Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB03/03/028 B

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

Townland:
Bovagh

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
25/05/2017 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Outbuildings

Former Use
Outbuildings

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:
C8891 1938

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A group of rubble stone outbuildings with hothouse enclosing the rear yard to Bovagh House (HB03/03/028A), located in the townland of Bovagh, south of Aghadowey. Comprising a rectangular two-storey coach- and stable block at north-west, a single-storey L-plan range built in two stages to south-west, with a pair of small single-storey privies offset at south-east end; the south-east side of the yard is bounded by a hothouse facing the main forecourt at south east and having access to the yard via an attached potting shed to rear. Roofs are natural slate, all pitched with the exception of the privies which share a hipped roof. (Hothouse is described separately below). Walling is random coursed rubble stone, with galleting to gable of two-storey block. Coach House and Stable range [A]: Two storey with brick chimneystack and metal rainwater goods. Coursed random rubble walling with some galleting and redbrick dressings to openings. Replacement four pane timber windows, timber sheeted door openings including double coach doors within elliptical opening having brick infil to tympanum. Abutted to east by a Single-storey abutment to east end, and lean-to open wood store to rear. Single-storey range [B]: Pitched natural slate roof with brick chimney to party wall between two phases timber finial to gable of stable projection; brick eaves course and cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls have a visible masonry seam mid-way; the northern end is coursed rubble basalt, the southern end is random rubble, part coursed. Brick-dressed openings, segmental-headed to southern end, square-headed to northern end, generally with four-light fixed windows without cills. Timber-sheeted ledged doors, that to left end (to hen house) having fine ventilation slits. Privy [C]: Square rubble masonry block with hipped slate roof having leaded ridges and hips; no rainwater goods, brick eaves. Lit by two Gothic windows to south-west elevation, that to right with original interlocking timber glazing bars, that to right with replacement glazing bars (glass broken). Projecting rubble stone screen wall shields timber sheeted entrance door to northern bay; southern bay accessed from avenue at south-west side, now inaccessible. Hothouse [D]: Monopitched roof with iron crestings, having replacment corrugated perspex sheeting on timber frame over brick plinth walls; redbrick rear (yard-facing) elevation abutted by a potting shed of brick with Gothic window and timber door. Setting: Located to the north and western side of Bovagh House (HB03/03/028A), in a secluded mature landscaped
setting, with fields to rear. Roofs: Slate Walling: Rubblestone Windows: Timber RWG: Plastic and iron

Architects

Historical Information

The outbuildings at Bovagh House were constructed in several phases. Outbuildings are shown to the north west of the house on the first edition OS map of 1831-2 but field inspection suggests that these were rebuilt in the mid-Victorian period. The outbuilding to the west of the house was built in two phases, the first phase dating from c1840 and shown on the second edition OS map of 1849-53 (possibly including the privy), was extended in the mid-Victorian period, probably at the same time as the stable block and wood store to the north west. The glasshouse appears to be a later Victorian addition and is shown on the third edition OS map of 1904-5. According to Mullin, Bovagh House 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 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, and it is they who are responsible for the outbuildings to the rear of the house, which 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

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance U. Historic Associations X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A group of rubble stone outbuildings associated with Bovagh House (HB03/03/028A), located in a mature parkland setting in the townland of Bovagh, south of Aghadowey. Various stages in the development of the group are reflected in the differing masonry techniques, which includes galleting to the main two-storey coach house. The buildings are fairly intact and illuminate the range of uses and functions associated with life in a middle-sized country house in the nineteenth century. Although the group is generally plainly detailed, the hothouse and privy display some architectural pretension, the latter having Gothic windows and the hothouse enriched by cast-iron crestings. Their survival enhances the historic interest and setting quality of Bovagh House.

General Comments

Date of Survey

10 October 2012