Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB11/13/001

Address :
Courthouse High Street Omagh Co. Tyrone BT78 1DU

Townland:
Omagh

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
23/11/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Court House

Former Use
Court House

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
137-4SE

IG Ref:
H4493 7263

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

An attached five-bay two-storey-over-raised-basement stone Palladian courthouse, built 1814-1822, to designs by John Hargrave of Dublin, extended in 1863 to designs by William Joseph Barre of Newry. L-plan, facing east; full-height pedimented prostyle tetra-style portico to east, five-bay three-storey extension to south. Hipped natural slate roof, lead ridge and hip caps, rendered chimneystacks, ogee-profile cast-iron gutters. Walling is ashlar limestone, with rustication to ground floor and basement with dressed stringcourse between ground and first floor. Sill-course to first floor simple entablature to eaves. Windows are painted timber 6/6 sashes; ground floor are round-headed with incorporated fanlights, first floor are square-headed with lugged moulded stone architraves. Principal (east) elevation of main block is flanked by Doric pilasters to each side and abutted to centre by portico, extension to left, ground floor windows have metal grilles and round-headed varnished timber raised-and-fielded three-panel double-leaf door to ground floor with replacement multi-light fanlight and moulded archivolt on impost mouldings. Portico has four Roman Doric columns on a twelve-step-raised platform with wrought and cast-iron railings carrying entablature, triangular pediment (with clock face) and Royal heraldic cipher with Edwardian Crown flanked by a lion and unicorn to apex, painted timber diamond-sheeted soffit panels to each bay. Extension to left has similar detailing to principal elevation except windows to ground floor, extended to square-headed basement windows with moulded panel to soffits. Square-headed replacement painted timber multi-light double-leaf door to centre of basement level flanked by Doric pilasters with blind side and overlights, encased in Roman Doric distyle portico with full dentilled entablature. South elevation is completely abutted by extension. South elevation to extension is blank, smooth rendered. Rear (north) elevation is abutted to left end by No. 6 George Street; exposed section has variety of projections having smooth-render finish. Single-storey over raised basement north elevation, seven openings wide. Walling is smooth rendered with rusticated basement, having continuous sill-course. Round-headed window openings with painted timber 12/12 sashes and intersecting tracery to incorporated fanlight. Gibbsian blocking jambs, moulded archivolts with keyblocks, encased in distyle prostyle portico with Doric columns with triangular pediment and accessed by stone steps with cast-iron railing. Square-headed door opening with painted timber raised-and-fielded eight-panel door having beaded muntin, stone architraves and peacock-fanlight. Square-headed niche (moulded surround to left) containing statue of a wigged male Justice. Walling to basement area is random rubble with two square-headed painted timber vertically-sheeted and studded doors. Setting:- The courthouse is situated on an elevated site at the top of High Street, enclosed by decorative wrought-iron railings including sweeping steps with rusticated stone piers aligned to both entrances. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Limestone Windows: Timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Hargrave, John

