The Old Rectory

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical three-bay, three-storey-over-basement rendered former Rectory; built c.1780 and located to the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin. Rectangular plan with flat-roof single-storey projecting porch to front and two-storey-over-basement extension to southwest; extension abutted at southwest gable by a two-storey rendered servant’s block.

Pitched natural slate roof with red-brick chimneystacks to gables. Plastic rainwater goods on projecting eaves; cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with hopper and downpipes to porch. Walling is ruled-and-lined cement render; rendered string-course between basement and first floor of porch. Windows are 6/6 timber sash not all with horns in simple painted rendered reveals with projecting painted sandstone sills; 6/3 to second floor; 6/3 and 3/3 to basement.

The principal elevation faces northwest and is symmetrically arranged about a later central projecting porch; three windows wide at upper floors with window to either side of porch at ground floor. Porch opens to northeast, accessed by a set of eight original sandstone steps with modern metal handrail; replacement six-panel timber door with brass door furniture in a deep round-headed recess. Porch is lit to southwest by a 6/6 window and to northwest by a bipartite 6/6 timber window. Basement of porch is lit to southwest by a 2/2 fixed timber window. Extension at right is two windows wide at each floor.

The northeast gable is blank.

The southeast elevation has five evenly-spaced windows at each floor; metal bars to windows to basement. To right of centre at ground floor is a set of replacement timber steps. Extension to left is two windows wide at each floor.

The southwest gable is abutted by the extension; 6/3 window to first floor left of centre; abutted at right by a two-storey rendered servant’s block.

Setting:

Situated on an acre of mature land to the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin, southwest of St Mary’s Parish Church (HB03/13/001). Accessed from Dunderg Road to northwest by a gravelled driveway; curved ruled-and-lined entrance walls with square stone piers having corniced caps and supporting replacement cast-iron gates. Site bounded to Dunderg Road at northwest by a coursed rock-faced stone wall with coping topped by metal railings (taken from Terrace Row Presbyterian Church: HB03/17/012); to northwest is a modern timber gate on tall red-brick piers with pointed concrete caps. Bounded to the rubblestone three-span Macosquin bridge at south by a low rubblestone wall. Entrance leads to an informal yard at the southwest side of house.

Adjoining southwest gable is a two-storey roughcast rendered servant’s block with rendered chimneystacks and plastic rainwater goods, enclosed with rendered walls and accessed via round-headed cast-iron gate. Servant’s block has, at northwest elevation, 6/3 timber sash windows in simple rendered reveals with projecting stone sills; 8/4 to ground floor right; two timber-sheeted doors at ground floor in simple rendered reveals. Southeast elevation of servants block has exposed areas of rubblestone and brickwork and contains replacement fixed timber windows at ground and first floor. Interior is plain with partially quarry tiled floor and quarter-turn timber stairs to former kitchen.

Servant’s block is abutted at southwest by a single-storey slated render outbuilding with 4/4 timber sash windows and timber-sheeted doors in simple painted reveals; southeast elevation has two bipartite round-headed windows with projecting stone sills and two slender red-brick vents. The southwest elevation has a window as described at southeast. Interior of outbuilding comprises one large room with coved timber-sheeted ceiling, walls are plastered and painted; floors are timber-boarded and laid with carpet. To northeast wall is a simple open hearth with projecting chimneybreast.

To southwest side of yard is a two-storey roughcast rendered slated stable-block with square-headed carriage-arch entrance containing timber-sheeted doors to southwest elevation. 6/3 timber sash windows and timber-sheeted loading door to first floor; 6/6 sash windows and replacement timber-sheeted door to ground floor; northeast elevation has a timber-sheeted door on a rubblestone and concrete plinth to steps to first floor left; southeast gable has a window at ground and first floor. The interior has cobbled flooring and timber partitions to stalls with metal rods. Slates to tack room, and cobbled stone floor to carriage room.

Large garden to south with a variety of mature trees and plantings. Original wall to northeast gable enclosed paved patio area, with original cast-iron gates on polygonal cast-iron piers.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined cement render
Windows: Timber sash with horns
RWG: Mainly plastic

Historical information

The Old Rectory, a three-storey-over-basement building located in the townland of Camus Macosquin Glebe, was constructed in the late-18th century and has been considerable extended to the southwest by a number of additions constructed during the early-to-mid-19th century. The Old Rectory was formerly known as Macosquin Glebe and was the residence for the clergy of St. Mary’s Church (see HB03/13/001); the building was first depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) which shows that only the main three-storey-over-basement building had been constructed by that time, although the map also depicted a number of minor outbuildings (all of which had been demolished by the mid-19th century).

The contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs (c. 1830) noted that Macosquin Glebe House was occupied by the Rev. George Craig and was originally constructed in 1780; however the writer noted that although ‘it is sufficiently commodious for the purpose [it] has been badly built, and the walls, although thick, are not waterproof.’ The memoirs also claimed that the remains of a 12th century Cistercian abbey, located near the current site of St. Mary’s Church, were demolished in order to construct the parish’s Glebe House. Lewis noted that the Glebe House was constructed at an expense of £738 9s. whilst the Townland Valuations (c. 1830) record that the Glebe House was valued at £14 during this period (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 81-97; Lewis).

