Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB09/13/005 B

Address :
Coolnafranky House Molesworth Road, Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 8PF

Townland:
Loy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
24/10/1975 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
School

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
124/07

IG Ref:
H8158 7802

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Owner Category

Education Board

Exterior Description And Setting

This is a detached sandstone two-storey former house’, built, c.1858. It is now in use as a school administrative building. There is a projecting single-storey entrance bay to the North front elevation. There is a two-storey return to the rear Southeast and a further single-storey hipped extension to the rear South. External walls are sandstone with a continuous cut-stone parapet at roof level. The house is located off Molesworth Street, accessed via a long laneway. Molesworth gate lodge is located to the entrance (HB09/13/005A). The house now forms part of the school grounds of Cookstown Grammar and Intermediate School. The front North elevation faces onto the lawns and entrance drive. It is three windows in width. The ground floor central entrance porch is projecting. The front North elevation has double rusticated pilasters to each side of a central doorway. The pilasters are supporting a carved stone cornice and plain frieze. There is a projecting carved stone cornice over. The doorway is set within a round-headed recess. It has a square-headed door with a round-headed overlight. It is a glass and timber paneled double door. The porch is set on two cut-stone steps. The side elevations of the porch, both West and East, have double pilasters to the outside and single pilasters to the inside. The pilasters support the cornice and frieze, as previous. There is a round-headed window set within. It has a cut-stone paneled stall-riser to the base, set on a cut-stone sill. The entrance porch is surmounted by a decorative castellated parapet with a decorative oculus (perhaps originally intended for a plaque, now missing). The windows to the ground floor of the main house are square-headed with smooth and carved cut-stone surrounds. There is a projecting carved stone cornice over. There are splayed cut-stone sills to all windows. The side West elevation is four bays in width. Windows to the ground and first floor are square-headed with smooth and carved cut-stone surrounds. There is a projecting carved stone cornice over windows at ground floor level. There are splayed cut-stone sills to all windows. The side East elevation has two windows to the left, a projecting bay slightly off centre, and projecting chimneystack to the right. Windows are square-headed with 1/1 timber sash as previous. The projecting bay has a square-headed window to the ground floor and a semi-circular-headed window to the first floor. There are carved stone surrounds to both windows. The chimney has a slight projection, is larger at the base, and steps inwards towards the top. The chimneystacks are visible over parapet level. The rear South elevation is partially obscured by a single-storey extension. There are a mixture of square-headed timber sliding sash and casement windows to ground and first floor visible. There is a timber sheeted door to the ground floor and first floor. The external wall steps slightly into a recess towards the corner. There is a carved and profiled stone projection with a diamond-shaped cut stone finial over. Walls and Roof: External walls are squared rock faced sandstone with a projecting ashlar cut stone base. There is a continuous cut-stone cornice above the first floor windows. There is a upstanding parapet to the roof. There is a central round-headed projection to the parapet of the front North and side West elevations. This projection has cut-stone cornicing with a rounded finial on top. There is a cut-granite keystone set below, with a crest carving set within. There is a hipped roof set behind the parapet. There are three chimneys to the roof, in matching sandstone with profiled stepped capping. The chimney to the Southeast has an integral round-headed bellcote within. Rainwater goods are cast-iron. Returns: The two-storey sandstone return to the Southeast is pitched and hipped. The North elevation is gable-ended with a projecting chimney to the centre. The chimney is matching sandstone with profiled stepped capping. There are square-headed timber casement and sliding sash windows to the North elevation. There is a stone wall enclosure to the ground floor with a timber sheeted door. The East side elevation and South rear elevation has square-headed windows with frames as previous. External walls are sandstone to match the main block with chamfers to the corners. There are quoin stones to edges. The roof is slated and hipped with replacement aluminum rainwater goods. The rear single-storey extension has a mixture of square-headed timber casement windows. There is a door to the rear South elevation. The roof is hipped and pitched with a glazed roof lantern to the centre. Rainwater goods are replacement uPVC.