Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/01/037 A

Address :
Stramore House 82-86 Stramore Road Gilford CRAIGAVON County Down BT63 6HN

Townland:
Loughans

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
25/10/1977 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:
201/13

IG Ref:
J0525 4883

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A classical three-bay, two storey-with-attic country house, built c.1794 located on the west side of Stramore Road, west of Gilford village. Rectangular on plan with full-height rear return and modern extension to rear. Roof is hipped natural slate with roll-top ridge tiles and leaded central valley; large lime rendered chimneystacks. Projecting stone eaves support cast-iron gutters. Walling is ruled and lined lime rendered over a shallow plinth, dressed with tooled sandstone quoins. Windows are timber sliding sash (mix of original and replacement), with projecting bracketed masonry sills and moulded stucco surrounds; those to ground floor have a dentilled entablature. Glazing pattern is 1/1 to ground floor, 6/6 to first floor, and 3/3 to attic. Classically proportioned principal elevation faces north-west, symmetrical seven-windows wide with central projecting porch. The porch has dentilled entablature and accommodates a segmental-headed entrance accessed by two stone steps bounded by dwarf walls and with stone urns to either side. The door has six raised panels and brass door furniture, with plain transom light over and flanked by narrow lancet sidelights; porch cheeks are lit by segmental-headed 1/1 sashes. The north-east elevation is abutted by a recent single-storey canted bay addition, detailed as main house. Upper floors are lit by a single window to either side, proportioned as facade. The south-east (rear) elevation is abutted to left of centre by a full-height return, and to ground floor right by a large contemporary extension with monopitched zinc roof. The exposed sections to either side of return are generally lit by two or three windows to each floor, vertically aligned with the exception of two small WC window insertions to left of return. The return is lit to all sides at upper floor, including replacement semi-circular headed windows to first floor; it is accessed via a semi-circular headed modern door to either cheek. The south-west elevation is as north-east elevation, with variation on ground floor abutments, which are paired canted bays, one of which is a recent addition to match existing. To rear is a two-storey stable block of random rubble stone construction with brick dressed openings. Projecting at left is a rendered two-storey coach-house and at right, a rendered single-storey store. All roofs are pitched natural slate, windows are replacement timber sashes and doors are timber sheeted. Setting: The house is visible from, but set back from the road in spacious grounds including large lawned garden to front and west, planted with mature oak trees, and having stableyard to rear. The site is enclosed by fencing to west and north, and to the road at east by a high rubble stone wall including the stone folly (HB17/01/037B). The entrance is located at north east, comprising modern stone-faced walling and electric iron gates, leading to a curving gravel drive and forecourt. A reclaimed post box has been set into one of the gate piers. Outside the immediate boundary of the site are related outbuildings, now converted to apartments and in separate ownership. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Ruled and lined render Windows: Timber sash RWG: Cast iron