Historical Information

The courthouse was built between 1814-1822 to designs by John Hargrave of Dublin (Hodge, p.2). The south wing was added in 1863 to designs by William Joseph Barre of Newry (Rowan, p.446). Hargrave also designed the New Omagh Gaol, of which only the former Governor’s House still stands (HB11/09/004A) and courthouses at Dungannon (1830) and Letterkenny (1831) (Dixon, p.137). In 1824, Pigot & Co.’s Commercial Directory of Ireland records the 1822 courthouse’s completion and appearance: “Fronting the Main Street is the court house, an elegant piece of architecture, finished two years ago; in front are four massy pillars in the Doric order, at the top are his majesty’s arms, cut in solid stone, also a good clock in front is of essential service to the town.” The courthouse appears on the first edition (1833) OS Map, however, it is uncaptioned until the third edition (1905-1906). The OS Memoirs from 1834 describe the building as follows: “The courthouse stands on the hill at the head of the main street. This building was erected on the site of the old gaol in 1814. The portico was added in 1820 and the whole cost by country presentments, 17,000 pounds. The freestone for its erection was obtained from west [Longfield] and the columns from Mulnatoosnog in Drumragh.” (p. 104). Griffith’s Valuation of 1858 records it under exemptions as the “County Court House and yard;” the occupier is the Grand Jury, County of Tyrone, and it is valued at £200. In 1867, No. 2 High Street, has been demolished because “an addition to Court House [is] being built here” and the value amended to £320. A further note, dated 1869, mentions the “large addition to Court House.” The Dublin Builder of 1 December 1863 writes that “The committee of the grand jury of the County of Tyrone have given instructions to Mr Barre of Belfast, for the preparation of plans for extensive alterations and additions to the court-house at Omagh; and for the purpose have purchased some property adjoining, upon which the new county offices are to be erected”. In 1906 William Henry Byrne & Son made repairs and alterations to the building, including replacing existing wood and glass domes. (The Irish Builder 1906) The first court-house in Omagh was destroyed in a fire in May 1742. The present court-house was built on the site of the older one. (Latimer, p.8, 16). It is not known what building was used as a court-house between 1742 and 1814. Rowan (1979) lauds the structure as “impressively set, and intended to impress, the court house looks down the hill from the head of High Street…. Hargrave’s model is that of a standard English Palladian country house of the later [eighteenth century]. Five-bay façade of two storeys with a temple-front portico added in 1820 at the top of a massive flight of twelve steps. The detailing is distinctly wayward. The portico, following no doubt the pilaster responds which preceded it, is Tuscan, but Tuscan of a very lanky variety, with shafts almost ten times the diameter of the column, whereas the Vitruvian rule for this order is never more than seven. The entablature by contrast is oddly reduced in scale and, where it extends across the facade of the main building to corner pilasters, omits the architrave completely, which necessitates a detached block above the corner capital. Other details are more orthodox: a rusticated ground floor with round-headed sash windows; ashlar above, with the first-floor window sills forming a continuous stringcourse. In the south wing, Barre continued Hargrave’s main lines for five more bays but, through missing out the pilasters and portico adroitly regularized his mannerisms. A smaller scale for these offices, plus a dip in the ground, leaves room for two storeys within the rusticated section of the façade, with the windows of both floors contained within high relieving arches to good Italianate effect. At the north corner of the court house in George’s Street is a periwigged figure of Justice, apparently of the late [seventeenth] or early [eighteenth century], set up above the first window bay in 1854. The interior is dull.” (Rowan, p.446) According to the Omagh Tourist Office, the court house was recently restored. Dr. Haldane Mitchell claims it was the first building in Omagh with central heating (Mitchell, p.40). Jeremy Williams (1994) writes: “A rare example of William [Joseph] Barre’s architectural discretion, doubling in size the 1814 courthouse of John Hargrave without overbalancing what existed. Barre achieved this in 1863 by extending the horizontal fenestration of the earlier five bays into a further five, but thoughtfully omitted all the features that would compete with the grandeur of the original—the portico, pilasters, plinth and steps. This reticence allowed him to slip in an extra floor at ground level, taking advantage of a sloping sight” (Williams, p.357). