FOYLE PARK

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-storey Georgian style former Grocers' Hall. Built c.1809-13. L-shaped plan form comprising three distinct blocks, with roofs of varying heights. Principal elevation faces East accessed via a long tree lined avenue approached from the Whitehill Road; remains of former outbuildings beyond South wing; all located to the South West of Eglinton village.

Pitched natural slate hipped roof with lead rolled ridge to main rectangular block with rendered red brick chimney mid-ridge and lean-to to West side with natural slate roof ; pitched natural slate roof to entrance hallway L-shaped block with rendered red brick chimney mid-ridge; pitched natural slate hipped roof to South wing with rendered red brick chimney mid ridge slightly to left side with another chimney mid-valley between the two blocks and a small lean to shed (roof now missing) to the South gable. Cast aluminium half round gutters and circular downpipes throughout.

Principal elevation facing East of rough-cast render painted finish; right block is two-bay two-storey with hipped natural slate roof. All window openings are square headed on painted masonry sills. Symmetrical fenestration of 6/6 timber sliding sash windows, upper windows aligned with ground floor windows of diminished scale. Left block slightly set back is two-bay two-storey with double height recess containg entrance doorcase and window above. Entrance doorcase set within moulded plaster band containing large 6 panel raised and fielded timber door with engaged fluted pilasters of the Doric order supporting moulded entablature flanked by triple paned sidelights all under a segmental headed fanlight with stained glass including a small coat of arms within decorative ironwork frame with support bars.

North elevation of rough-cast render painted finish with symmetrical fenestration pattern. Three-bay two-storey elevation with large square headed window openings containing tripartite timber sliding sash windows with 6/6 central window and 2/2 side lights with smooth plaster reveals set on sandstone sills with tooled finish.

West elevation of rough-cast render painted finish with symmetrical fenestration pattern; all windows 6/6 timber sliding sash and diminished scale to first floor level, all with square headed window openings on painted masonry sills. Pitched and hipped natural slate roofing with cast aluminium half round guttering on rise and fall brackets with circular downpipes. Main block to left is two-bay two-storey with two-storey lean-to to south side; coupled timber sliding sash window to ground floor of middle block with single timber sliding sash above; South wing is four-bay two-storeys with symmetrical fenestration pattern; two coupled windows to ground floor left side with central windows above, replacement metal window and timber sheeted painted door with square headed 4/4 timber fanlight above to ground floor right side with central windows to first floor level. Pitched and hipped natural slate roof with lead rolled ridge and central rendered red brick chimney mid-ridge and rendered chimney mid-valley to left side. Cast aluminium half round gutter on rise and fall brackets terminating at circular cast aluminium downpipes.

South elevation to South wing of rough-cast render painted finish with small doorcase to the right deeply set back containing solid timber flush door three stone steps up from ground level. Central window opening at first floor level overgrown with ivy. Pitched and hipped natural slate roof with lead rolled ridge and cast aluminium half round gutter on rise and fall brackets.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast-aluminium
Walling Rough-cast render painted
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

Setting:
Located on an elevated rural site with panoramic views over Eglinton village and Lough Foyle, within extensive mature grounds. Built 1809-13. Accessed via a long tree lined avenue approached from the Whitehill road, to the SW of Eglinton village. Large ruinous wing to South with remains of outbuildings beyond. Large yard to SE enclosed with high local schist walling.

Historical information

Originally known as Grocers’ Hall, this structure was built in the townland of Fallowlea in Faughanvale parish in the early nineteenth century by David Babington, the lessee of the estate of the Grocers’ Company. Curl (p. 158) dates it to 1809-12, while the Ordnance Survey Memoir (1838) dates it to 1813, noting that Babington had ‘built the present mansion house, or rather annexed it with the present offices, to the original small and confined building’. In his memoir of 1814, Sampson (p. 261) wrote: The mansion of Grocers’-hall is worthy of those in honour of whom it has been named. The value and efficacy of resident and patriotic gentry can no where be better exemplified.’

