Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB03/03/028 A

Address :
Bovagh House 79 Mullaghinch Road Coleraine Co. Londonderry BT51 4AU

Townland:
Bovagh

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
22/06/1977 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:
31-15

IG Ref:
C8894 1938

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey mid Georgian house with attic and concealed basement, possibly incorporating 17thC fabric and occupying a secluded
setting to the north side of Mullaghinch Road, Aghadowey. Rectangular on plan with two-storey return to rear. Undergoing restoration at the time of survey. Hipped natural slate roof with valley, leaded hips and ridges; modern rooflights and zinc-lined dormers. Longitudinal party wall has two rendered chimneystacks with moulded caps, each with four clay pots; reconstructed redbrick stack to return. Half-round cast iron rainwater goods over projecting stepped stone eaves to front, torus moulded rendered eaves course to other elevations. Walling is smooth lime render with raised plinth and stepped quoins throughout. Windows are reconditioned 6/6 timber sashes without horns, set in moulded architraves with projecting masonry cills, generally replacement, with some original. Symmetrical principal elevation faces south-east, having two windows to each floor at either side of a full-height gabled central breakfront. Central wide elliptical-headed entrance opening comprising six-panelled original door flanked by eight-pane sidelights, surmounted by radial fanlight, embraced by a moulded architrave. Serliana window over (unglazed at time of survey), with Diocletian window (unglazed at time of survey) to attic. South-west elevation has irregular fenestration; three camber-headed windows to first floor (that to right with cill at higher level); sash window to ground floor right and round-headed ope (without glazing at the time of writing) to left of centre. Conservatory extension under construction to ground floor left. Rear elevation is abutted by a lower two-storey return to right side, flush with south-west elevation and extended by a single-storey former outbuilding, now partially incorporated into the house. Return has dormer with flat zinc roof breaking eaves to south-west elevation; ground floor to be abutted by conservatory (under construction); north-west end is blank; north-east elevation has irregular fenestration (opes without windows at time of survey). Exposed central by has round-headed opes lighting stairwell to each half-landing level; otherwise a variety of openings including a Gothic arched sash to first floor left; dormers to attic level. North-east elevation has two windows grouped to left side at ground floor, one window over. Right side has a single opening to each floor (replacement glazing to first floor, ground floor ope without glazing at time of survey). Setting: The house is set on a secluded site, accessed from Mullaghinch Road via a long sweeping lane from south-west, marked by simple rubble stone piers without gates (original south entrance now disused and unmarked). The area immediately surrounding the house is screened by mature trees; overgrown lawns to front. Wider setting consists of extensive pasture and farmland. Roof: Slate Walling: Lime render Windows: Timber sash RWG: Cast iron

