Former Irish Society School Beresford Place

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A Victorian red-brick former school in the Gothic style; built 1869 to designs by Turner & Williamson, extended c.1935 and converted into townhouses c.2000; located at the junction of Nursery Avenue and Beresford Road in Coleraine town centre. Irregular plan comprising double-pile one-and-a-half-storey rectangular main block connected to perpendicular north and south wings by single-storey linking blocks; north wing comprises former headmasters house, having octagonal bell turret to north and square entrance porch at south; north and south wings abutted at east by early twentieth-century classroom extensions (c.1935) to designs by W&M Given. To south of north wing is a gabled classroom addition (c.1935).

Generally pitched natural slate roof with fish-scale banding, blue/black angled ridge tiles and timber lantern to main block and south wing, having slated base and steep pyramidal lead roofs; raised sandstone verges, some with stone finials and/or trefoil kneelers, and tall red-brick chimneystacks to gables, most having tall clay pots; north wing extension has red-brick bellcote (sans bell) to gable. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting sandstone eaves, with cast-iron hoppers and square downpipes. Walling to original building is Flemish-bonded red-brick with sandstone dressings; chamfered sandstone plinth with quoins, string-course to mid-height, eaves band and red-brick buttresses having sandstone offsets; two-storey north wing has ashlar sandstone string course between floors; parts of rear elevation are painted smooth render. Extensions are English-garden wall bonded red-brick with sandstone dressings. Windows are replacement 1/1 timber sash with horns and projecting sandstone sills; all openings have blocked ashlar sandstone surrounds and original doorcases have shouldered heads. Large multi-paned replacement timber windows with margin panes to extensions.

The principal elevation faces west and comprises original double-pile rectangular block to centre abutted at north and south gables by the rectangular linking blocks. Main block is three openings wide, divided by buttresses and each with two modern aluminium rooflights to lower pitch; left and central bays have paired four-light windows; right bay has two identical modern timber-sheeted doors with double transom lights over, accessed by a modern brick pavior ramp. At north, right gable is abutted by the linking block (described below), left gable with projecting chimneystack. East (rear) elevation has modern panelled-and-glazed timber doors and large multi-paned timber window openings. South gable is abutted by the single-storey linking block.

North linking block has paired windows and a projecting gabled porch to west; having timber-sheeted entrance door with carved inscription to lintel reading “INFANTS SCHOOL”. Above door is a carved sandstone roundel with shield set into a quatrefoil recess and bearing a cross and ‘red hand of Ulster’ motif; framing roundel is an inscribed band reading “ROSE: GOVERNOR: TRUSCOTT: DEP: GOVERNOR”. East elevation has modern window and a modern half-panelled timber door. South linking block has three replacement timber windows to east and west elevations.

Perpendicular north wing is hipped at west end, having leaded hips; all upper windows are four-centre arched; wall-head dormer windows and carved sandstone panels to three sides. To re-entrant angle with linking block, is an entrance porch with pierced sandstone balustrade; small window at right cheek; timber-sheeted door surmounted by a plain square sandstone plaque. Canted west bay is lit at ground floor by three sash windows. North elevation is abutted at left by the three-storey square broached entrance tower, flush with gabled bay at left and rising to an octagonal belfry with cusped sandstone openings surmounted by a slated roof. Timber oculi to third stage; second stage has diminutive window at west and glazed trefoil at north; ground floor has a timber-sheeted door (as described at west) accessed by a modern brick pavior step and surmounted by an oversized transom with breeze block infill. Gabled block at left has sandstone trefoil and platband to apex; window at first floor over paired windows. Exposed section to east has a 1/1 window at ground floor right.

Perpendicular south wing has tracery window to west gable comprising two cusped lancets with six-point star over, all with replacement leaded and coloured glass; window has extended sill terminating in decorative carved sandstone blocks, and is surmounted by hood mould with plain stops; carved sandstone trefoil to apex. North elevation has three modern rooflights and lean-to abutment at ground floor having projecting gabled porch at right; entrance as previous surmounted by inscribed lintel reading “BOYS SCHOOL” and roundel. East gable is abutted by the later extension (c.1935). South elevation is divided by buttresses into six bays, all with modern aluminum rooflights. Large multi-paned timber windows with margin panes to all bays; that to centre and right have a modern timber-sheeted entrance door.

