Banagher Manse

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half storey three-bay mid-Victorian Presbyterian Manse with rear return, accessed via a laneway located on the Ballyhanedin Road to the west of the village of Feeny in Co. Londonderry. There are some Tudoresque influences in the style of the windows with hood mouldings with label stops over. The walls are of a painted finish with a pronounced painted plinth to the south and east facades and an artificial slate roof with three buff-coloured brick chimneys, two on the apex of the large bays and one on the apex of a cross roof over the centre. All corners to the main house have painted quoins.

The front (South) elevation is symmetrical and consists of two one-and-a-half storey gables either side with a central bay containing a single-storey entrance porch. Each gable is comprised of a large tripartite window to ground floor level and a smaller bipartite one centred above it on first floor, all with plain chamfered surrounds and hood mouldings with label stops. The ground floor window has two circular-section timber mullions dividing three narrow 1/1 timber sliding sashes and a circular-section timber transom with a square fixed-pane above. The first floor window is of the same style but with a single central mullion between the two timber sliding sash windows and again has a square fixed-pane window above the transom. All gable bargeboards on the elevation are terminated by a timber pointed finial. The central bay contains a timber and glazed entrance porch which is surmounted by a pitched artificial slate roof with a decorated bargeboard. The roof overhangs beyond the porch itself and is supported by timber struts. The wall containing the timber sliding sash window located directly above the porch is set back from the main facade. This window has a small gabled roof over with a decorative bargeboard.

The side (East) facade faces the drive to the house. A tall bay window with a hipped slate roof projects from the front reception room on the left hand side of the elevation. It has painted piers which divide the central bipartite window from the single-width splayed sides. To the right of the bay window and to the same reception room is a tall bipartite window with hood moulding, similar to the windows on the front elevation. There is a small 1/1 timber sliding sash window tight against this on ground floor level and a small 6/6 timber sliding sash window above on first floor level. The kitchen return is set back slightly from the main facade and is separated by painted quoins. Its ridge level is slightly lower than the ridge of the main roof. The return has a further bipartite window with hood moulding of a smaller scale.

The rear (North) elevation is comprised of several different elements. The largest element is the kitchen return on the left side which has a small bipartite window with a central timber mullion dividing two 1/1 timber sliding sash windows centrally located on the ground floor, and a tall bipartite window with 2/2 timber sliding sash windows to the first floor, located to the left-side of centre. To the right of this is a two-storey flat-roofed extension with timber door with a square glazed top pane to ground floor and a 2/2 timber sliding sash window to the half-landing level on first floor. To the right is a single-storey lean-to with a natural slate roof and two metal casement windows. The lean-to abuts the gable of the main house which has a centrally located 6/6 timber sliding sash window to first floor. There is a section of shallower pitched roof above the flat roofed return suggesting that it has been partly reconstructed. Bargeboards to the two gables on this elevation are plain.

The (West) side elevation has two windows to the ground floor without hood mouldings; the window located to the left side has a 2/2 timber sliding sash window and a double-pane window above a transom, while the window on the right side is bipartite with a vertical timber mullion dividing two 1/1 timber sliding sashes with two square fixed pane windows above the transom. The single storey lean-to return to the left side is set back from the main elevation and has no windows.

An L-shaped range of outbuildings is located to the north and west of the house, forming an informal courtyard which is bounded by high stone walls. This yard can be accessed from a separate entrance on Ballyhanedin Road, located to the NW of the main entrance.
The outbuildings consist of a two-storey block on the west side with a natural slate pitched roof and a single-storey outbuilding abutting it at right-angles at the NW corner which has a mono-pitched natural slate roof. Both blocks have randomly placed openings. The taller block includes a coach arch located close to where the blocks abut. The elevations onto the courtyard are whitewashed however the stonework and brick detailing is visible. The rear and gable elevations of both outbuildings are of exposed stonework. The north gable of the taller block and the rear elevation of the smaller block form the boundary with the Ballyhanedin Road. The rear elevation of the taller block has a single-storey lean-to return at its south end with a tin roof.

Setting:
The Manse is located on an elevated site with mature gardens and outbuildings on the south side of the Ballyhanedin Road, a short distance from Banagher Presbyterian Church (HB01/01/003A). Banagher is just over a mile west of the village of Feeny in Co. Londonderry. The main access to the site is through a pair of rendered piers. A thick stone wall, approx 3 ft tall, with coping encloses the site along the Ballyhanedin Road and continues until the secondary entrance to the site which is is located to the north-west, giving access to the rear courtyard and outbuildings. This entrance is comprised of stone piers with decorative iron gates. The boundary wall continues along the road until it abuts the rear wall of the outbuilding. A tall stone wall with a concave coping dropping to a lower stone wall connects the north-east corner of the manse to the secondary entrance. A further stone wall with piers and decorative iron gates encloses the courtyard on the west side of the manse.

