Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/03/021

Address :
Former School Master's House 46 Main Street Eglinton Londonderry Co. Londonderry BT47 3AD

Townland:
Muff

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
14/10/1994 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
Yes

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
27-12SW

IG Ref:
C5291 2036

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached two-storey coursed-rubble stone former School Master's house, built 1814 (architect unknown). Square on plan facing South East with a two-storey rear projection with a slated pitched roof reflecting refurbishment works carried out in 1831. The building is set within its own grounds including a small garden and is situated within close proximity to Saint Canice's Church (HB01/03/007) to the NE side and across the road from the former Rectory (HB01/03/011) to the SE side. Hipped slate roof with lead roll ridge has two smooth rendered chimney stacks to the NW side, both having stepped cornices and two terracotta clay pots; there is a single rough-cast rendered chimney stack rising from the gable-end NW elevation of rear return having a stepped cornice and a single terracotta clay pot. Cast-aluminium rainwater goods throughout, half-round guttering is supported by out-and-up iron brackets to a deep over-hanging eaves. Coursed rubble squared stone walling with fine lime pointing, wedge-shaped stone voussoirs to window heads with hood moulds over ground floor windows. Paired 1/1 timber sash windows with horns to ground and first floor levels on painted (and unpainted) masonry sills. South East front elevation is three bays wide having a small projecting rendered porch on ground floor level, centred on elevation with a pitched slate roof over, entrance porch contains a square-headed four-panel painted timber door and a timber sliding sash window with 1/1 panes to its NE cheek; there is a date stone of '1814'over the doorway; paired 1/1 timber sliding sashes (with horns) to either side of the porch, windows on first floor are squat paired 1/1 timber sliding sashes, outer bays are aligned with windows on ground floor level, central bay has a single 1/1 timber sliding sash directly over the entrance porch; ground floor bays have a horizontal hood mould over. There is a circular cast-aluminium downpipe to either end of elevation. Front elevation is partially overgrown. South West elevation has a cat slide extension to the NW side having a timber casement window on ground and first floor levels; main house has paired 1/1 timber sliding sashes, centred on elevation to ground and first floor levels; ground floor window has a horizontal hood mould above stone voussoirs. North West elevation to the rear is blank; walling is of coursed rubble stone; rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey projection to the NE side having a slated pitched roof. Rear return gable-end is two-bays wide on ground floor having replacement 1/1 timber sliding sashes and a multi-pane timber casement window on first floor level, gable-end is topped by a tall rough-cast rendered chimney stack with a single terracotta clay pot; SW elevation of rear return is abutted by a single storey entrance porch with a slated cat-slide roof over, walling is of unpainted smooth render having a small 1/1 timber sliding sash on the SW elevation and of the same to the NW elevation to the right side of a square-headed doorway opening out onto rear garden. North East side elevation paired 1/1 timber sliding sashes, centred on elevation to ground and first floor levels, ground floor bay has a horizontal hood mould over. NE elevation of rear return is stepped back from the main house, containing two tripartite windows having 1/1 timber sliding sashes on ground and first floor levels, to the NW side of rear return elevation, SE side has a single 1/1 timber sliding sash on ground floor level and a small timber casement window on first floor directly above. Materials Roof Natural Slate RWG Cast-aluminium Walling Stone / render Windows Timber sliding sash sash / timber casements Setting Located within a historically significant Plantation village, formerly known as Muff. The current former School Master's house is situated within its own grounds within close proximity to St. Canice's Church (HB01/03/007) to the NE side and the former Rectory (HB01/03/11) to the SW, which was built on the site of the former Castle. The plot of land immediately adjacent to the NE contains a scheduled monument LDY 015:009, which consists of a post-medieval church gable. The main entrance to the former school master's house faces SE and is accessed via a short tarmac avenue just off the Main Street.

