Camus (AKA The Grange),

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay two-storey over basement Georgian house, built 1832, located to the east side of Lisky Road. Rectangular-on-plan with two-storey extension to south-west, added c.1850, abutted at ground floor by recent uPVC conservatory, added c.1990; further two-storey flat roofed extension to re-entrant angle, added c.1860.

Roof is hipped natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles over corbelled eaves course; smooth rendered chimneys with original clay pots. Walls are roughcast over smooth rendered plinth. Windows are square-headed timber framed 6/6 sliding sash; 3/6 sliding sash to first floor; all have painted masonry sills.

Principal elevation faces east; at ground floor, central round-arched-headed recessed entrance opening is accessed via five tiled steps to raised veranda with smooth rendered retaining wall; original square-headed six-panelled timber door flanked by sidelights and surmounted by frieze and segmental-arched-headed fanlight; left and right bays each contain single window within smooth rendered recessed round-arched-headed niche; three windows at first floor.

South elevation is abutted at left by extension and at right by flat-roofed extension; exposed section at basement level contains original vertically-sheeted timber door with transom light at left and single window (now blocked) at right; access via sandstone steps; timber handrail and wrought-iron railing.

West elevation contains five windows at each floor; end-bay at right contained within extension.

North elevation contains two windows at each floor; single 6/6 sliding sash window at left at basement level.

Extension to south-west has half-hipped roof to east end; south elevation is abutted at ground floor by conservatory; exposed section is blank; west elevation is abutted at right by flat-roofed extension; exposed section at left contains single window at ground and first floor; plain glazed window at basement level; vertically-sheeted timber entrance door at right at basement level.

Flat-roofed extension to south-west is supported at basement level on cast-iron column; 2/2 and 2/4 sliding sash window at ground floor; 1/1 sliding sash window containing leaded stained glass flanked at right by 4/4 sliding sash window at first floor.

Set within mature gardens; enclosed yard to south bounded to east by rubble walling accessed through pair of square roughcast piers supporting pair of modern steel gates; multi-bay two-storey outbuilding with central gabled bay containing segmental-headed carriage arch to south of yard; roof is pitched natural slate with blue/black ridge tiles; walls are painted rubble with cast-iron wall-ties; windows are square-headed timber-framed sliding sash with brick voussoirs; vertically-sheeted timber doors to ground and first floor. Yard enclosed to west by lean-to timber framed garage (rear wall is rubble boundary wall). Site accessed from road at west through pair of square stone pillars (gatelodge replaced c.2000, of no interest); site bounded to all sides by hedging and mature trees; formal rose garden to west.

Roof Natural slate
Walls Roughcast
Windows Square-headed timber framed 6/6 sliding sash; 3/6 sliding sash to first floor
RWG Cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes

Historical information

The house was built as a rectory in 1832. It is a detached three-bay two-storey over basement Georgian house, that is rectangular-on-plan with a two-storey extension to south, added c.1850, abutted at ground floor by a recent uPVC conservatory, added c.1990. A two-storey flat roofed extension to re-entrant angle was added c.1860.

‘Glebe House’ is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832-3. On the second edition OS map of 1855, it is captioned ‘Bearney Glebe House’ with formal gardens shown next to the property. The property is captioned ‘Camus’ on the 1905 OS map and a ‘Lodge’ is also shown to the west. The lodge also appears on the fourth edition (1951).

The Diocesan History reports of Camus-juxta-Mourne parish that ‘in 1806, the Church, lately repaired, is now in perfect order, no Glebe house, 350 acres of Glebe.” (p.137)

The property is recorded in the Townland Valuation as a ‘dwelling, cellar as dwelling and offices’. The original occupier is the Rev. George which is revised to James Smithwick, and the property is valued at £21.15s.

Lewis writes in 1837 that, “The glebe-house was built by aid of a gift of £100 and a loan of £800 from the late Board of First Fruits, in 1832, upon the townland of Bierney, which constitutes the glebe, comprising 300 acres, and is more than three miles from the church.” (p.248)

Griffiths Valuation of 1858 lists the Rev. James Smithwick as the occupier of a ‘house, offices and land’, which is leased from the Lord Bishop of Derry (the surname is later changed to Smith). The valuation is originally £18 and revised to £24.15s (date of revision not given). A marginal note reads ‘…the offices being cold and in bad repair…the house is a good house worth at least £20 for it cost at the lowest estimate 1000 to build it.’

