Cookstown Orange Hall, Fairhill Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8AG

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This is an attached rendered two-storey pedimented Classical-style Orange Lodge, built c. 1894. It is rectangular in plan. The building is set back from Fairhill Road within the Northern suburbs of Cookstown.

The front North elevation is symmetrical, and faces onto the road. It has a segmental-headed doorway to the centre with painted carved shouldered and heeled stone surrounds. There is a painted central keystone over. The door is replacement timber. The windows to the ground and upper levels are segmental-headed with carved stone surrounds and keystones as previous. Windows have replacement timber frames and protective metal grills over.
A projecting moulded cornice supports an entablature with a triangulated pediment. The entablature has carved stone lions to each end. There is a centrally located datestone at cornice level, inscribed ‘COOKSTOWN ORANGE AND PROTESTANT HALL. A.D. 1894’ The tympanum is surmounted by a carved stone cornice and a ball finial to the apex.

The side East elevation has a series of regular square-headed openings with timber casement windows to ground and first floor. They are set on painted cut-stone sills. There are metal grills attached to each window. There is a square-headed door opening to the first floor. It is accessed via a modern steel fire escape external staircase.

The rear South elevation is gable-ended with no openings.

The roofs are natural slate with replacement uPVC rainwater goods. There is a simple brick chimney to the Southern ridge.
External walls to the front elevation are rusticated render. There are rusticated quoins to edges. There is a painted carved-stone plinth to the base. The side elevation is painted ruled-and-lined render. The rear elevation is plain unpainted render.

Setting:
The Orange Lodge is set back from Fairhill Road behind a rendered wall with a wrought-iron gate. There is a concreted setback area to the front leading to the entrance door. The boundary wall has cut-stone capping. The building is set to the Northern side of the town centre.

Historical information

As the date stone claims, this Orange Hall was built in 1894, and is first listed in the annual valuation revision book the following year. The accompanying valuers’ office notebook (which supplies details of newly-built or newly-extended structures liable for valuation) records the hall as measuring 33ft x 53½ x 25, with brick-built walls and a slated roof. The valuers also tell us that it was ‘built by subscription’, that the estimated cost of construction amounted to £649, and that the local Orangemen had been granted a lease for ever from the Gunning-Moore estate, with a ground rent of 10/-. The building was initially valued at £20, a relatively low sum for such a large structure, granted, according to the valuers, in consideration of the fact that it was to be ‘frequently used for charitable purposes…’.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5H Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1895-99
2 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5K Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1889-99
3 PRONI VAL/12E/171/1/1-2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1892-97 [2 sheets]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a well proportioned middle-size late Victorian Orange Hall of some local social local interest. It is designed in a restrained classical style but is of limited architectural interest.