Architects

Historical Information

In Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland of 1837 (vol. II, p. 614) the schoolhouse is described as ‘a large and handsome edifice’. The Ordnance Survey Memoir of the parish of Faughanvale (1838) has the following to say about the schoolhouse: ‘The schoolhouse is pleasantly situated close to the church and surrounded by a small garden kept in good order. It was built in 1814 at an expense of 300 pounds, granted from Erasmus Smith’s fund. It was repaired and improved in 1831 at an expense of 60 pounds. … Upon a freestone slab in the schoolroom is the following inscription: “Be it remembered that in the year MDCCCXII the Worshipful Company of Grocers, London, granted to the trustees of Erasmus Smith 2 acres 3 perches statute measure for the site and purposes of this school, the extent of which land on the north is denoted by boundary stones, beyond which that attached to the school remains in the said company, who jointly with the said trustees did in the year MDCCCXXXI enlarge and repair the schoolhouse and cause this stone to be set up.”’ A small square structure on this site is identified as a school on the 1830 Ordnance Survey map. A slightly more substantial building with a small rear projection – probably reflecting the works executed in 1831 – is shown on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map. The First Valuation fieldbook of c. 1835 provides the following dimensions for the building: 33½ feet in length, 27 feet in breadth and 17 feet high. The Primary Valuation ‘house book’ has the same dimensions for the schoolhouse and also identifies a ‘kitchen house’ which measured 9 feet by 15 feet in plan, and 14 feet in height. This may have been the rear projection, though it could also have been a separate structure. In Griffith’s Valuation (1858) the property, in the possession of the Erasmus Smith Trust, comprised a schoolhouse and office valued at £6 10. In the mid 1880s a new school building was built on an adjoining site. It is no longer in use, but still bears a plaque with the date 1886 and the inscription ‘Eglinton Public E[lementary] School’. ‘Public E’ looks like it has replaced an earlier word, almost certainly ‘National’. The Valuation Revision Books were slow to take note of this for it was not until 1903 that the details of the property were revised to take account of this change. The schoolhouse was now listed in the Valuation Revision Books as a teacher’s house with the buildings being given a valuation of £5. The Valuation Revision Books also note that the ownership of the site had been transferred to the Diocesan Board of Education According to the House and Building return of the 1901 census, the schoolmaster, Henry E. Thompson, lived in a house containing 5-6 rooms with 4 windows in front. In 1911, however, the home of a successor, Florence Wallace, contained 7-9 rooms and had 5 windows in front, suggesting that the teacher’s residence had been extended. By 1950 Alfred Robins was occupying the house and by 1961 the occupier was Aubrey O’Byrne. Reflecting the changes in the structures of education governance, the lessor by this time was the County Londonderry Education Committee. Having fallen into a state of disrepair, in 2003 a programme of restoration was undertaken. In January 2005 it was noted that most of the building had been restored to its former condition, though the interior was mainly new. Primary sources 1. PRONI, First Valuation fieldbook, 1830s VAL/1/B/550A 2. PRONI, Primary Valuation ‘house book’, 1856, VAL/2/B/5/550 3. PRONI, Griffith’s Valuation, 1858 4. PRONI, Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1929 – VAL/12/B/32/6A-F 5. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1830 – OS/6/5/15/1 6. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1853 – OS/6/5/15/2 7. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1905 – OS/6/5/15/3 8. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1924 – OS/6/5/15/4 9. PRONI, Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930 – VAL/12/B/32/6A-F 10. PRONI, Annual Revisions List of the First General Revaluation, 1936-57, VAL/3/C/6/8 11. PRONI, Second General Revaluation Records, 1956-72, VAL/4/B/5/21 12. Angélique Day & Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 36 (Belfast, 1996) 13. Samuel Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (2 vols, London, 1837) 14. NIEA, HB Records Secondary sources 1. Alan Rogers, The Twice-Born Village: Muff Eglinton (Co. Londonderry) (New University of Ulster, 1984) 2. James Stevens Curl, The Londonderry Plantation, 1609-1914 (Chichester, 1986) 3. Brian Mitchell, Historic Eglinton (1994) Online sources 1. 1901 and 1911 census returns: www.census.nationalarchives.ie 2. NI Sites and Monuments Record: LDY 015:009, accessed 17/12/2012 via Map Viewer on NIEA website: www.NIEAni.gov.uk

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

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

Evaluation

Detached two-storey coursed-rubble stone house, built 1814 and located within a historically important Plantation village (formerly known as Muff). The name of the architect is unknown but the symmetrical composition and good proportions suggest that it was designed in a deliberate style. Square on plan with a two-storey gabled return to the rear (NW), also built in stone; the building was originally a school before being replaced in mid 1880s when it became the school master's house. Recent renovations have resulted in loss of much historic fabric inside and replacement windows to the rear also detract. However the exterior detailing survives largely intact and rubble schist stone walling either side of substantial gate pillars at its entrance on Main Street further augment the quality of its setting. Set adjacent to a scheduled monument LDY 015:009, which consists of a post-medieval church gable, and within close proximity to St. Canice's Church (HB01.03.007) and the Rectory (HB01.03.001) the former school master’s house remains as one of the most significant buildings within the village of Eglinton.

General Comments

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Date of Survey

29 September 2014