Brookend House, 16 Brookend Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, BT71 5BR

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached two-storey L-shaped nineteenth-century farmhouse, built in c.1830, with associated farmyard and outbuildings.

The front southeast elevation is dashed painted render with a central projecting porch. This is gable-fronted with a slate roof, timber trellis sides and a round-arched opening. The front door is square-headed replacement uPVC. The porch is flanked by two square-headed window openings with cut-stone sills and modern paired one-over-one timber sash windows. The upper windows are similar, with shorter proportions. There is a smaller central window over the porch. Photographs indicate that these windows date from 1907-1915 and replace earlier sash windows with smaller panes. There is a corbel course below the eaves. To the right of the main elevation the single-storey extension has similar windows.

The side southwest elevation comprises the gable of the main house and the side of the two-storey return. There are a variety of window openings, all with one-over-one timber sash windows. There is a chimney to the apex of the gable.

The rear northwest elevation has two square-headed door openings with timber tongue and groove doors. There are a variety of windows as before, and a string course like the one to the front.

The northeast gable side elevation of the single-storey bay is blank. The northeast side elevation of the return has a single door and windows as before. A timber pergola is attached to the rear elevations of the main house and return.

External walls are cement wetdash throughout. The roof is slate and pitched, with a chimney to each gable of the main house and a third on the return. These have two clay pots each. Rainwater goods are cast-iron and the eaves detail is traditional, with no fascia.

Setting

The main house, return an outbuildingbehind enclose a yard. The long return was originally a stable block and was raised to two stories in the early twentieth century. The house is located in the countryside with a long shared lane. It has a small lawn surrounded by a hedge in the front and is accessed via a cast-iron gate to the south of the site. The yard enclosed by the ‘L’ shaped house is enclosed to the northeastern side by a single-storey gable-ended outbuilding with a pitched slate roof. Three square-headed timber tongue and groove door openings face into the yard. To the north is a farmyard with assorted agricultural buildings.

To the south of the house there is a mill pond and mill building, not in good condition.

Historical information

A house matching the present is shown on the OS map of 1833-34 and recorded in the 1834 valuation as an old thatched dwelling occupied by a Rev Bernard O’Neill (who may have been the local RC curate). The dimensions are listed in the same valuation as 62ft x 22 x 9, with outbuildings of 18 x 16½ x 5½ and 47 x 20 x 7, with the whole property rated at £3-8-0.

In the second valuation of 1859 a St. George Wilcox Esq. is noted as the occupant, a John Mackey the immediate lessor, and the rateable value £6-10-0. In 1872 a Thomas McCormick is recorded as resident, and the rateable value almost doubles to £12-suggesting that the present two-storey dwelling was built in or just prior to this year.

An Andrew McCormick took on the lease in 1914, and acquired the freehold sometime between 1929 and 1935. Mr. McCormick was still in residence in 1957.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/6/40 OS map, Co Tyrone sheet 40, with valuation
references, 1833-34
2 PRONI VAL/1B/618 First valuation, Arboe parish, 1833-34
3 PRONI VAL/2A/6/40B OS map, Co Tyrone sheet 40, with valuation references, 1853-57(-59)
4 PRONI VAL/2B/6/18E Second valuation, Arboe parish, 1859
5 PRONI VAL/12B/37/10A Annual valuation revision book, Killycolpy ED, 1860-63
6 PRONI VAL/12B/37/10B Annual valuation revision book, Killycolpy ED, 1864-79
7 PRONI VAL/12B/37/10C Annual valuation revision book, Killycolpy ED, 1880-81
8 PRONI VAL/12B/37/10D Annual valuation revision book, Killycolpy ED, 1882-96
9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/10E Annual valuation revision book, Killycolpy ED, 1897-1912
10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/10F Annual valuation revision book, Killycolpy ED, 1913-29
11 PRONI VAL/3C/7/5 First general revaluation, Killycolpy ED, 1936-57

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A detached two-storey L-shaped nineteenth-century farmhouse, built in c.1830, with associated farmyard and outbuildings. It was a charming and pleasingly proportioned farm house but has been compromised with the alterations to the exterior and the loss of its interior. The survival of the mill and the millpond are of some interest.