourist Information Centre gives the following information: Omagh Gaol was originally located on the site of the present Assize Court House (HB11/13/001, built between 1814-1863). The later gaol complex of buildings on the present site, was begun in the 1790s and opened in 1804 with the Gaol Governors’ house being built in 1823. The gaol closed in 1904. (Omagh Tourist Information Centre). 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/12/B/6/36 A-M–Valuation Revisions (1860-1929) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37A-G-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929) 6. PRONI VAL/12/E/186/1/5 –Town Plan of Omagh (1882-1909) 7. PRONI VAL/12/F/7/7/1- Valuation Revisions (1930-35) 8. PRONI OS Memoirs. Vol.5 1834 Secondary Sources 1. Omagh Tourist Information Centre 2. Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. Vol.2 (1842) 3. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A detached single-cell double-height stone tread-wheel house, built c.1800 in former Omagh Gaol complex. It is located in the midst of the gaol, which still has some fine extant structures, including the former Governor’s House (HB11/09/004A), and the gatehouse (HB11/09/004B-C). The tread-wheel was an important structure in the management of the prisoners and is a rare survivor of this particular building type.

General Comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group - previously HB11/09/009

Date of Survey

14 January 2009