Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB03/16/002

Address :
Former Court House Castlerock Road Coleraine Co. Londonderry BT51 3HP

Townland:
Coleraine and Suburbs

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
22/06/1977 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Public House

Former Use
Court House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
13-13NW

IG Ref:
C8436 3245

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

Ashlar sandstone former Courthouse, now public house, in the neo-Classical style fronted by a large tetra-style portico, built 1852 to designs by Stewart Gordon and extended in 1908; located at the junction of Captain Street Lower and Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. Rectangular plan with portico to front, full-height side wings to southwest and northeast and single-storey extension to rear. Pitched natural slate roof behind parapets; rendered chimneystacks having moulded caps and terracotta pots. Parapet guttering with cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Walling is ashlar sandstone with channelled rustication at ground floor, squared coursed rubblestone at basement, and a chamfered stone plinth. Side wings are painted smooth render with string-course between ground floor and basement; channel rusticated with vermiculated quoins to northeast wing. Windows are 6/6 timber sash with margin panes and horns, having projecting stone sills; lugged moulded architraves surmounted by pediments to main block at southeast; remainder are 6/6 timber sash with horns in plain reveals (unless otherwise stated). The principal elevation faces southeast and is dominated by the full-width tetra-style portico with plain pediment having applied lettering to entablature reading “THE OLD COURT HOUSE”. Pediment is supported on four fluted Doric columns with entassis; pilaster responds flank three openings; central doorcase with large carved plaque over inscribed “1852”. Doorcase comprises plain pilasters rising to an ovolo-moulded cornice and has a chamfered moulded reveal containing a set of replacement double-leaf four-panelled timber doors. To either side of the doorcase is a 6/6 window with top and bottom margin panes, having scrolled corbels to sills and panelled aprons. Entrance is accessed via a set of seven stone steps having modern metal handrail and railings to top and enclosed by large ornately carved scrolled stone walls. The southwest elevation comprises front section of main block at right with window to centre; rear section at left is divided into two bays by a central square pilaster, each two windows wide at each floor, with 6/6 window and modern service doors in plain sandstone surrounds to basement. Remodelled side wing to centre has replacement window openings and gives access from Captain Street Lower via a modern four-panelled timber door. The northwest (rear) gable has a modern metal fire-escape to centre at first floor; abutted at basement by the single-storey extension of coursed rock-faced blackstone with ashlar sandstone dressings, having 6/6 window at northeast elevation. The northeast elevation has side wing to right of centre, having applied lettering reading “THE OLD COURT HOUSE” over centralised first floor window and two replacement timber windows at ground floor right. Right cheek has replacement window over modern metal service door to basement. Left cheek has window at first floor over replacement double-leaf four-panelled timber doors with segmental-headed fixed timber tympanum. Door is accessed by a set of eleven stone steps enclosed at right by a smooth rendered wall with rounded stone coping. Left section of main block, incorporating entrance vestibule, is three evenly-spaced windows wide. Right section of main block is divided into two bays by pilasters; that to left is one window wide at each floor with modern double-leaf metal service doors at basement; that to right has two windows at each floor. Setting: Prominently situated on a corner site at the junction of Castlerock Road and Captain Street Lower, to the west side of the Bann, in Coleraine town centre. Brick pavior to three sides, bounded by rock-faced blackstone walls with sandstone coping topped by replacement cast-iron arrow-head railings. Enclosed to northwest by a tall rock-faced blackstone wall with coping. Decorative balustrade with sandstone coping and square panelled piers encloses basement at northeast. To front (SE) are two large sandstone ashlar square gate piers with caps, supporting modern metal railings and Victorian-styled cast-iron piers with gates. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Ashlar sandstone Windows: Timber sash with horns RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Gordon, Stewart

