Lizard Manor

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical three-bay two-storey large country house in the Georgian style; built c.1860 and situated in mature grounds to the south side of Rusky Park, south of Coleraine. Rectangular main block has central breakfront to front and two-storey canted bays to east and west; rear rectangular block has single-storey extension to west and is abutted at north by a three-storey return, which is further abutted by a two-storey servant’s block.

Hipped natural slate roof with leaded ridges and hips; rectangular and square rendered chimneystacks with corbelled caps and clay pots. Plastic rainwater goods on projecting timber eaves with sheeted soffits and carved timber brackets. Walling is smooth render on a plinth with straight-channelled quoins, platband between floors and moulded string-course below eaves. Windows are 6/6 timber sash without horns in moulded architraves with projecting stone sills (unless otherwise stated).

The principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged about a central two-storey breakfront. Breakfront is flanked by two windows at each floor and has paired 4/4 windows at first floor over a round-headed doorcase. Raised-and-fielded four panel timber door with brass door furniture is flanked by fluted square piers with heads carved with swag-and-tails and eight-paned sidelights. Door is surmounted by a large timber spider-web fanlight in a broach-marked surround, resting on two semi-engaged columns with carved acanthus leaf capitals and accessed via two concrete paved steps.

The west elevation comprises two-storey canted bay having window to each facet; 6/6 window insertion at ground floor centre has two panelled timber aprons. Rear block is slightly recessed and is two windows wide at first floor; abutted at ground floor by the single-storey flat-roof extension, with canted bay to front; window to left and right cheek.

The north (rear) block is abutted to right of centre by the three-storey return; exposed section to right of return has 4/4 window to first and ground floor; exposed section to left of return has a large 6/6 window to ground floor right (abutted by small modern cement rendered lean-to coal house). The west elevation of the return has three diminished windows to second floor, three windows at first floor (that to right is bipartite 6/6), and a projecting multi-paned box bay timber window to ground floor right. East elevation of return has two widely spaced windows at second floor; 8/8 windows to first floor left and right, flanking a narrow 6/6 window; ground floor with bipartite six-paned timber window at left; modern enlarged window opening to left of centre and an 8/8 window at right. Servant’s block is lit to north by two windows at each floor (diminutive window also to ground floor left); west elevation has a window at first and ground floor and a timber-sheeted door with latch handle surmounted by timber fanlight. East elevation has a bipartite 6/6 window to first floor and window to ground floor right; timber-sheeted door with latch handle to left, surmounted by three-paned timber transom.

The east elevation has two-storey canted bay at left with window at each facet. Rear block is slightly recessed and is three windows wide at each floor.

Setting:

Situated on a large mature site in a rural location to the south of Coleraine. Accessed from Rusky Park to north via a long tree-lined tarmacadamed avenue, with wrought-iron railings to entrance and tall modern metal gates. House is surrounded by mature grounds with a variety of mature trees; to north is an original tennis court and large walled garden with tall Flemish-bonded red-brick walls visible from Rusky Park. To west is a slated red-brick former stable-block comprising a large two-storey rectangular block with central gablet and two perpendicular single-storey wings flanking a central cobbled yard. Yard opens to east with a square-headed carriage arch entrance with timber lintel. South and south wings both with modified openings; main block to west has a 2/2 timber sash window and replacement timber-sheeted door.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Smooth render
Windows: Timber sash with horns
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

Lizard Manor, a two-storey mid-Victorian country house situated in the townland of Rusky, was constructed by 1861 when the completed manor house was included in the Annual Revisions; the building was not depicted in either the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map of 1849-52 or the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation which was carried out in 1856. The Annual Revisions record that the building was constructed by the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers (who also owned much of the neighbouring townland and parish); when first completed the building was valued at £45 and was occupied by a Mr. Henry Anderson, the local agent to the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers.

In 1861 the valuer noted that the rating of the site was likely to be increased when offices, then under construction, were completed; these offices (which may have included the two-storey redbrick stable block to the west of the dwelling) were completed by 1864 when the value of the estate was increased to £55. The Annual Revisions also note that the servant’s block, which abuts the northern return of Lizard Manor, was utilised as a dwelling by the Steward of the estate. Henry Anderson continued to reside at Lizard Manor until his death in the 1870s; in 1874 the property was acquired by the Stronge family of Tynan Abbey, Co. Armagh, who continued to hold Lizard Manor until the 1950s. The valuation sources note that the manor was the dwelling of Sir Edmond Stronge who resided there until his death in c. 1910.