The extensions to north and south wings (c.1935) are similarly styled as the original building with flat-roof projections to inner elevations and regularly arranged large timber multi-paned timber windows. Gabled one-and-a-half-storey classroom addition to south elevation of north block is south-facing; gabled left bay projects slightly with carved sandstone trefoil to apex of gable and large multi-paned timber windows with timber-sheeted door at right. Right bay has a gabled dormer window containing multi-paned timber window with margin panes.

Setting:

Situated on a large site at the junction of Nursery Avenue and Beresford Road in Coleraine town centre, north of Terrace Row Presbyterian Church (HB03/17/012) and facing a large supermarket to west. To east of the site is a two and three-storey red-brick and pale stone modern apartment complex. The site has been tarmacadamed to provide parking spaces for residents, accessed from Nursery Avenue at south. Site is bounded by an English garden wall-bonded red-brick wall with saddleback stone coping; square piers with pointed caps to pedestrian access.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Flemish-bonded red-brick with sandstone dressings
Windows: Replacement 1/1 timber sash with horns and large multi-paned timber windows
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Former Irish Society School, a Victorian redbrick Gothic building located at the junction of Beresford Place and Beresford Road, was constructed in 1867-69 and was the second free schoolhouse to be erected in Coleraine by The Honourable The Irish Society. The first schoolhouse founded by the society was located at Kingsgate Street and was originally built in 1705; the Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that the school was moved to Beresford Place and rebuilt at the sole cost of the society in 1821. The building measured 90ft by 50ft and consisted of two large classrooms and apartments for the male and female teachers; a map of Beresford Place (dated 1834) depicts the original school as a large irregular shaped building which consisted of two main wings, in the 1830s one of these wings was utilised as a residence by John Claudius Beresford Esq., the Society’s agent (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 57).

The original Society Schoolhouse stood at the corner of Beresford Place and Beresford Road until the 1860s and was valued at £65 in Griffith’s Valuation and the early editions of the subsequent Annual revisions. The original schoolhouse and agents’ residence was demolished in c. 1867 to make way for a new edifice which was also to be funded by The Honourable The Irish Society. Tenders were invited in April 1867 and the contract was awarded to Turner & Williamson, an architectural partnership formed between Thomas Turner (d. 1891) and Richard Williamson (d. 1874); Williamson was an appointed County Surveyor of Derry whilst Turner predominantly carried out work for the firm in Belfast and Glasgow. The Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that ‘it seems likely that Williamson was responsible for most of the works which were executed by the partnership in Co. Derry.’ The builders contracted to carry out Williamson’s gothic design were Robert Ferguson & Son, the construction of the school cost approximately £5,000 (Irish Builder, p. 231; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

‘The Honourable The Irish Society’s Free Male, Female and Infant Schools’ opened in the Autumn of 1869 and upon completion the new edifice was valued at £146 in the Annual Revisions. The third edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1904) depicted the schoolhouse as an irregular-shaped building; the large extensions abutting the north and south wings of the current school were added in c. 1935, but in 1869 the schoolhouse solely consisted of the main block and the north and south wings that face onto Beresford Place. Plaques located at the Irish Society School record that the Infant’s School was located in the Main Block (which also accommodated the headmaster’s house); the Boy’s School consisted of the south wing, whilst the Girl’s School was presumably located in the north wing (the plaque at the north wing has been removed). The school was provided by the Society as a free institution for the education of children in the town of Coleraine; in 1880 the school had an average attendance of 170 males (no female or infant figures were recorded) and was staffed by 12 teachers divided between the three departments (Ulster Street Directory – 1880).

There was little alteration to the layout of the school until the early years of the 20th century; in 1914 improvement work was carried out to the 45 year old building whilst in 1922 an additional classroom was constructed (Irish Builder; 1914, p. 76; 1922, p. 618). As a result of these alterations the value of the school was decreased to £129 by the end of the Annual Revisions for Coleraine which were cancelled in 1931. The most significant change to the Society Free School took place in 1933-35 when the two extensions were added to the north and south wings (first visible on fifth edition Ordnance Survey map – 1949); these additional blocks extended to the north-east of the school and were designed by W. & M. Given, a Coleraine-based architectural firm. Maxwell Given died during the extension work which was completed by his partner, Malcolm McQuigg (1904-1974); the construction was carried out by William Currie & Sons and was completed by 1935 when the school was reopened (Irish Builder, p. 646; Dictionary of Irish Architects).