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Coolnafranky House was built in 1858 for James Gunning, who, in partnership with James Moore, had bought much of the Stewart (of Killymoon) Cookstown estate in 1851. Originally known as Loymount, the house is recorded in the 1859 valuation, with the rateable value, £60. The identity of the architect is not known. John B. Gunning-Moore succeeded to the property in 1877 and a year later built the gate lodge [HB09/13/005A] at the head of the main drive to the north. In 1890 a ‘new peach house’ is noted by the valuers as having been added to the property, but no other major alterations are recorded hereafter. Coolnafranky passed to (or was acquired by) an Isabella Roche sometime between 1930 and 1935. It remained with Ms Roche up until 1951, when the house and its grounds were acquired by the Tyrone Education Committee for the building of the present school complexes. References- Primary sources 1 ‘Pigot & Co's Provincial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1824) 2 PRONI OS/9/10/1 OS plan of Cookstown, 1833 3 PRONI VAL/1B/622A First valuation, Derryloran parish, 1834-c.1838 4 PRONI VAL/1D/6/2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, c.1838 5 Lewis, Samuel, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland…’ vol.1, (London, 1837) 6 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1846) 7 PRONI VAL/2C/63 Second valuation, Union of Cookstown (Dublin, 1859) [This is the printed version of the second valuation. The handwritten version (which may have been more detailed and include property dimensions etc.) no longer exists. The printed volume merely provides names of tenants and leaseholders, and rateable values.] 8 PRONI VAL/2D/6/3/1-2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1859-82 [2 sheets] 9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5A Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1860-63 10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5B Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1864-68 11 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5C Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1868-81 12 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1870) 13 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1880) 14 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5D Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1881 15 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5E Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1881 16 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5F Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1882-90 17 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5G Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1882-88 18 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5J Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1889-94 [The reference number for this book is out of sequence in the PRONI catalogue- the dates it covers are actually earlier than VAL/12B/37/5H.] 19 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5H Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1895-99 20 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5K Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1889-99 20 PRONI VAL/12E/171/1/1-2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1892-97 [2 sheets] 22 PRONI OS/33/1/1-5 OS plan of Cookstown, 1895 [5 sheets] 22 PRONI OS/9/10/2/1-2 OS plan of Cookstown, index map, 1895 [2 sheets] 23 PRONI OS/9/10/3/1-5 OS plan of Cookstown, 1895 [5 sheets] 24 PRONI VAL/12A/6/11 Valuers’ office notebook, Cookstown Union, 1895-1900 25 PRONI VAL/12E/171/2/1-3 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1897-1910 [3 sheets] 26 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7A Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1901-07 27 PRONI VAL/12A/6/16 Valuers’ office notebook, Cookstown UD, 1901-10 28 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster directory’ 1902- (Belfast News-Letter, 1902- ) 29 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7B Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1909-15 30 PRONI OS/33/2/1-4 OS plan, 1909 & 1918 [4 sheets] 31 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7C Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1916-29 32 PRONI VAL/3G/142/1 /1-4 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1936-37 [4 sheets] 33 PRONI VAL/3C/7/8 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cookstown Urban, 1936-57 34 PRONI VAL/3G/142/2/1-4 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1937-51 35 PRONI VAL/4B/6/10 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cookstown Urban vol.1, 1956-72 36 PRONI VAL/4B/6/11 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cookstown Urban vol.2E, 1956-72 Secondary sources 1 Oram, R.W. and Rankin, P.J., Historic buildings…Dungannon & Cookstown (Belfast, UAHS, 1971)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

This is a well proportioned and detailed example of a former nineteenth century house. It shares group value with the nearby Molesworth Gatehouse (HB 09/13/005); the contrasting styles of the main house and its gate lodge add some additional interest. The restrained ornamentation is typical of the era and this is well preserved. The house is designed in a mild classical style; this is in marked contrast with a Victorian character of the gate lodge. Although some detail has been lost and there have been some alterations to the layout, the interior is substantially complete. It is set on a slight rise, set back from the main Molesworth Road within its former grounds. Recent school buildings have been sited well away from the the house with the result that much of the original setting is quite well preserved.

General Comments

Date of Survey

05 February 2008