Materials:
Walls ruled and lined render, painted
Roof artificial slate
Windows timber sliding sash
RWGs PVC

Historical information

This house was built in or shortly after 1860 by Rev. Robert L. Rogers (d.1879) as the manse for nearby Banagher Presbyterian Church. Rogers secured a grant of £400 from the Fishmonger’s Company for a new residence in 1859, and construction work appears to have commenced shortly afterwards. It was complete by 1863, as the change in the rateable value of the property (from £5-10-0 to £9-10-0) testifies.

The authorship is uncertain. English architects Richard Suter and James Bridger were responsible for the design of the church itself in 1825, and the former was employed to work on buildings throughout on the Fishmonger’s Co. Londonderry estate in the course of the 1820s, but his association with the Company ceased at the end of the decade and there seems to be no clear evidence to suggest a connection with the manse. A more likely candidate is perhaps local builder-architect James Turnbull, who was commissioned to work on several schemes by the Fishmongers (and others) post-1830, although his career after c.1846 is not documented. Whomever the designer, it is logical to assume it was the same person who worked on the re-styling of the interior of the church, which also took place in or just after 1860.

The valuations do not record any changes to the residence up until at least 1935, but the uneven pitch of the roof to the rear suggests that it has been partly reconstructed, and consequently that the flat-roofed projection to this side is not original, or has at least been heightened. The rear lean-to may be an extension also. The style of the window frames to the projection suggest work to this portion may have been carried out in the very late 1800s or early 1900s, possibly shortly after 1892 when the Fishmongers made a gift of both the church and the manse to the congregation, whilst those frames to the lean-to indicate it may be of the later 1900s. Unfortunately the post-1935 valuations are not currently available at PRONI, so the dates of alterations after this date (if any) are uncertain. A congregational history states that work was carried out to the property post-1976, although the extent of this is not noted.

The manse replaced a pre-1830 dwelling on the same site, which is recorded in the second valuation of 1857 as a relatively old single-storey thatched structure measuring 44ft x 20 x 9, with a slated section (probably an addition) of 16 x 20 x 9, and an outbuilding of 60 x 17 x 14. This previous building had served as the minister’s abode from at least 1832 and may have been in existence from the time of the formation of the Banagher congregation in 1753. Described by the Fishmongers in c.1859 as ‘good enough for a farm’ but ‘not good enough for one who as a minister ranks with gentlemen’, it was completely cleared to make way for the present structure; however, the outbuilding to the immediate west follows the positioning and plan of that shown on the early OS maps, and may be substantially the same block we see today. This structure has something of an interesting past in its own right, serving as a temporary place of worship when the church was being refurbished in the early 1880s.

Both the manse and the outbuildings remain in the ownership of the church.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL1A/5/30 (1830-32)
2 PRONI VAL1B/548A-B (1832)
3 PRONI VAL2A/5/30A (1852-57)
4 PRONI VAL2B/5/44 (1857)
5 PRONI VAL12B/31/12A-F (1860-1933)
6 PRONI OS6/5/30/3 (1905)
6 PRONI VAL12F/6/4/3 (1930-35)

Secondary sources
1 Curl, J.S., The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914, (Phillimore & Co., 1986), pp.262-63

Online sources
1 Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2015]
1 History from headstones - http://www.historyfromheadstones.com/index.php?id=809 [A congregational history by Terry Eakin. Accessed 14 Jan. 2015]

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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Banagher Manse was built in c.1860 and was constructed to house the minister of Banagher Presbyterian Church (HB01/01/003A). It is located in a rural setting west of the village of Feeny in Co.Londonderry on an elevated site that has views across the valley to the south. It replaced a pre-1830 dwelling on the same site, however the outbuildings that remain today may be from the time of the earlier house and in fact the outbuilding to the immediate west has something of an interesting past in its own right, serving as a temporary place of worship when the church was being refurbished in the early 1880s. It is likely that the manse was built to designs by local builder-architect James Turnbull, after the church received a grant from The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. The manse is one-and-a-half storey with a symmetrical front facade consisting of a gable to each side and a projecting porch to the centre. The windows and decorative bargeboards are largely intact and are indicative of the amount of original historic fabric and detailing that survives. The interior retains its formal layout with reception rooms located either side of the hall and some historic detailing. The later extensions to the rear do not significantly detract from the special interest of the building. The Manse remains a fine example of a mid-nineteenth century dwelling with good quality outbuildings and stone boundary walls in a beautiful rural setting. It has group value with Banagher Presbyterian Church.