Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB02/05/003 A

Address :
The Old Rectory Glenshane Road Dungiven Co Londonderry BT47

Townland:
Derrychier

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
28/03/1975 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:
51/13

IG Ref:
C6652 0703

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

2 storey house with basement and attic floor, hipped roof all round with central chimney stacks, mixture of coursed ashlar and random rubble walls and rendering. Entrance front, 3 bays wide, facing N W, with semi-circular plain fanlight doorway, a little off-centre, with one sliding sash 12 pane window to the east, blank wall to west. At first floor 2 sliding sash 12 pane windows, that to the east centred over window below and the other symmetrically arranged on the other side. The entrance door has six fielded panels with wood plain architrave with square head separating fanlight which is without astragals. Walls are of ashlar sandstone with strap pointing and stones abutting openings roughly tooled with widely spaced lines. Sandstone cills tooled on face, window reveals finished in smooth plaster. Chamfered sandstone projecting stringcourse at ground floor level. Plain corbel courses under slight eaves with ½ round guttering. Shallow sandstone step at front door. Front wall almost covered in creeper. Roof slated with Bangor blues, hipped with lead hips and clay ridge tile. Large and high chimney stack, smooth plastered and unpainted with 2 capping courses with 5 no. chimney pots. Same is repeated to rear. N E elevation is 4 bays wide and 2 metres wider than the front with 4 sliding sash 12 pane windows on each floor, with ground floor windows slightly taller, the whole symmetrically arranged. At basement level which is exposed to a narrow area there are 4 sliding sash 9 pane windows. Wall is faced with rough ashlar sandstone with red handmade brick trim to all windows. Lintols over basement and ground floor windows are square headed in sandstone, first floor flat headed with brick trim. Window reveals plastered, chamfered projecting sandstone plinth course at ground floor level. Sandstone plain corbel course at eaves with metal brackets supporting half round gutter. C I round downpipes. Single storey back return roughcast rendered with single sliding sash 12 pane window and sandstone cill. Main roof is slated and hipped as entrance front. Back return slated but gabled. There are 2 runs of this protective metal railing at each end of basement area. Basement windows have protective railings. S E and rear elevation is 3 bays wide with 2 back returns. That to the east is single storey, gabled with single sliding sash 4 pane window placed off-centre. On the west elevation of this back return a rear door with 6 pane fanlight over. All walls plastered. The 2nd back return is narrow, part 2 storey and part single with sliding sash 6 pane window in each gable. All walls recently plastered with slate overhang at barges. The main rear wall of the house between the back returns has single 2 pane window in metal at ground floor and above a sliding sash 12 pane window and over that again a half dormer with pair of 6 pane casements to attic. Rear wall recently roughcast rendered, gutters as before with projecting corbel course under. Roof slated with hips and ridge tiles as front. A rear matching chimney stack is centred on ridge. The top floor of the narrow back return was originally a large water tank. External steps give access to a small basement area between the returns which is paved with large quarries and is protected all round with metal railing. There is a doorway to basement. S W elevation is 3 bays wide with sliding sash 12 pane windows on each side. At each floor there is a central sliding sash 12 pane window to the stair landing with a sliding sash 12 pane window under. The head of the staircase window does not line through with those on either side at first floor level. West wall is similar to east wall in treatment without brick trim to windows. Roof ditto. Wall is almost entirely covered with creeper. The west back return continues in line with the main wall. A garden wall with segmented arch doorway projects at right angles and then turns and proceeds to the stableyard. There are no basement windows showing on west or north sides. The former rectory crowns the top of a small hill in the townland of Derrychier and presently occupies 8 hectares of ground much covered with trees and shrubbery. A long winding avenue goes from the Glenshane Road to the house. Like many of the larger country houses in this area the principal elevation faced in a northerly direction to obtain a view of the fine panorama which includes Binevenagh headland. This no longer is the case with the rectory building because of the surrounding trees. Water for domestic purposes was in the past taken by an open trench aquaduct approaching the house from the S W. The grounds, in former times, had pleasant gardens laid out in a large oval, see O.S. Map 1830 Londonderry sh. 30. There were paths too, leading to the church.

Architects

Bowden, John

Historical Information

The house was built in 1817 with attached Glebe land of 160 hectares for the Rev Alexander Ross who became rector in 1810 and held the rectorship for 39 years. It cost 2086 pounds, 3 shillings and 1 penny. The Memoirs described the house as good and substantial. A report of 1986 by A Coey recommended that the original small Irish pegged slates be replaced. This was done with Bangor blue slates and completed in 1993 when the rear wall plasterwork was done. References Primary Sources 1. O.S. Map 1830 Londonderry sh. 30 2. O.S. Map 1830 Rev. 1905 Londonderry sh. 30 3. O.S. Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of Co Londonderry X, 1833-4, 1838 Ed. by Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams q.U.B. p. 29, 30 4. John McCloskey, Statistical Reports of Six Derry Parishes 1821 p. 74 5. Notes, 1st Survey, Built Heritage, 5-33 Hill Street, Belfast Secondary Sources 1. Leslie, Clergy of Derry and Raphoe p. 121

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

Evaluation

An early 19th cent. rectory in Georgian style, though with a peculiar asymmetrical entrance front. Apart from the 2nd back return the house is relatively unchanged and enjoys a good secluded situation within a mature tree setting.

General Comments

Date of Survey

17 July 2000