Springhill House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey four bay rendered house in the Georgian style with hipped natural slate roof. The building facing north, sits one metre approximately above Catherine Street behind a rendered wall with modern aluminium railings and a small garden. It stands like a sentinel guarding the entrance to Limavady at the end of the road climbing from Roe Bridge (HB02/12/030).

The main entrance is located in the second bay from the west end. It has a segmental fanlight with three crude mullions (modern) and supported on four timber Doric columns. A side light of four panes is located between the pair of columns on each side of the wide panelled door (detailed to look like two). Windows along the facade are not perfectly spaced. They are all triple sash (the central sash is the normal Georgian width) 14 panes to the first floor, 20 panes to the taller ground floor. There are two chimneys on the ridge: one to the apex of the east hip. The other centrally placed.

The side wall facing east onto Roemill Road has no windows. A similarly rendered wall encloses a small courtyard to the rear.

To the back a large return sits out along half the facade. Of a similar width and height as the main building it also has a hipped roof. All windows to the rear facades retain Georgian sashes with stone cills. Their size and distribution varies.

To the west side of the building the ground, wooded, falls steeply to the River Roe. The hipped roof of the main building returns onto the extension giving a unified facade emphasised by a third chimney on the centre of this ridge. Below, four triple sash windows, two on each floor, look across the valley.

Historical information

Rev Mullan states that ‘Springhill is shown on the 1699 map occupied by a Mr James Boyle’ (p.31) Girvan is of the opinion in the U A H S Buildings of North Derry that the house was probably rebuilt circa 1840 though the plan indicated on the 1830 map is very similar to the present.

Original house of Boyle family sold when John Boyle built Bridge Hill (HB02/12/036) in 1732 (Rev T H. Mullan).

What is not in doubt is that a building has stood on this site from before the construction the Roe Bridge. The house is noted on the 1895 map as ‘Springhill’. It was a police station during the second half of this century until the mid 1970s. It was renovated into flats in 1993.

References:
Primary Sources:
OS Map 'Newtown Limavady' enlarged from 1st Edition Map (1831) PRONI: Val 2D/5/4 & T2933/4/126
OS Map 'Newtown Limavady' (1848 revision with notes of 1858 valuation) PRONI: 058/120/1/1 & T2933/3/140
OS Map ' Town of Limavady' (1895) PRONI:Val 2D/5/4 & 293/4/261
OS Map ' Town of Limavady' (1907) PRONI:058/120/2/3
Griffiths Valuation 1858

Secondary Sources
D Girvan, 'The Buildings of north Derry' UAHS 1975 p20
TH Mullan ,' Limavady and the Roe Valley' Limavady Council 1983 p31

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A key building in the architecture of Limavady. It is an important part of the entrance sequence into the town, and sets a tone of Georgian reserve, emphasised by the wide expanse of Catherine Street beyond. Unfortunately this is marred by the redeveloped site of the War Memorial Building (HB02/12/036) and the visible garage behind. The building is well preserved externally though the renovation to the fanlight and the garden railings detract from the other detailing. It has a history longer than most buildings in the town and has triple sash windows which are unusual in this area. It has however been altered and modernised internally as part of the flat conversion.