Cliff House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1862. Located on an elevated site on the north side of Main Street overlooking Castlerock beach to the north.

Hipped artificial slate roof with black clay ridge and hip tiles and two rendered chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots. Timber sheeted overhanging eaves with plain timber brackets supporting replacement metal guttering and uPVC downpipes. Smooth cement rendered walling with projecting cement plinth course. Square-headed window openings with painted stone sills and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey north front elevation with a central square-headed door opening having a tripartite timber doorcase. Replacement flush timber door flanked by slender pilasters and plain sidelights with flat panels below and a moulded timber architrave surround. Door opens onto a concrete step to gravel front area.

Symmetrical east side elevation is two windows wide.

Symmetrical south rear elevation has a single square-headed door opening with a vertically-sheeted timber door opening onto a single concrete step to rear gravel parking area.

Symmetrical west side elevation is two windows wide.

Setting:
Located on an elevated site on the north side of Main Street with a terraced rear garden, all enclosed by rubble basalt walls overlooking Castlerock beach to the north. The site is accessed from Main Street to the rear via decorative cast-iron gates supported on a pair of decorative cast-iron octagonal posts. Flat-roofed rendered garage adjacent to the west side elevation, built c.1980.

Roof Artificial slate
RWG Replacement metal / uPVC
Walling Cement render
Windows Replacement timber sash

Historical information

Cliff House was built c1862 for the Crawford family and is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1904. The earliest occupier to be noted c1862 is Samuel L Crawford followed by Rev James Crawford who was minister of the Second Presbyterian Church, Strand Rd, Derry from 1811 until his retirement in 1849. After Rev Crawford’s death in 1868 the house passed to Alexander Crawford and then Miss Wilson, possibly a granddaughter of Rev Crawford’s. Crawford’s son-in-law was Rev Matthew Wilson minister of the third Presbyterian church in Ramelton, Donegal from 1839 to 1849, subsequently succeeding his father-in-law at Strand Road in Derry. (History of Congregations)

James Stevens Curl gives a construction date of 1849-50 for the house and states that it was built to designs by Samuel Angell, architect to the Clothworkers’ Company, for Samuel Greer. However, valuation records suggest a date of c1862, and the building does not appear to be listed in Griffith’s Valuation of 1859 (Curl.) A rectangular structure is shown at or near the site on the second edition OS map of 1848 but this is listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as a caretaker’s house of very low valuation and unlikely to have formed the core of the present house. Angell produced a development plan for Castlerock in the late 1840s and it would appear that some of the structures planned, including perhaps the current house, were not executed for some years. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) and accompanying fieldmap for this area are, however, lacking in their usual clarity due to the rapid development of the area.

The house and outbuildings were valued at £16 in 1862. Census returns of the early twentieth century do not record the building, most likely because it was only occupied during the summer season.

The house had passed to Mrs S Rankin by 1897 and remained in the Rankin family until 1923 when it was taken over by Selina R Watson, followed by Edgar Johnston in 1948 and Matthew Henning in 1952.

Valuer’s notes of the 1930s record the accommodation as a kitchen, pantry, scullery and two receptions on the ground floor and four bedrooms, a maid’s room, a bathroom and a WC on the first floor. The valuer notes that the Watsons had purchased the lease of the property from the Bruce estate and paid an annual ground rent of £2.10s. An accompanying ground plan shows the two-storey house with single-storey porch to the front and a double-height rear return.
The house was listed in 1982 and repairs and renovations were carried out in the 1980s and 90s. (HB file). At the time of the survey the house appears to have recently undergone renovations. (2012)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831
2. PRONI OS/6/5/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1848
3. PRONI OS/6/5/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/10A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
7. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/H/5 First General Revaluation 1933-57
8. HB file – 03/12/032

Secondary Sources
1. “A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2. Curl, J S “The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914” Chichester, 1986
3. Eccles, J “Downhill, A Scrapbook of People and Place” London: Bath Press, 1996
4. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in North Derry including Limavady, Ballykelly, Castlerock, Downhill and Magilligan” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1862. Located on an elevated site on the north side of Main Street overlooking Castlerock beach to the north, the house is possibly built to the designs of Samuel Angell, architect to the Clothworkers’ Company. Recently refurbished, Cliff House retains its overall external appearance albeit with modern materials. The insertion of correctly specified timber sash windows and the retention of the majority of the internal detailing has ensured the house retains its original character and is a good example of a mid-nineteenth-century coastal dwelling.

General comments

Additional listing criteria appl - R - Age & S- Authenticity.