Architects

Historical Information

Bovagh House, a mansion house of Georgian appearance, has undergone several phases of remodelling over the centuries but there is evidence to suggest that the earlier part of the dwelling may date back to the Plantation period. The house is shown, uncaptioned, on the first edition OS map of 1831-2 occupying much the same roughly square plan form as it does today, with a porch to the front elevation and an outbuilding to the rear (rebuilt c1860). The building is captioned ‘Bovagh Ho[use]’ on the second edition of 1849-53. Bovagh is currently (2012) undergoing a thorough renovation as a result of which much of the building fabric has been exposed. The front elevation is of brick while behind this Georgian facade are thicker masonry walls, suggesting an earlier structure. The roof timbers also appear to have been reused/rearranged, suggestive of changes during the lifetime of the house. Field inspection therefore lends some support to a history of the house by Mullin, based partly on the OS Memoirs, which suggests that the building dates back to the Plantation. According to Mullin, Bovagh was the principal dwelling on the Waterford estates in Aghadowey. At Plantation this land was a freehold which was granted to Manus McCowy Ballagh O’Cahan, a descendant of the Gaelic chieftains of the area in earlier centuries and it was this family who are said to have built a castle or fortified house on the site. (Mullin) The last of the O’Cahans sold the castle to Sir Tristram Beresford (died 1673) who represented Londonderry in the Irish House of Commons three times between 1634 and 1666. Beresford is said to have purchased the castle for ‘a horse, a fine suit of clothes and a trifling sum of money’ and in the 1830s the memory of the O’Cahan who sold it to him ‘was still cursed for the transaction’. (OS Memoirs) Sir Marcus Beresford, first Earl of Tyrone (1694-1763), Sir Tristram Beresford’s only son, was member of parliament for Coleraine from 1715-1720 and is known to have kept several members of Coleraine Corporation imprisoned in the house for days before the election of 1727, bringing them into Coleraine under armed guard on polling day to be sure they would vote for him. (Mullin) The Beresfords subsequently resided elsewhere and the house was let to a number of tenants including ‘Mr Hodges’ and ‘Mr Olphert’. The tenant from c1750 was a descendant of the O’Cahans, Donald Osal O’Cahan, who inhabited it rent free on condition that he kept it in repair. Donald and his son John acquired a reputation as attorneys and Donald made a road through the grounds of the castle by allowing his poorer clients to defray their fees through their labour. Nevertheless, completion of the road took 20 years. It is said that all the old oak was removed from the house after the O’Cahans left by two tradesmen who were employed to alter the house, Priestly and Wadd. (OS Memoirs) It may be at this period that the new Georgian brick elevation was added to the house. The next occupier was the Rev Mr Barnard, Prebendary of Aghadowey parish (1763-1787) who lived at the castle prior to the construction of the glebe house. Barnard was followed by Langford Heyland Esq who made some improvements in the late eighteenth century. In the rebellion of 1798 the house was used as a military post ‘to overawe the surrounding country’. (OS Memoirs) Edward Macnaghten Esq lived at Bovagh in 1802 followed by John Smith and Robert Brown, caretakers for the Beresfords, who lived in the house for fifteen years during which time it became dilapidated. Robert Hezlet Esq found the house nearly a ruin when he took it over. Hezlet made extensive alterations and repairs but did not demolish any part. (OS Memoirs) By the 1830s the stone walls of the castle had been covered with plaster, but there were still some early vaults within (no longer present). The trees around the house were ‘not very old, being probably planted by Mr [Barnard] but there are some very fine ones near the greater Agivey River’. (OS Memoirs) The house and offices are listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40 at £8.16s and Mr Robert Hezlet is the occupier. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) increases the valuation to £23 and notes that there is a gatelodge on the holding. The house was situated in a plot of over 67 acres. The house passed down through the Hezlet family for some years but was vacant at the time of the 1901 and 1911 censuses. The Hezlets are a distinguished military family. Richard J Hezlet who occupied the house from 1888 gained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and another member of the family, Major General Robert Knox Hezlet, noted as occupier from 1941, became director of artillery at the War Office (1930-34) and then in India (1934-8). At the time of the First General Revaluation in the 1930s, the accommodation comprised on the ground floor: three receptions, a kitchen, two pantries and a scullery and on the first floor: four bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a bathroom, WC and four servants’ bedrooms. The house had no electric light or gas and was lit by oil lamps, with heating by grate fires. Water was supplied by a water tank on the roof and a hand pump. Major General Hezlet’s son Sir Arthur Richard Hezlet, born in 1914 while his father was serving in South Africa, became the navy’s youngest captain and youngest rear-admiral, dedicated to the promotion of the submarine as an instrument of naval strategy. In later life he became a military historian, his publications including a history of the ‘B’ Specials. After inheriting Bovagh House, Hezlet became a prominent local citizen, serving on the general synod of the Church of Ireland, and as president of the Royal British Legion for twenty five years. He died at Bovagh House in 2007. (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/5/19/1 First Edition OS Map 1831-2 2. PRONI OS/6/5/19/2 Second Edition OS map 1849-53 3. PRONI OS/6/5/19/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904-5 4. PRONI OS/6/5/19/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1924-27 5. PRONI VAL/1/B/51 Townland Valuation (1828-40) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/6A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 7. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/1 First General Revaluation 1933-57 8. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/F/1 First General Revaluation 1933-57 9. Griffith’s Valuation online 10. 1901/1911 census 11. HB file – 03/03/028 Secondary Sources 1. Day, A., P. McWilliams, English L., eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Londonderry VI, 1831, 1833, 1835-6, Vol. 22.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1993. 2. Mullin, Rev T H “Coleraine in Georgian Times” Belfast: Century Services Ltd, 1977 3. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online

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 R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance U. Historic Associations

Evaluation

Bovagh House is an early eighteenth-century two-storey three-bay house, composed on symmetrical plan about a central gabled breakfront. The house occupies a site of some antiquity, and may incorporate early masonry from an original tower house. It has been sympathetically restored to a high standard, retaining original fabric where possible, and is much enhanced by an attractively detailed range of outbuildings representative of a variety of functions associated with a prosperous farmstead in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

General Comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity; T - Historic Importance and U-Historic Associations also apply.

Date of Survey

10 October 2012