Valuation Revisions record the occupier as the Rev. James Smith, this is later revised to William Alexander. The valuation for the property is £28 which is revised to £34 in 1862, with a gate-lodge added that same year. The next occupier is the Reverend Mervyn Wilson, this is revised to ‘Church Representative Body’ in 1877, to Rev. A. H Delap in 1895, and to Alexander Charles Kennedy in 1896. The property is vacant after this date until 1903 when the occupier is recorded as John Claudius Herdman. The ‘house and offices’ are valued at £32, and the lodge at £2.

This late-Georgian house follows the typical three-bay form of a building of this type, internally, with a central hall leading to principal rooms at each floor. However, the original plan form appears to have been altered, suggested by a probable change in the position of the stair to a location perpendicular to the principal entrance, allowing access to rooms within the extension to the south. This indicates that work was probably carried out in line with the extensions of c.1850-60. This could account for the increases in valuation around this time.

The house was built as a rectory and at one time was occupied by the Rev. Alexander (later Bishop) and Mrs Alexander, the hymn-writer. She wrote the words to such hymns as, “There is a green hill far away”, “Once in Royal David’s city” and “All things bright and beautiful”. The Alexanders lived at Camus from 1860 and during this period many of her hymns were added to “Hymns Ancient and Modern” edited by Sir Henry Baker and thereby became well-known. William Alexander (1824-1911) was later Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and Archbishop of Armagh (Lovell, p.6-8, 45-6). In the Alexanders’ time the church was disestablished and the laity of the parish bought back the rectory and some of the land. (Bradley et al., p.289)

In 1894 the church decided to sell the Glebe when the incumbent of that time, Rev Alex H Delap, informed them he did not wish to live in it. An offer from Col Clark-Kennedy of Blackheath, London of £1,050 was accepted in 1895. (Lovell, p.16)

The next occupier, John Claudius Herdman, was the son of Emerson Tennant Herdman who, together with his brother, was responsible for much of the development of Sion Mills, architecturally and industrially. John Claudius Herdman and his wife, Maud Harriet Clark-Kennedy, had three children at Camus before moving back to Sion House in 1919 on the death of his father. They briefly returned to Camus in the 1930s during a period of financial difficulty. (www.sionmills.org)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/6/10/1-First Edition OS (1832-3)
2.PRONI OS/6/6/10/2-Second Edition OS Map (1855)
3.PRONI OS/6/6/10/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4.PRONI OS/6/6/10/4-Fourth Edition OS Map (1951)
5.PRONI VAL/1/B/638C-Townland Valuation (1820-1840)
6.PRONI VAL/2/B/6/41-Griffith’s Valuation (1858)
7.PRONI VAL/12/B/42/10A-G-Valuation Revisions (1860-1929)

Secondary Sources

1.Bradley, J, etc. “The Fair River Valley – Strabane Through the Ages.” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2000.
2.Fawcett, F. W., D. W. T. Crooks and James B. Leslie. “Clergy of Derry and Raphoe.” Belfast and Londonderry: Ulster
Historical Foundation, 1999.
3.Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate,
Market, and Post Towns, Parishes, and Villages, With Historical and Statistical Descriptions; Embellished with Engravings of
the Arms of the Cities, Bishopricks, Corporate Towns, and Boroughs; Of the Seals of the Several Municipal Corporations.”
London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837.
4.Lovell, Rev Canon Ernest W. “Christ Church, Strabane 1879-1979” Belfast: Bell, Logan & Carswell Ltd, 1979
5.Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin:
Penguin Books, 1979.
6.www.sionmills.org Accessed 14 May 2009

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A detached three-bay two-storey over basement house, built 1832, located to the east side of Lisky Road. Originally built as a glebe house, the building has good style and proportions. The plain exterior of the building is decorated on the front elevation with round-arched-headed recessed panels. The one enclosing the entrance is surmounted by a decorative fanlight.. The house was later extended (c.1860); the addition has been well incorporated into the original house, appearing uniformly with the garden frontage of the house (west elevation). The house retains much of its original interior character, and has an attractive secluded site with views to the surrounding countryside. It was once the residence of the famous hymn-writer Mrs Alexander and makes a positive contribution to the architectural heritage of the Strabane area.