Dundooan House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached symmetrical two-storey three-bay rendered country house; built c.1840 and located to the east side of Dundooan Road, north of Coleraine. Rectangular plan with single-storey lean-to extension to rear.

Hipped natural slate roof with blue/black angled tiles to hips and ridges; rendered chimneystacks having three tall clay pots, centralised at principal southwest elevation. Aluminium rainwater goods on projecting stone eaves with square downpipes. Walling is ruled-and-lined cement render. Windows are 6/6 timber sash with horns and projecting painted stone sills and original glazing.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is symmetrically arranged about a segmental-headed doorcase with three openings at each floor. Doorcase in panelled reveal comprising replacement half-glazed, half-flush panelled timber door with beaded muntin, brass door furniture and lions head knocker, surmounted by plain fanlight and flanked by pilaster jambs with moulded imposts and archivolt. Entrance is accessed via two stone steps enclosed by stone balustrades.

The northwest elevation has irregularly arranged fenestration; five windows wide at each floor (includes replacement uPVC window) with stairwell window offset at right of centre.

The northeast (rear) elevation was only partially viewed. Three windows to first floor over slated lean-to extension with round-headed multi-paned window and panelled timber door.

The southeast elevation was not inspected.

Setting:

Situated on a large mature site to the east side of Dundooan Road with gravelled drives to northwest and west leading to gravelled concourse at front of house. Grounds extend to southwest with a variety of mature trees; bounded to road at west by a modern timber fence. Entrance at west has curved smooth rendered entrance walls with square piers and caps surmounted by carved stone lions. Original polygonal cast-iron gate posts with finials support original cast-iron gates (latch gate to south side). Entrance at northeast has a modern timber farmgate and timber fence. Smooth rendered wall to left terminates in a square pier topped by a ball finial.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined cement render
Windows: 6/6 timber sash
RWG: Aluminium

Historical information

Dundooan House, a two-storey early-Victorian country house located in the townland of the same name, was erected sometime after the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1830. The dwelling had not been constructed by the 1830s when the map depicted that a small lake or pond occupied the current site of the building; a number of small structures surrounded the water source, however none of these were of any substantial importance, the contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1830) noted that ‘there are no houses in this townland worth £5 a year.’

Dundooan House had certainly been completed by 1844 when the Coleraine Chronicle noted that the site was the residence of a Mr. John Boyd who was a Member of Parliament representing the Liberal Party (Coleraine Chronicle). The second edition of the maps (c. 1860) depicted the two-storey country residence, as well as the surviving two-storey outbuilding to the north-east which had been constructed by that time (now utilised as a dwelling and modernised); Dundooan House as depicted in c. 1860 occupies the same layout as the current building suggesting that no significant alteration has been undertaken to the property over the past 155 years. Griffith’s Valuation (1857) recorded that John Boyd owned his property outright; the main dwelling and its associated outbuildings were valued at £35 at that time.

John Boyd died in 1862 at which time Dundooan House was administered by representatives of his estate. It was not until 1878 that the Annual Revisions noted the site had been reoccupied (although the site had been immediately reoccupied in 1862); in 1878 ownership of the site had reverted to the Honourable The Irish Society who administered much of the landed property in the County of Londonderry. The Annual Revisions note that the society had leased Dundooan House to a Mr. William Woodside by 1878 when the value of the site was increased to £40. Woodside was a returning emigrant, who had made his fortune in America; Harper states that the Woodside family immigrated to Philadelphia in the early-19th century establishing a successful tea trading business. After two decades William Woodside returned to Ireland to seek a country estate; styling himself as a member of the landed gentry Woodside purchased Dundooan House for £3,500 in 1862 and refurnished the interior (contributing towards the increase in value noted in 1878). Later in his life William became a local magistrate and returned to the United States on a number of family visits, however he died in 1887 leaving Dundooan to his widow Anna and his brother, Robert Woodside of Carnsampson House, Ballycastle (Harper, pp 170-173; PRONI Wills).