In 1935 the newly expanded schoolhouse was increased in value to £190 under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland. The Honourable The Irish Society continued to directly finance the operation of the school until 1948 and by the commencement of the second revaluation in 1956 the school had come under the administration of the local Londonderry County Education Authority; by the end of the revaluation in 1972 the value of the school had been raised to £900.

The earliest recorded school established by The Honourable The Irish Society was erected in 1705 at Kingsgate Street, however the Society had maintained a school in Coleraine from the early years of the 17th century; the Irish Society School records that a free school was held in a room in Coleraine’s Court House (first recorded in 1679): ‘William Moute should keep school in the middle room of the Court House free, keeping it in repair and giving security not to damage the Court House’ (Irish Society School website). The current redbrick Victorian schoolhouse, erected in 1867-69, was described by Rowan as ‘Picturesque and chunky Irish Gothic: irregular gables, bay-windows, fish-tail slates, sculpted sandstone panels and octagonal bell-turret;’ Girvan states that the rustic cottage-style building stands ‘in great contrast to [Thomas] Turner’s other building in the town, the Town Hall,’ however Turner’s Town Hall was erected in 1857-59 immediately prior to the establishment his partnership with Richard Williamson and it is more likely that the design can be solely attributed to Williamson who was permanently based in Londonderry County (Rowan, p. 208; Girvan, p. 21).

Girvan states that the two-storey north wing of the building was originally single-storied but was enlarged (presumably during the extension work of 1933-35). When the school was reopened in 1935, James Craig (Viscount Craigavon, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland) was invited by The Irish Society and presided over the official opening ceremony. With the passing of the Northern Ireland Education Act in 1947 the Society passed control of the school to the local Education Authority, however the school website states that the Society continues to ‘maintain its interest in the school and as well as having the right to nominate members to the Board of Governors, continues its visitations to the Annual Prize Day (Girvan; Irish Society School website).

The former Irish Society School was listed in 1977, however in February 1979 the school was closed after almost 160 years at the current site, and 110 years in Turner & Williamson’s Victorian building. The pupils moved to a new site at Rugby Avenue which was provided by the North Eastern Education and Library Board and continues to be called The Irish Society’s School. The school celebrated its tercentenary in 2005; the former Irish Society School building in Beresford Place continues to be occupied and is now utilised as modern housing, the former school buildings are now private apartments following a sympathetic conversion which was carried out in c. 2000 (Irish Society School 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/12/E/156/3/4 – Annual Revisions Town Plan 1919
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/9A-P – Annual Revisions 1859-1931
8. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/3 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/3 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
10. PRONI LIB/2623 – Report presented to the Hon The Irish Society 1834
11. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, County Londonderry XII, Vol. 33 (c, 1837)
12. Irish Builder, Vol. 11 (15 Oct 1869); Vol. 56 (31 Jan 1914); Vol. 64 (9 Sept 1922); Vol. 75 (27 Jul 1935)
13. Ulster Street Directories (1861-1918)
14. First Survey Record – HB03/17/010 (1970)
15. First Survey Image – HB03/17/010 (No Date)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Rowan, A., ‘The buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ Yale: Yale University Press, 1979.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. The Irish Society Primary School website –
http://www.no12design.com/irishsociety/about-us/the-school/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A Victorian red-brick former school in the Gothic style; built 1869 to designs by Turner & Williamson, extended c.1935 and converted into townhouses c.2000; located at the junction of Nursery Avenue and Beresford Road in Coleraine town centre. The building has been sensitively refurbished retaining much of the original fabric, with replacement fabric of appropriate style, materials and quality. Although the interior has been substantially altered, the building remains of special architectural and historic interest as a good example of Victorian Gothic architecture and the work of a prominent firm of local architects. Making an important contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine, the former school is of considerable local interest and significant in the context of the social history of the town.

General comments

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