Rock Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This is a detached three-bay two-storey house, built c. 1830. It is still in use as a dwelling. It is roughly rectangular in plan with a two-storey gable-ended return to the rear, flanked by two hipped-roofed extensions parallel to the main house. To the rear of the main return is a smaller single-storey gable ended return. The house faces southeast and sits back from the road at an oblique angle, in its own grounds. Within the curtilage are several agricultural outbuildings. Adjacent to the house is a stone-walled sheepfold to the north and the remains of a mill race to the south.

The front southeast elevation is painted render with various climbing plants. There is a doorway to the centre of the ground floor with a window to each side. The doorway is plain and square-headed. The door is a replacement painted timber-panelled door. The window frames are replacement square-headed uPVC with painted cut-stone sills. The windows are detailed to replicate six-over-six sash windows with a sidelight of three panes to each side. The upper levels have windows have imitation six-over-six windows as before.

The side southwest elevation is gable-ended with a chimneystack to the apex. There are two irregularly placed replacement square-headed uPVC windows as previous on the gable, one to each level. The upper opening is almost square; the lower has more vertical emphasis. There is a plastic downpipe and soil stack on this gable. The side of the southwest hipped-roofed return is in line with this gable. The sides of the two-storey and single-storey gable-ended returns are visible on this elevation.

The rear elevation comprises a variety of returns, dominated by the gable of the two-storey central return with its tall chimney pots.

The side northeast elevation is gable-ended with a chimneystack to the apex. There are square-headed replacement square-headed uPVC windows on the gable, one to each level. The northeast hipped-roofed return projects beyond this gable and has a square-headed opening facing southeast at the upper level and two windows facing northeast.

External walls are painted roughcast render with a recessed render base. There is firbe cement slate to the roof. The materials and finishes are consistent throughout with the exception of the single-storey return, which is corrugated asbestos to the roof. Chimneys are short cut-stone stacks with tall cut-sandstone hexagonal chimney pots and profiled capping. The pots are paired to each gable of the main house, and there are three pots to the chimney of the main return. Rainwater goods are mostly plastic.

Central Return:
The two-storey pitched-roofed return has two replacement square-headed uPVC windows to its southwest elevation, one to each storey. The upper window has no projecting sill. There is a small boilerhouse on this elevation, with a steel chimney, and a plastic downpipe to the inside corner.

Southwest Return:
The southwest elevation of this hipped-roofed return has one square-headed window opening as previous to the upper level, and one to the lower level on the northwest elevation.

Northeast Return:
The northeast hipped-roofed return has a square-headed opening as previous facing southeast at the upper level and two more windows, one on each storey, facing northeast. There is a square-headed door opening to the left side of the northwest elevation.

Single-storey return:
The single storey return is gable-ended with a pitched corrugated iron roof. It has a plastic downpipe to one corner and a cast-iron downpipe to the other. There is a square-headed window opening right of centre to the gable with a four-over-four timber window with no sill.

Outbuildings:
The single-storey detached outbuilding is rectangular in plan with the square-headed door opening in the southwest gable end. It is painted rubble with a pitched slate roof and three painted bricked-up openings in the southeast side elevation. The sealed openings are semi-circular headed with brick voussoirs.

Setting:
The house has an open countryside aspect and is set adjacent to the Killymoon River. It is set back from the road with a tarmac driveway, surrounded by wide lawns. The boundary to the road to the east comprises a grassy ditch, a low stone wall that blends with the ditch, and a box cut hedge to the inside. A millrace forms the western boundary. This is split from the river by a weir to the southern edge of the curtilage. To the north is the farmyard, with a collection of agricultural buildings. The driveway approaches the house from the southeast, widens out in front of the house and continues around the northeastern side of the house towards the farmyard to the north. Behind the house a timber fence separates this driveway from the garden.

The gateposts are square piers with a chamfered plinth and pyramidal capping. These are finished in painted render. The capping appears to be painted concrete. The two main gateposts are each flanked by a smaller matching companion pier, located in front and to the outside of the main piers. The gates themselves are in painted cast-iron, with vertical bars to the main body of the gate and ornamental scrolls to the top.

A smaller pedestrian gate is located next to the outbuilding, adjacent to the farmyard. This comprises two painted rendered square brick piers and painted cast-iron gate. The gate has vertical bars that fold over at the top in a decorative triangular pattern. This gate is approached from the garden via a tarmac pathway and two concrete block steps.

The pedestrian gate close to the outbuilding provides access to the road. Directly across the road from this is a large stone-walled circular sheepfold. The wall is in coursed rubble and the gate is across the road from the pedestrian gate to the house. The garden is sparsely planted, with mature trees to the south and western boundaries. There is a mature monkey-puzzle tree in front of the house.

The weir to the south of the garden runs in a north-south direction. The river loops away from it and continues to flow towards the north. Above the weir the millrace splits from the main flow and flows north, parallel to the river, towards a nearby engineering works, where it broadens out into a large millpond. A pair of sluice gates controls the ingress of water to the millrace. It is unclear whether these operate independently to open individual gates or in tandem to operate a single large gate. The gates are rusted iron or possibly steel and are overgrown with ivy.

