Hall, 21 Hillhead Road, Stewartstown, Dungannon, BT71 5HY

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This is an attached three bay single-storey memorial hall ‘McNeese Memorial Hall’, built c. 1902. It is roughly rectangular in plan. A single-storey Infant School, ‘Stewartstown Infant National School’, built c. 1871, is located to the Southeast directly abutting the front right corner of the Hall.

The hall is set to the West side of Hillhead street immediately South of Parkers Farm.

McNeese Memorial Hall

The front East elevation is three bays in width. It has a projecting single-storey entrance porch to the centre with a shallow pointed-arched door. It has a timber double door and an overlight. There are square-headed windows to the sides of the porch. There is a square-headed window to the left and right bay. Windows are replacement uPVC and are set on painted cut-stone sills. Painted moulded drip mouldings with label stops surmount the windows and door. The drip mould to the main door steps up to the centre to include an inscription of the date ‘1902’. Below the date and above the door, ‘THE MCNEESE MEMORIAL HALL’ is inscribed in a shallow painted relief. The entrance porch is gable-ended with a pitched natural slate roof. Fascias are decorative timber with a fire clay finial to the apex.

The side South elevation is gable-ended and is partially obscured by returns and additions. There is a blind roundel to the gable with four carved stone keystones arranged in a cross-like manner to the surround.

The side North elevation is also gable-ended and fronts onto the adjacent property. It has three shallow pointed arched lancet windows with obscured coloured glazing set on cut-stone sills. There is a plain recessed blind roundel to the gable.

The rear West elevation is fully obscured by a lean-to return.

External walls are painted render. There is a projecting timber dentilled course at eaves level. The main roof is pitched with natural slate. There are two ventilators to the roof, equally spaced along the ridgeline. Rainwater goods are cast-iron.

Stewartstown Infant National School

This is an attached single-storey former infant school, built c. 1871. It is rectangular in plan, and attached to the Southeast of the memorial hall. It now functions as a part of the hall. It is set at a perpendicular to the main hall facing onto Hillhead Road.

The front East elevation is gable ended and faces onto the road. It has a square-headed tripartite window, the centre of which is taller than its flanking windows. It has a timber casement frame with cared stone and red brick dressings, set on a cut-stone sill. There is a carved drip moulding over with label stops. There is a cut stone datestone over the window inscribed ‘STEWARTSTOWN INFANT NATIONAL SCHOOL 1871’ The gable end has projecting carved stone kneelers and skews, with a carved stone finial to the apex.

The side North elevation is three windows in width. Windows are square-headed with red brick dressed surrounds and voussoirs. Windows are replacement uPVC. There is a decorative carved finial to the apex of the North ridge.

A single-storey lean-to obscures the side South elevation. A further two-storey lean-to obscures the rear West elevation.

External walls are snecked and coursed rubble stone. The roof is pitched and slated. Rainwater goods are replacement aluminium.

Returns:

There is a single-storey lean-to to the South side of the Infant School. There is a two-storey lean-to to the South side of the Memorial Hall, the South end of which is abutting the Infant School. To the rear West of this return is a small single-storey lean-to, which is abutting a single-storey further lean-to extension at the rear West of the Hall. There is a further single-storey lean-to return to the rear West of the Hall.

The single-storey lean-to to the South side of the Infant School is a later extension, built c. 1990. External wall are brick to the front East elevation, and dry dash render to the remaining elevations. Windows are square-headed timber casement set on concrete sills. There is a square-headed door to the front elevation. There is artificial slate to the roof with aluminium rainwater goods.

The two-storey lean-to to the South side of the Memorial Hall is also a later addition, built c. 1990. External walls are dry dash render. Windows are square-headed timber casement set on concrete sills. There is artificial slate to the roof with aluminium rainwater goods.

The small single-storey lean-to, to the rear West of this return has metal doors and an artificial slate roof with a stainless steel flue. It is possibly in use as a fuel store.

The single-storey lean-to return to the rear West of the Hall is dry-dash render with openings as previous. It is also a later addition.

Settin

The hall is set on the West side of Hillhead Road, immediately South of ‘The Square’ at Parkers Farm.
There is a small yard to the front, enclosed by the hall and the former Infant School in an L-shape. It is bounded to the roadside by decorative painted metal railings. There are two-storey slim wrought-iron pillars with decorative finials supporting a double wrought iron gate. The railings are set on a cut stone plinth, with squared cut stone pillars to the North and South. Pillars have cut stone pyramidal capping.

Historical information

The date stone shows that the projecting southern section of this building was built in 1871 as ‘Stewartstown Infant National School’, with the larger section, ‘The McNeece Memorial Hall’, built in 1902. Both are shown on the OS town plan of 1906, along with another similar wing to the north, which was also a school, but which the valuations suggest was built c.1859. Both the schools and the hall were built in connection with the First Presbyterian Church, on the opposite side of the road.

This northern wing was demolished sometime in the mid 1900s, however (according to the valuations) the southern wing appears to have remained in use as a school up until the 1970s.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/2D/6/6 OS map, Co Tyrone sheet 39, with valuation
references, 1859
2 PRONI VAL/2B/6/11A Second valuation, Donaghenry parish, 1859
3 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20A Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1860-63
4 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20B Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1864-78
5 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20C Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1879-81
6 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20D Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1882-92
7 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20E Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1893-1901
8 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20F Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1902-11
9 PRONI OS/6/156/1 OS plan of Stewartstown, 1906(-c.24)
10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/20G Annual valuation revision book, Stewartstown ED, 1912-29
11 PRONI VAL/3B/7/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Stewartstown ED, 1935
12 PRONI VAL/3C/7/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Stewartstown ED, 1936-57
13 PRONI VAL/4B/6/6 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Stewartstown ED, 1957-72

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is an attached three bay single-storey memorial hall, built c. 1902. It is somewhat unusual in that it is attached to, and integrated with, a small National School of the late 18th century. Although degraded by inappropriate alterations and extensions it is, nevertheless, an interesting example of the genre but not an exceptional one.This shares some group value with the adjacent Presbyterian Church (HB09/08/004) and the former manse (HB09/08/027.)