Shortly after Woodside’s death Dundooan House passed into the possession of a Mr. Henry McClintock Alexander, a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy who resided there until his own death in c. 1897; the Ulster Town Directories record that Alexander, who also resided in Chelsea, was a local magistrate and brother to the Lord Primate of Ireland (Ulster Town Directory - 1901). Dundooan House lay vacant during the 1901 Census; however the site was briefly reoccupied in 1904 when a local farmer Charles S. Murray took possession. Murray vacated the house in 1909 when a Mr. Robert William Jewell occupied the farm, his family residing there for a decade.

The 1911 Census notes that Jewell (69, Church of Ireland) was originally from Bristol and was employed as a farmer and merchant. A widower, he resided at Dundooan with his daughter Maud; the census building return described Dundooan House as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed a large number of outbuildings including a stable, two cow houses, a barn, boiling house and a turf house, which were mostly located in the two-storey north-east outbuilding. During the First World War (1914-1918) Jewell’s son, Charles Alfred Jewell, lost his life serving with the 16th Bn. Australian Infantry at the Battle of the Somme; he is commemorated in St. Patrick’s Parish Church in Coleraine (HB03/18/009; Thompson).

The Annual Revisions record that Robert Jewell vacated Dundooan House in 1918 , however he simply leased out the property as, at the time of his death in 1926, his Will continued to record Jewell as resident (PRONI Wills). In 1918 Jewell leased Dundooan to a Mr. James Stewart whose family continued to reside there until the 1960s; James Stewart Thompson continued to be recorded as occupant by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1929. By the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (undertaken in 1935) James Stewart Thompson continued to be listed as occupant; the revaluation readjusted the value of Dundooan House to £71 in that year. The value was slightly decreased to £63 10s. in 1956 under the second general revaluation when a Mr. or Mrs. D. S. Stewart had taken over possession of the site; the Stewart family vacated Dundooan in 1965 when a Mr. Sutherland Mitchell occupied the property, purchasing the site outright from the Honourable The Irish Society in 1969 the Mitchell’s continued to be listed as occupants by the end of the second revaluation in 1972.

Dundooan House was listed in 1977; in 1972 Girvan described the property as ‘a three-bay stuccoed house, two storeys high with hipped roof, in late-Georgian traditions, extending back six bays. The Ionic portico has become a glassed-in conservatory. The interior plasterwork is coarse but the drawing room has an interesting false wall which can be raised and concealed in the cavity of the bedroom wall above, thereby making one room of the drawing room and morning room’ (Girvan, p. 40). Since the First Survey Image (1976) the grand entrance porch possessing Ionic pillars and portico has been removed; the dwelling is now accessed by a previously concealed elliptical arched doorcase with plain fanlight above. Dundooan House continues to be occupied as a private dwelling; in the late-20th century the two-storey outbuilding located to the north-east of the dwelling (dated c. 1850) was modernised and was converted into a separate dwelling.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/5/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/1/5/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map c. 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/1/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/1/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1922-32
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/5/3 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/542A-D – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/14 – Griffith’s Valuation 1857
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4A – Annual Revisions 1862-1864
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4B – Annual Revisions 1865-1880
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4C – Annual Revisions 1881-1889
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4D – Annual Revisions 1890-1898
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4E – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/4F – Annual Revisions 1911-1929
14. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/1 - First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
15. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/4 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972
16. The Coleraine Chronicle (20 Apr 1844)
17. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
18. PRONI Wills Catalogue (19 Nov 1887; 12 Oct 1926)
19. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1918)
20. First Survey Record – HB03/07/017 (1972)
21. First Survey Image – HB03/07/017 (1976)
22. Ordnance Survey Map – 13-5NW (1979)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Harper, M., ‘Emigrant Homecomings: The return movement of emigrants, 1600-2000’ Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2005.
3. Thompson, R., ‘Coleraine Heroes: 1914-1918’

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

Dundooan House is a detached symmetrical two-storey three-bay rendered country house on a rectangular plan; built c.1840 and located to the east side of Dundooan Road, north of Coleraine. Retaining its generous proportions, symmetrical composition and much of its external detailing, Dundooan House remains a good example of an early-Victorian country house. It was the residence of a number of distinguished owners including Mr. John Boyd who by 1844 was a Member of Parliament representing the Liberal Party.

General comments

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