From 1889 the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers began to sell portions of its estate and in 1891 the Stronge family purchased Lizard Manor and its associated lands from the company. The 1901 Census records that Stronge (78, Church of Ireland) resided at Lizard Manor with his two sons Edward (30) and Sir. Charles Edmond Sinclair Stronge (1862-1939) who became the 7th Baronet of Tynan in 1933 upon the death of his brother Sir. Walter Lockhart Stronge (1860-1933). The census records that Stronge employed a large number of domestic servants, cooks and maids to manage his estate; the building return described Lizard Manor as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 22 rooms and possessed a large number of out buildings including two stables and two coach houses, five cow houses, a boiling house and a barn. These outbuildings can be seen on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey man (1904) which recorded the two-storey stable block to the west of the house, as well as a number of smaller farm buildings to the immediate north of the dwelling (the layout of Lizard Manor has not been altered since 1904 although some of the original minor outbuildings have been demolished in the intervening years.

Sir. Charles E. S. Stronge had taken over possession of Lizard Manor from his father in 1897 although Edmond Stronge continued to reside at Rusky until his death in c. 1910. Sir Charles Stronge remained at the site until his own death in 1939; in 1935 the property was increased in value to £150 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. Upon Stronge’s death, Lizard Manor remained in his family until coming into the possession of Maj. the Rt. Hon. Phelim O’Neill in 1953; O’Neill resided at Lizard Manor until 1978, however by 1972 the rateable value of his dwelling had been decreased to £97 as a result of the change in occupation.

Lizard Manor dates from c. 1861, however due to its association with the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, the origins of the Victorian manor stretches back to the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th Century. Originally one of the Livery Companies of the City of London, the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers were granted lands in the parish of Aghadowey; in 1614 George Canning, the first agent of the company in Ireland, constructed a bawn and a castle in the parish. The ‘Manor of Lizard’ was established by the company in 1618 comprising lands which amounted to a total of 38,470 acres. The title of the manor was derived from the company’s arms which included an illustration of a lizard. The company, having leased out their land to their agent for almost two centuries, took over control of the Manor of Lizard in c. 1840 and carried out a survey of all its properties and land. With the completion of the survey the company carried out a number of improvements to their lands which included the construction of a permanent residence for their agent in the townland of Rusky. Lizard Manor was completed by 1861 on land that had previously been undeveloped (Notes on the London Companies’ Estates in the County of Londonderry).

The first agent to reside at Lizard Manor was Henry Anderson Esq., who was also employed as a local magistrate and a Justice of the Peace. Anderson died in c. 1870 when Lizard Manor fell into private ownership and Edmond Stronge took possession of the former agent’s residence. The Stronge family were landowners whose main residence was Tynan abbey in Co. Armagh, a Neo-Gothic manor erected in c. 1750; the Baronetcy was first conferred upon the Rev. Sir. James Stronge in 1803 (Burke’s Peerage). The Stronge family continued to reside at Lizard Manor until 1953 when Maj. The Rt. Hon. Phelim O’Neill purchased the property. Phelim O’Neill (1909-1994), also known as the 2nd Baron Rathcavan, was made a major during the Second World War and was elected M.P. for North Antrim in 1952 as a member of the Ulster Unionist Party. Later in his career O’Neill served as the Minister of Education and the Minister of Agriculture, and was also appointed High Sheriff of Co. Antrim in 1958 (Belfast Gazette).

Lizard Manor was listed in 1977 and in the following year the house was sold when Sir. Phelim O’Neill moved his residence to Co. Mayo. Rowan, writing in 1979 stated that Lizard Manor was constructed for the Stronge family, however this is in error as the valuation evidence clearly shows that the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers erected the property for their agent, Henry Anderson whilst the Stronge’s did not come into possession of the site until the mid-1870s. Rowan described the manor as ‘a big stucco house with timber corbel brackets to the eaves and canted bay-windows on the side elevations’ (Rowan, p. 105). Lizard Manor continues to be utilised as a private dwelling and has underwent few alterations over the past 150 years, retaining much of its original mid-Victorian character; the demolition or dilapidation of the associated outbuildings has been the only notable alteration to have occurred to the original property.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/11/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1831-32
2. PRONI OS/6/5/11/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-52
3. PRONI OS/6/5/11/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/11/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/2A-F – Annual Revisions 1862-1929
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/1 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/4 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
8. PRONI Wills Catalogue (5 Dec 1939)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
11. Belfast Gazette (1958)
12. First Survey Record – HB03/03/017 (1973)
13. First Survey Image – HB03/03/017 (1974)

Secondary Sources

1. Rowan, A., ‘The buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ Yale: Yale University Press, 1979.
2. Burke’s Peerage

Online Resources

1. Notes on the London Companies’ Estates in the County of Londonderry - http://www.billmacafee.com/estates/landlords/notescompaniesestates.htm

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Lizard Manor is a symmetrical three-bay two-storey large country house in the Georgian style; built c.1860 and situated in mature grounds to the south side of Rusky Park, south of Coleraine. Retaining a wealth of historic detailing, this is an impressive and well-preserved example of a mid-nineteenth-century country house, and remains one of the finest examples of its type in the district. Accessed via a long tree-lined avenue, the picturesque setting is unspoiled, with Victorian tennis courts, a walled garden and former stable block adding to the historic interest of the site. Of significant local interest it has historic associations with the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers.

General comments

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