Historical Information

The former Courthouse situated at the corner of the Castlerock Road and Captain Street Lower was constructed in 1850-52 to a design attributed to Stewart Gordon, County Surveyor for Co. Londonderry between 1834 and his death in 1860 (Builder, p. 254; Dictionary of Irish Architects). The courthouse was first recorded on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for 1849-50 when construction had commenced; the building was depicted as a rectangular-shaped structure which was then captioned as a ‘gaol.’ The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1856) recorded that the newly completed Sessions House was valued at £40 and was operated by the Grand Jury of County Londonderry. Coleraine Courthouse was primarily utilised as the town’s judicial centre but also served the rural district and included a small jailhouse for the temporary incarceration of suspected criminals prior to trial. There was no change to the value of Coleraine Courthouse until c. 1859-65 when the building was extended to the north-west with the construction of a new bridewell house (a jailhouse); the bridewell was constructed in similar sandstone to the front elevation and was constructed along with the enclosed circular rear wall which formed a secure recreation area for prisoners. The erection of the bridewell doubled the total rateable value of the courthouse to £80 at which it remained until the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931. As early as 1871 the Irish Builder recorded that there were ‘’glaring structural defects’ in the masonry of the courthouse, however there was no alteration to the layout of the building and its bridewell until 1908 when a major renovation and reconstruction of the building took place; in that year the two-storey extension to the south-west side of the building (facing onto Captain Street Lower) was erected by Charles Littleboy Boddie (1861-1924), Co. Surveyor for Londonderry between 1900 and 1924 and the first county surveyor appointed under the Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1898). Despite the almost complete renovation of the courthouse in 1908 there was no subsequent alteration to the value of the building which remained at £80 (Irish Builder, 1871, p. 23; 1908; p. 405; Dictionary of Irish Architects). It was not until the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) that the value of the courthouse was increased to £130; at that time the courthouse was administered by the Londonderry County Council as a Petty Sessions courthouse; however the bridewell jailhouse was no longer used for its original purpose. The courthouse is missing from the second general revaluation which was carried out between 1956 and 1972; however the courthouse continued to operate until 1985. Mullin states that prior to the construction of the courthouse in 1852, the town court was held at an earlier courthouse located at the Diamond on the other side of the River Bann. This original courthouse had been demolished by 1846 when The Honourable The Irish Society was approached to request a site for the construction of a new building. The Society ignored the request; however the Clothworkers Society provided the current plot of land which was formerly occupied by a public house and a general grocery store. The architect is believed to have been Stewart Gordon, the County Surveyor at the time, a likely assumption given the similarity in the design to Gordon’s Third Presbyterian Church at Great James Street in Derry. The foundation stone was laid on 24th November 1850 by Charles Knox, a local magistrate, and the construction work was undertaken by Constantine Dornan who regularly took contracts for the Clothworkers Society. Mullin notes that when the courthouse was originally completed the jailhouse attached to it was deemed much too small, resulting in the construction of the current rear bridewell extension in c. 1859-65 (Mullin, p. 34). The courthouse operated for over 130 years until its closure in 1985; in 1979 Rowan described the courthouse as ‘a tetrastyle Greek Doric temple – the columns too closely spaced for comfort – at the head of a flight of steps with large scrolls at the sides.’ Girvan adds that the original ‘splendid cast-iron gates’ had been removed as early as1972 when the building was still utilised as an operating courthouse (Rowan, p. 207; Girvan, p. 25). Upon the courthouses closure in 1985, the building lay vacant for a number of years and was listed in 1997. In c.2000 the interior of the former judicial building was converted into a public house and since opening on 28th February 2001 Wetherspoons pub has occupied the landmark site at the junction of the Castlerock Road and Captain Street Lower. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1830 2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50 3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904 4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923 5. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1949 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/3F – Griffith’s Valuation 1856 7. PRONI VAL/12/E/156/1/8 – Annual Revision Town Plan c. 1882-1907 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/9A-P – Annual Revisions 1859-1931 9. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/3 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935 10. Builder, Vol. 9 (19 Apr 1851) 11. Irish Builder, Vol. 12 (15 Jan 1871); Vol. 50 (27 Jun 1908) 12. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918) 13. First Survey Record – HB03/16/002 (1970) 14. First Survey Image – HB03/16/002 (1971) 15. Ordnance Survey map – 13-13SE (1967-68) Secondary Sources 1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972. 2. Mullin, T. H. ‘Coleraine in modern times’ Belfast: Century Services, 1979. 3. Rowan, A., ‘The buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ Yale: Yale University Press, 1979. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Wetherspoons website - http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-old-courthouse

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building H+. Alterations enhancing the building J. Setting

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance U. Historic Associations

Evaluation

An ashlar sandstone former Courthouse, now public house, in the neo-Classical style fronted by a large tetra-style portico, built 1852 to designs by Stewart Gordon and extended 1908; located at the junction of Captain Street Lower and Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. Although fully refurbished as a modern public house, much of the external architectural detailing is intact and the Victorian character is largely preserved. Prominently sited, this is a landmark building in the town, of significant local interest and making an important contribution to the character of Coleraine town centre. Its interest is enhanced by the addition of the Bridewell in 1859 including the curved boundary wall which still exists.

General Comments

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

Date of Survey

07 December 2012