Architects

Jackson, Thomas (remodelling

Historical Information

Stramore House is a Georgian linen mansion that was built in 1794 by prominent local family the Richardsons of Moyallon, passing down through linen families for the greater part of two centuries. The house is a very substantial example of the mansions that were being built in and around Gilford and Banbridge for a new class of linen merchants that prospered in one of the most important inland manufacturing areas in Ireland in the nineteenth century. The house bears the evidence of the increasing wealth and status of its owners in the form of later nineteenth century remodelling thought to be by Thomas Jackson. The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834 captioned ‘Stramore House’, set in an extensive demesne, with tree-lined avenues and field boundaries and areas of plantation. The house shows a similar plan form to that of today’s building, with a small rear return and an extension to the north-east facade. The porch is absent, however, and is first shown on the second edition of 1858. Outbuildings shown to the rear of the house have partially survived to the present day. The second edition of 1858 shows some additions to buildings on the site, including a porch and outbuildings to the rear, as well as a gate lodge at the main entrance. A ‘Thrashing Machine’ is also captioned. Joseph Richardson is said to have built the present Stramore House in 1794, having been gifted the land by his stepfather Thomas Christy, a wealthy Quaker linen merchant. The land had previously belonged to the Crozier family who had been granted a lease forever in 1692 by Sir John Magill, a descendant of the founder of Gilford. It is thought that an earlier house was built on the site c1694 (Rankin), but nothing remains of the earlier building. Joseph Richardson died in 1801, leaving Stramore to his step-niece Isabella Wakefield and her husband John Nicholson. John Nicholson was the grandfather of General John Nicholson, Victorian hero of the Indian mutiny whose statue stands in Lisburn (HB19/16/004). John Nicholson died in 1825 and the house was let out for some years. An advertisement in the Belfast Newsletter of 1829, claims that ‘the house is well-known to be one of the most commodious and comfortable in the county, comprising every requisite for the accommodation of a large and genteel establishment, and with the Offices, which are in corresponding style, is in excellent order and repair...The Gardens are extensive, and plentifully stocked with choice Fruit Trees. The situation is singularly beautiful and the neighbourhood excellent’. (Belfast Newsletter) Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of 1837 lists R J Nicholson as the occupier of Stramore House and he is also listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) where the house and outbuildings are valued at £42. Dimensions are given for the house and basement together with a series of outbuildings, a barn, stables with lofts over, a steward’s house, cow house, scullery and turf house. Thom’s County Directory of Ireland (1850) records another member of the Nicholson family, Rawden H Nicholson in residence at Stramore and he is also listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64). The valuation is now £45 but the valuer notes that the house has ‘low upper storeys’. Dimensions are given for the house, return and basement, eight outbuildings and a two-story gatehouse. The house is set in an estate of over 200 acres and is classified as ‘in sound order and good repair’. Annual Revisions show that the house was the property of Hugh Watson by the late 1860s and that he set about improving his newly-acquired property almost immediately, the valuation rising to £60 in 1869 and £90 in 1876. It is thought that the designer of the improvements was Thomas Jackson, an architect who had been much employed by the Richardsons, and by other linen families in the Gilford area both to improve existing dwellings and to build new mansions appropriate to the increased prosperity brought to the area by the manufacture and trade of linen. Hugh Watson was a linen and cambric manufacturer, and with his brother-in-law had set up a business in Portadown, ‘Watson, Armstrong & Co’. Watson died in 1871 and his wife Mary Anne Watson continued to live at the house for some years. In 1879 she advertised the house to let, as a ‘superior residence...in perfect order’ and in the 1890s the house was let to a number of tenants including the Rev Mr Orr and the Rev Robert Holmes, although these tenants are not recorded in Annual Revisions. (Belfast Newsletter) Mary Anne Watson died in 1897 and the house was subsequently sold to William Henry Kisbey who is listed in the 1901 census. Kisbey was a County Court judge from Dublin who lived with his wife and daughter and a small staff of two, a cook and a parlourmaid. The 24-room house was designated first class and had 19 outbuildings. Kisbey purchased only a portion of the land and outbuildings associated with the house and as a result the valuation was reduced to £68 in 1900, Kisbey adding a new gate lodge to the estate the same year. By 1906 the house had been taken over by David Arthur Sinton (1862-1919), son of Thomas Sinton of Laurelvale, and the house once more came into the ownership of a family with a linen manufacturing heritage. (Rankin) Arthur Sinton was away from home when the 1911 census took place and the return for the house lists only the domestic staff; an English-born housekeeper, a cook and a parlour-maid from County Wicklow. In 1920 Harry P Watson of Beechpark, Lurgan bought back the house and it was subsequently passed down within the Watson family, but was also let out for long periods. In 1921 the tenant was Catherine C Higginson and in 1936 Sarah Stuart. In the early 1930s the house was assessed for the First General Revaluation. It was vacant at the time and the accommodation was found to be, four bedrooms, two dining rooms, three receptions, a bathroom, six servants’ bedrooms, two cloakrooms, two pantries, a kitchen, two larders, three stores and a scullery. At the time it was said to be ‘in rather poor repair’ and was lighted by means of acetylene gas. The valuer commented in 1937 that, ‘Kitchen quarters are of the old-fashioned type with flagstone floors and old fittings...There is no water for domestic use and I was informed that several attempts to discover water near the house were unsuccessful. The last occupier had water carried from a well about half a mile away. Bath water is collected in tanks from the roof’. In 1937 the occupier was C S Waller Watson (1889-1973) and the same year the valuation was reduced to £76, probably as the result of an appeal. In 2007 the house benefitted from a substantial restoration and refurbishment project, affecting almost every part of the building. The architects were Mullarkey Pederson of Derry and the improvements included a contemporary flat-roofed extension. The contractors were McCann Bros of Armagh. (HB file) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2 4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21 5. PRONI VAL/1/B/350 Townland Valuation (1828-40) 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48A Griffith’s Valuation (c.1861) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1930) 8. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/2 First General Revaluation (1936-57) 9. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/M/2 First General Revaluation (1933-57) 10. Belfast Newsletter, 5th May 1829 11. Thom’s County Directory of Ireland, 1850 12. Belfast Newsletter, 5th January 1860 13. NIEA file HB17/01/037A 14. 1901 census online 15. 1911 census online Secondary Sources 1. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837. 2. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996

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

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

Stramore House is a three-storey seven-bay Georgian country house, retaining an early aspect and located in extensive grounds. It has grand scale and proportions, with restrained ornamentation throughout, and evidence of later Victorian alterations. Much original fabric survives and new additions do not detract from the integrity of the historic structure. Although the original entrance and avenue have been lost, the immediate setting survives with well-detailed stone and brick outbuildings and the stone watch tower (HB17/01/037B) punctuating the boundary wall. Having historic associations with prominent local families, and as a fine example of the type in original condition, the house is of significant architectural and historic interest. .

General Comments

Please note this record has been renumbered is was previously recorded as HB17/01/037

Date of Survey

23 September 2011