Outbuildings, Stuart Hall Demense, Mountjoy Road, Stewartstown, Co Tyrone, BT71 5AE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The outbuildings to the West of the main courtyard are an irregular mixture of single-storey and two-storey rubble-stone buildings facing the rear of the central courtyard block. The group at the north end form a small open-ended courtyard; those to the south are in line. Most openings have brick dressings. Openings have been altered and several have modern sliding doors fitted. External steps have been formed in concrete. Walls are a mix of rubble stone and brick. Roofs are pitched and hipped with natural slate. Some have rooflights to roof.

Setting

These outbuildings are situated to the west of the main courtyard, between it and the walled enclosure before the garden towers. The original entrance to this area is off Mountjoy Road to the North via a long circular drive that sweeps around the West of the walled garden and enters the courtyard at the South, between it and the outbuildings. A more recent cut-off from the entrance drive near the new house leads directly to a large forecourt created to the north of the courtyard and the outbuildings can now be reached ditrectly from there. There is also a more grand entrance (HB09/11/013F) of the Castlefarm Road to the west, linking to the circular drive, which must have originally been the main entrance but which is now kept locked. The demesne is well-wooded and some of the original landscape features survive.

Historical information

The outbuildings themselves appear to be largely contemporary with the original house, the distinctive quarter circle plan form shown on the OS map of 1833-34, and the first valuation of 1835 grading most of the complex as ‘old’ at that date. Their dimensions are recorded in the same valuation as, 87ft x 17½ x 11, 44 x 21 x 16, 80 x 17 x 11, 40½ x 23 x 17½, 61 x 18 x 10, 69 x 17½ x 10, 56½ x 21½ x 16, (deduct archway 9 x 22½ x 10), 58 x 21½ x 16½, 54 x 11 x 6 (a ‘newer’ structure), 27 x 9½ x 8 (also more recent), 41 x 14½ x 7, 88 x 20 x 9, 56½ x 13 x 7, 31½ x 13½ x 7, 56 x 21 x 13, 35 x 20 x 9, 44 x 13½ x 7 (‘houses outside garden [?offices]’), 33 x 13½ x 10, 44 x 13½ x 7, with the house itself measuring 90 x 55 x 30, with 8ft high cellars.

Stewart Hall (or Stuart Hall), the country house these former outbuildings once served was built c.1760 by Andrew Thomas Stewart (Viscount Castle Stewart from 1793, Earl Castle Stewart after 1800). Beginning as a typically uncomplicated rectangular Georgian block, the building was extended in 1860 by means of the addition of a somewhat ill-conceived Baronial tower to the south-east, with a castellated parapet applied to the original section in an effort to lend the whole unity. The property badly damaged by a bomb in 1974, and demolished in the 1980s and replaced by the present bungalow.

The date of the highly unusual private Presbyterian meeting house or ‘chapel’ contained within the complex is uncertain. It is not marked on the OS maps of 1833-34 or 1853-57, but noted for the first time on the OS map of 1906, and only mentioned by the valuers in 1923 (‘chapel and farm offices’); however the valuers were never interested in religious buildings as a rule, as these were exempt from rating. Thus, going on this evidence, it appears to have brought into being at some point in the later 1800s, and is therefore the work of the 4th or 5th Earls of Castle Stewart.

The walled garden is shown on the OS map of 1833-34, and includes a date stone of 1832. The decorative folly towers are shown on the OS map of 1853 and are much in keeping with the later baronial additions and embellishments to the house, made by the 4th Earl of Castle Stewart in 1860.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D/1618 Castle Stewart Papers, 1587-c.1960
1 PRONI VAL/1A/6/47 OS map, Co. Tyrone sheet 47 with valuation
references, 1833-34(-35)
2 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.20’ eds. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams, (QUB, 1990), p.15 (1834)
3 PRONI VAL/1B/621A-B First valuation, Ballyclog parish, 1835
4 PRONI VAL/2A/6/47B OS map, Co Tyrone, sheet 47- with valuation references, 1853-57
5 PRONI VAL/2B/6/25C Second valuation, Ballyclog parish, 1857
4 PRONI VAL/12B/37/1A Annual valuation revision book, Ballyclog ED, 1860-63
6 PRONI VAL/12B/37/1B Annual valuation revision book, Ballyclog ED, 1864-80
7 PRONI VAL/12B/37/1C Annual valuation revision book, Ballyclog ED, 1881
8 PRONI VAL/12B/37/1D Annual valuation revision book, Ballyclog ED, 1882-96
9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/1E Annual valuation revision book, Ballyclog ED, 1897-1911
10 PRONI OS/6/3/47/3 OS map, Co. Tyrone sheet 47, 1906
11 PRONI VAL/12B/37/1F Annual valuation revision book, Ballyclog ED, 1912-29
12 VAL/3C/7/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Ballyclog ED, 1936-57

Secondary sources
1 Rowan, A.J., ‘North west Ulster’, (London, 1979), p.489
2 EHS Garden file relating to Castle Stewart

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

An irregular mixture of single-storey and two-storey rubble-stone buildings. Along with the walled garden and entrances, the group is somewhat eclectic in character and is a most unusual collection of estate structures. However, these particular structures are of a common construction and have been significantly degraded by alterations and additions.

General comments

HB09/11/013 has been split into its constituent parts, not all of which are listed.