Historical information

A building, marked ‘Rocklodge’ is shown on this site on the OS map of 1833-34. This property is recorded in the first valuation of the following year as a relatively old house in good condition, (quality letter ‘1C+’), in the hands of a Captain Daniel (or Daniell), and measuring 38ft x 24 x 14½ for the main section, with returns of 22 x 19 x 14½ and 15 x 12 x 7½, and outbuildings of 51 x 20½ x 7, 13½ x 25 x 7 and 9½ x 17 x 7, the largest of these thatched. The property, which was rated for valuation purposes at the relatively modest sum of £7-6-0, (perhaps on account of its age), also included the ‘old ruined mill’ located to the north of the house, a relatively large structure noted as measuring 47 x 26 x 20 with an addition of 18 x 19 x 7.

The house remained in the hands of Captain Daniel up until at least 1837, for he is listed as living there in Lewis’s ‘Topographical Dictionary’ of that year, but Slater’s directory tells us that by 1846 it was the home of Frederick Lindesay Esq. This new occupant was one the Lindesays of Loughry, the major landowners in the area, and for the next fifty years it appears that the building acted for most of the time as a residence for members of the family. The dwelling is marked on the revised OS map of 1857 as ‘Rock Lodge’.

Judging from its present appearance it appears likely that some work was carried out to the building in the mid 1800s. A comparison of the dimensions of 1835 and those supplied in a valuer’s office notebook of 1906, show that the height of the main section had been raised approximately 5ft and that the returns had been added to by that date. Unfortunately, the valuers ‘house’ notes from the second valuation of 1858 have not survived, so we have no idea of the dimensions of the property at that point; however, as no changes to the building are recorded in the post 1858 valuations, we can therefore assume that any work had been carried out prior to that date, probably c.1837-46 when it changed hands.

In 1848, following the death of his nephew, John, Frederick Lindesay inherited Loughry and vacated Rock Lodge. After this the building appears to have remained vacant for a period, but by 1863 (at the latest) a Frederick ‘Fritz’ Lindesay, the son of Frederick of Loughry was in residence.

Frederick Lindesay senior died in 1871 and Loughry passed to Fritz. A man with a taste for gambling and extravagant living, Fritz Lindesay accrued liabilities said to have been in excess of £42,ooo. It was probably because of this that following his death in 1877, Rock Lodge is recorded by the valuers as in the hands of the Court of Bankruptcy. A few years later however, it was being occupied by Fritz’s brother and successor, Joshua, who, in an attempt to resolve his deceased brother’s debts, is said to have lived alone with only one servant, apparently forsaking the Loughry and the expense it entailed, for the more frugal confines of Rock Lodge. There appears to have been no money even for the upkeep of the smaller house, however, for 1889, the valuation for the building decreased from £22 to £14-10-0, suggesting that it may have fallen into disrepair. It was perhaps because of this, and possibly due to failing health, that Joshua Lindesay appears to have moved back to Loughry in 1890 renting Rock Lodge firstly to a James Buchanan and then to a Margaret Burnett.

Joshua Lindesay died in 1893, unable to claw back the family debt and apparently a broken man. Shortly afterwards the Loughry estate, including Rock Lodge, was sold to Cookstown businessman John Wilson Fleming, who, in 1898, was renting the latter to a Charles Gaussen.

The house was acquired from John Wilson Fleming by Thomas A. Ekin, another Cookstown businessman, and in 1901-02 Ekin leased it to a James McQueen. In 1906, Rock Lodge was acquired outright by Catherine McQueen [?James’s daughter]. Catherine made some improvements to the house, and converted some old ‘worker’s houses’ to the north into outbuildings, the rateable value rising from £9-10-0 to £12 as a result. In 1914 a Catherine Gilpin [?Catherine McQueen following marriage] is listed as the owner / resident. The property was acquired by an Alexander Warnock c.1946 with whose descendants it remains.

References- Primary sources
1 ‘OS Memoirs of Ireland vol.20...’, eds. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams, (QUB, 1993), p.34
2 PRONI VAL/1B/623 First valuation, Desetcreat parish, 1834-c.1838
3 PRONI VAL/1A/6/38 OS map, Co. Tyrone sheet 38, with valuation
references, 1834-c.1838
4 Lewis, Samuel, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland…’ vol.1, (London, 1837)
5 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1846)
6 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1856)
7 PRONI VAL/2A/6/38 OS map, Co. Tyrone sheet 38, with valuation references, 1857-58
8 PRONI VAL/2B/6/6/24B Second valuation, Desertcreat parish, 1858
9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/21A Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1860-63
10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/21B Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1864-80
11 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1870)
12 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1880)
13 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5C Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1881
14 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5D Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1881-94
15 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5E Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1895-1912
16 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster directory’ 1902- (Belfast News-Letter, 1902- )
17 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5F Annual valuation revision book, Tullaghoge ED, 1913-29
18 PRONI VAL/3B/7/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tullaghoge ED 1935
19 PRONI VAL/3C/7/7 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tullaghoge ED, 1936-57
20 PRONI VAL/4B/6/9 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tullaghoge ED, 1956-72
21 PRONI VAL/14A/126 Third general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Sandholes ED, 1975
22 PRONI VAL/14B/174 Third general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Sandholes ED, 1976-87
23 PRONI VAL/14C/156 Third general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Sandholes ED, 1987-93

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is an early ninetenth century house that has associations with the local landowners, the Lindsay family and their main house at Loughry. Unfortunately this house has been extensively modernised and it has lost part of its original impressive outbuildings which detracts from its original character.