In the early 1820s the lease of the Grocers’ estate was not renewed and Babington received £7,000 in compensation for the house and other improvements to its demesne. The building then had a variety of different uses, including the abode of the agent of the Grocers’ Company, the residence of officers of the Ordnance Survey, ‘the Fallowlea Literary School establishment and a private school that emanated from it’, and the home of Alexander Alexander [sic]. The latter had died by 1838 when it was occupied by a farm servant. Around this time, it became known as Foyle Park, having also been called Fallowlea House.

During this period, the house was modified on two occasions, first of all when it became a school – the short-lived Fallowlea Literary School was closely associated with the neighbouring and more successful Templemoyle Agricultural School and was a boarding establishment – and secondly, when it passed into private hands.

Griffith’s Valuation (1858) records that the property was in the possession of George Ross who leased it from the Grocers’ Company. The valuation of the buildings was £45. The House Book (1856) provides the following information on the dimensions of the house.

Building Length Breadth Height
House 61 30 25
House addition 55 31 20
House wing 62 28½ 20

The Valuation Revision Books show that the property had a succession of different occupiers in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1876 the house and offices were given separate valuations, the former receiving a valuation of £33, the latter £12. The house was declared vacant in 1880. By this time, James Davidson, a Scotsman, had acquired some of the lands of the Grocers’ Company, including Fallowlea.

Though the Davidsons were often styled ‘of Foyle Park’, the house seems to have remained vacant for quite a considerable time. In 1921 the house was reduced in value to £30, while in 1928 the offices fell to £2.10. In the 1920s the house was conveyed to a Henry Whiteside, but was reacquired by the Davidsons in the late 1960s. At some point the coats of arms of the Grocers’ Company and Babington family were taken from the gate-lodge at Foyle Park and placed in a flanking wall beside the market house in Eglinton.

References

Primary sources
1. PRONI First Valuation fieldbook, 1830s – VAL/1/B/550A
2. PRONI, Primary Valuation house book, 1856 – VAL/2/B/5/50
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/6/5/14/1
6. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1853 – OS/6/5/14/2
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. Irish Farmer’s and Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural Affairs, Volume 1 (Dublin, 1834), p. 487.
10. Angélique Day & Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 36 (Belfast, 1996)
11. PRONI, First Northern Ireland General Revaluation Books: Annual Revision Lists, 1936-57 – VAL/3/C/6/8
12. NIEA, First Survey Card

Secondary sources
1. George Vaughan Sampson, A Memoir: Explanatory of the Chart and Survey of the County of London-Derry (London, 1814)
2. Alan Rogers, The Twice-Born Village: Muff Eglinton (Co. Londonderry) (New University of Ulster, 1984)
3. James Stevens Curl, The Londonderry Plantation, 1609-1914 (Chichester, 1986)
4. Alistair J. Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (Harmondsworth, 1979)
5. Brian Mitchell, Historic Eglinton (1994)
6. Mark Bence-Jones, Burke’s Guide to Country Houses: Ireland (1978)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Substantial Georgian style house and offices, originally known as 'Grocers’ Hall', built by David Babington, the lessee of the estate of the Grocers’ Company. Dating from c.1809-13 and comprising three distinct 2-storey hipped blocks of varying heights. Well proportioned with a series of generous interior spaces, the house retains original fabric including natural slate roof, timber sliding sash windows and lime harling, as well as most internal detailing. Good door case and fanlight. The windows - their scale and craftmanship - are of particular interest. Large ruinous wing to South with remains of outbuildings beyond. One gate to West and one to East of the house, together with large yard to SE enclosed with high local schist walling add to quality of the immediate setting. Located on an elevated rural site with panoramic views over Eglinton village and Lough Foyle, within extensive mature grounds. Accessed via a long tree lined avenue approached from the Whitehill road, to the SW of Eglinton village.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity, T-Historic Importance, U-Historic Associations