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1 -First Edition OS Map (1833) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1854) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905-6) 4. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/17 -Town Plan of Omagh (1858) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/36 -Valuation Revisions (1860-1929) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929) 7. PRONI VAL/12/E/186/1/5 -Town Plan of Omagh (1882-1909) 8. PRONI VAL/12/F/7/7/1- Valuation Revisions (1930-35) 9. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone I, 1821, 1823, 1833-36, Vol. 5.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990. 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/36A-J and 37A-E – Annual revision records (1860–1923) 11. Pigot & Co.’s Commercial Directory of Ireland (1824) 12. The Dublin Builder, 1 December 1863, p.197 12. Slater’s Directory of Ireland (1870) 14. The Irish Builder, Vol 48, 30 June, 25 August 1906, p.526, 690 Secondary Sources 1. “Belfast Mercury” or “Freeman’s Chronicle.” 21 Sep. 1786. Quoted in Hodge, Audrey M. “Gallows and Turnkeys: A Short History of Omagh Gaol” (Omagh: West Tyrone Historical Society, 1993), p.6. 2. Dixon, Hugh. “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture.” Second Edition. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008. 3. “Hibernian Bible Society.” “Tyrone Constitution.” 10 September 1847. Reprinted in “Omagh Sixty Years Ago” (Omagh: “Tyrone Constitution,” 1910?), p. 25-26. 4. Hodge, Audrey M. “Gallows and Turnkeys: A Short History of Omagh Gaol.” Omagh: West Tyrone Historical Society, 1993. 5. Latimer, W[illiam] T[homas]. “Presbyterianism in Omagh.” Belfast: Reprinted from “The Witness,” 1913. 6. Marshall, John J. “A Famous Tyrone Murder. Report of the Trial of George Richey for the Murder of Thomas McCrory at Omagh Assizes, August 29th 1827 With An Account of the Disturbances Afterwards at Castlecaulfield and the Ballad Composed on the Execution of George Richey.” Dungannon: Tyrone Printing Co., Limited, 1936. 7. “The Morning Register” [Dublin]. August 18th, 1827.” Quoted in Marshall, John J. “A Famous Tyrone Murder” (Dungannon: Tyrone Printing Co., Limited, 1936), p.4-5. 8. Murray, F. W. “The Baddies Have Never Had It so Good.” Ulster Herald. Jan 1971. Referenced in Hodge, Audrey M. “Gallows and Turnkeys: A Short History of Omagh Gaol” (Omagh: West Tyrone Historical Society, 1993), p.9. 9. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories form the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000. 10. “News-Letter” [Dublin]. 11 May 1742. Quoted in Latimer, W[illiam] T[homas]. “Presbyterianism in Omagh” (Belfast: Reprinted from “The Witness,” 1913) p.16. 11. Reid, Thomas. Travels in Ireland in the Year 1822, Exhibiting Brief Sketches of Moral, Physical, and Political State of the Country: With Reflections of the Best Means of Improving Its Condition (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1823), p.208-209. 12. Robinson, William. “The Newtownstewart Murders” Belfast: 183 Bedford Terrace, Renwick Place, [Pamphlet] September 15, 1873. 13. “Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.” “Tyrone Constitution.” 17th October 1851. Reprinted in “Omagh Sixty Years Ago” (Omagh: “Tyrone Constitution,” 1910?), p. 63-64. 14. “Strabane Morning Post.” 17th August 1824. Referenced in Hodge, Audrey M. “Gallows and Turnkeys: A Short History of Omagh Gaol” (Omagh: West Tyrone Historical Society, 1993), p.9. 15. “Tyrone Protestant Orphan Society.” “Tyrone Constitution.” 8th August 1851. Reprinted in “Omagh Sixty Years Ago” (Omagh: “Tyrone Constitution,” 1910?), p. 53. 16. Williams, Jeremy. “Architecture in Ireland, 1837-1921: A Companion Guide.” Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd, 1994.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

An attached five-bay two-storey over raised basement stone Palladian courthouse, built 1814-1822 to designs by John Hargrave of Dublin, extended in 1863 to designs by William Joseph Barre of Newry. This symmetrical, classically styled courthouse displays fine stonework and craftsmanship throughout and Barre’s sophisticated extension to the original courthouse sustains the austere theme. Its setting above the town centre reinforces its prominence as a major civic building. The extension and much of the original courthouse retain original detailing, although there have been alterations recently that have detracted from its character. Association with Hargrave, who designed several other courthouse-gaol complexes, and with Barre, are major factors to the importance of this building. The original courthouse was connected through an underground tunnel to the former RUC Barracks at 2 High Street (not listed) and is part of a distinct architectural group with the Omagh Gaol (HB11/09/004A-E), which was rebuilt to designs by Hargrave around the same time.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 January 2009