Between 1830 and 1849-50 the Glebe House was extended to the southwest by a number of additions; by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map the two-storey-over-basement extension, the two-storey servant’s block and adjoining outbuilding, and the two-storey stable block to the northwest of the site had been constructed (the porch located to the northwest elevation of the original Glebe House had also been constructed by this period, however, due to the lack of detail on the first edition map, it is possible the porch could be earlier). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation recorded that due to these developments, the value of Macosquin Glebe and its associated outbuilding had been doubled to £28.

Griffith’s Valuation noted that the Glebe House was owned by the Established Church and was occupied by the Rev. Thomas McClellan in 1856. Further improvement work was carried out in 1861 resulting in the increase in the Glebe’s value to £30 in that year, however it is not known what current features date from this improvement (an additional outbuilding (now demolished), that first appears on the third edition map in 1904, may have been constructed at that time). The Rev. McClellan continued to reside at Macosquin Glebe House until after the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871 when the Rev. Edward Newland took over as Rector. Over the following decades a number of St. Mary’s clergy resided at the Glebe (after 1871 it became known as the Rectory) including the Rev. Charles Albert Stubbs (1884-1893), the Rev. Thomas Carey Knox (1893-1900) and the Rev. Edward O’Brien (1900-1932).

The 1901 Census records that the Rev. O’Brien (32) resided at Macosquin Rectory with his Aunt and two domestic servants who presumably resided in the adjoining servants block); the census building return described the Rectory as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of eight main rooms and possessed a number of out offices including a stable, coach house, a cow house, a barn and a fowl house. The third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1904) recorded little change to the site, aside from the construction of an additional outbuilding to the south-west of the Rectory (demolished by 1949).

The Rev. Edward O’Brien had vacated the Rectory in 1933 when the Rev. Robert H. Faulkner had taken possession of the site; by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the Rectory and its associated outbuildings had been increased to £40. There was no further revaluation carried out for over two decades due to the outbreak of the Second World War, but St. Mary’s Church Records note that in 1946 the Rev. George Reginald Minchin took possession of the site. The fifth edition of the Ordnance Survey maps records that the outbuilding (erected before 1904) had been demolished by 1949; since the mid-20th century the general layout of the site has not been noticeably altered. The Rev. Minchin continued to reside at the site by the 1950s when the Rectory was further increased in value to £45 under the second revaluation; however in 1968 the trustees of St. Mary’s Church sold the former Rectory to the current owner who occupied the building as a private dwelling.

Despite the Ordnance Survey Memoirs suggesting a construction date of 1780, Rowan believed that the Old Rectory was erected in 1770 and modernised in c.1800, however the map and valuation evidence would suggest that the major period of alteration occurred between 1830 and 1849-50. The Georgian Glebe and Rectory was utilised as the main dwelling for the clergy of St. Mary’s Church for almost two centuries, however the building was sold in 1968 to fund the building of a modern Rectory; this was constructed in the 1970s to the north-east of the former building and continues to be utilsied as the rector’s residence. The Old Rectory continues to be inhabited as a private dwelling and has been maintained in good condition retaining its original Georgian character; field inspection finds that the current boundary walls of the site were acquired from Terrace Row Presbyterian Church in Coleraine (see HB03/17/012), however the current entrance gates are not original (Rowan, p. 409; St. Mary’s Church website).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
5. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1949
6. PRONI VAL/1/A/5/7 – Townland Valuations map c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/59 – Townland Valuations c. 1830
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/9A – Griffith’s Valuation 1856
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/11A-F – Annual Revisions 1860-1929
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/1 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/5 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
12. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Londonderry VI, Vol. 22 (1831-36)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1860-1918)
15. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
16. First Survey Record – HB03/13/003 (1971)
17. First Survey Image – HB03/13/003 (1974)
18. Ordnance Survey Map – 20-08

Secondary Sources

1. Rowan, A., ‘The buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ Yale: Yale University Press, 1979.
2. ‘Clergy of Derry and Raphoe’ Belfast: The Ulster Historical Foundation, 1999.

Online Resources

1. St. Mary’s Church website - http://camus-juxta-bann.org/index.html

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

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

Evaluation

A symmetrical three-bay, three-storey-over-basement rendered former Rectory; built c.1780 and located to the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin. Retaining much of its original detailing and character, this is a fine and well-preserved example of a large rural Georgian Rectory, with a range of similarly well-preserved outbuildings. Situated on mature grounds to the north side of Macosquin Bridge, the associated outbuildings, rubblestone walling and examples of iron-work all enhance the setting considerably. Of significant local interest and social importance, the former Rectory makes a substantial contribution to the historic quality and character of Macosquin village and the surrounding area. There is historic group value with St Mary’s Parish Church (HB03/13/001).

General comments

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