Gate lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay one-and-a-half-storey Arts and Crafts gatelodge built c.1890, located to the south side of Urney Road, Strabane. Rectangular-on-plan facing west with central gabled bay; single-storey lean-to porch at south and north gable (indicating that the house originally contained two dwellings); single-storey lean-to extension at rear.

Roofs are pitched rosemary tiles, red terracotta ridge tiles; two red brick corbelled chimneystacks with clay pots located at party walls; deep overhanging timber sheeted eaves and timber bargeboards supporting replacement uPVC rainwater goods. Walls are roughcast rendered over projecting smooth rendered plinth and red brick stepped quoins. Windows are timber casements (top lights contain leaded stained glass); contained within square-headed openings with smooth rendered banding and painted projecting masonry cills unless otherwise stated.

Principal (west) elevation contains central oriel window at ground floor supported on ogee profile corbel surmounted by a jetty-bressummer at first floor containing tripartite window and mock half-timbering; tripartite window at each side.

Left (north) gable is abutted by single-storey lean-to at left; dipartite timber casement at first floor; terracotta monogram plaque containing the initials ‘J. H.’, surrounded by egg and dart motif to apex.

Rear (east) elevation is abutted by single-storey lean-to extension, exposed section is blank; roof of main house is synthetic slate tiled with two dormer windows.

Right (south) gable is abutted by single-storey lean-to at right; dipartite timber casement at first floor.

Single storey lean-to porches have cement tiled roof and red brick walls; timber framed opening to outer face (north porch glazed) and supported at corner by timber archivolt. Both open at west side and accessed by single masonry step, leading to replacement timber sheeted doors. Both porches contain stores accessed from (east) rear, north lean-to is hipped to rear.

Rear extension is detailed as main block with lean-to roof, right side is synthetic slate tiled, left is replacement cement tiled. East elevation contains timber panelled entrance door off-centre at left; two windows at right; two windows at left; left and right cheeks are blank.

Set within mature wooded landscape at the junction of Urney Road and Carrick Avenue; bound from road by red brick plinth wall with saddleback coping; accessed from both Carrick Avenue at west and Urney Road at North; car parking at east.

Roof Rosemary tiled (west) and synthetic slate tiled (east)
Walling Roughcast rendered over projecting smooth rendered plinth and red brick stepped quoins.
Windows Timber casements (top lights are leaded stained glass); contained within square-headed openings with smooth
rendered banding and painted projecting masonry cills
RWG Replacement uPVC

Historical information

The building is first shown on the third edition of the OS Map of 1905, captioned “Lodge.” The gable is inscribed with the initials “J.H.,” which according to Dean stands for John Herdman (1841-1903), who in 1891 built Carricklee House, with which this lodge is associated (Dean, p.139; “1835-1935,” p.15).

Valuation Revisions (1860-1924) record the addition of a gate lodge to Carricklee House in 1887, incorporating two dwellings with separate occupiers, who both lease the lodge from John Herdman. The dwellings are valued at £1.15s. each.

Dean dates the lodge to c.1891 and attributes it stylistically to W. F. Unsworth, John’s brother-in-law. Unsworth had already remodelled his brother Emerson’s Sion House (HB10/08/001A) in 1884 and throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century designed most of the principal buildings in the village of Sion Mills.

Herdman & Co. ran a successful linen mill, and associated model village, Sion Mills, for their workers and village maintenance staff. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) when cotton was scarce, Sion Mills enjoyed unprecedented demands for linen and under James Herdman and his sons, John and Emerson, became an independent company (Kennedy, p.108-9). After the last founding member of the mills, James, died in 1901, “the company passed fully to his sons John and Emerson” (Kennedy, p.109).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/4/1-First Edition OS Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/4/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/4/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/20A-G -Valuation Revisions (1860-1924)
5. PRONI VAL/12/D/6/4C -Valuation Revisions Map (1896-1925)

Secondary Sources

1. “1835 to 1935 At the Works of Herdmans Limited, Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Self-published, 1935.
2. Bence-Jones, Mark. “A Guide to Irish Country Houses.” Second Revised Edition. London: Constable and Robinson, 1990.
3. Dixon, Hugh. “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture.” Second Edition. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008.
4. Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland). “Sion Mills Conservation Area.” Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1977.
5. Herdman, Rex. “Recollections of Rex Herdman.” In Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” (Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.), p.123.
6. Ferguson, Celia, ed. “The Herdmans and Sion Mills, 1835-2005: Book One – The Early Years: A Collection of Letters, Photographs & Extracts from Documents and Books of Interest.” Sion Mills, Co. Tyrone: Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust, 2005.
7. Kennedy, Michael G. “By the Banks of the Mourne: A History of Strabane.” Strabane, Co. Tyrone: Strabane Historical Society, 1996.
8. McEvoy, John. “Statistical Survey of the County of Tyrone with Observations on the Means of Improvements; Drawn Up in the Years 1801, and 1802, For the Consideration, and Under the Direction of The Dublin Society.” (Dublin: Graisbery and Campbell, 1802. Reprinted as McEvoy, John. “County of Tyrone, 1802: A Statistical Survey.” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1991), p.172.
9. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland.” (London: HMSO, 1980), p.40-41.
10. Mitchell, C. J. Haldane. “Omagh: Paintings and Stories from the Seat of the Chiefs.” Donaghadee, Co. Down, Cottage Publications, 2000.
11. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
1. Rynne, Colin. “Industrial Ireland 1730-1930: An Archaeology.” (Cork: The Collins Press, 2006.), p.40-41.
12. Scott, Michael, ed. “Hall’s Ireland: Mr & Mrs Hall’s Tour of 1840” London: Sphere, 1984.
13. “Sion House, Strabane.” “The Irish Builder.” 4 December 1884.
14. Williams, Jeremy. “Architecture in Ireland, 1837-1921: A Companion Guide.” Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd, 1994.
15. Young, Robert Magill “Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the Twentieth Century.” Pike's New Century Series, ed. W. T. Pike. Brighton : W. T. Pike, 1909.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-bay one-and-a-half-storey Arts and Crafts gatelodge built c.1890 with a largely intact and well preserved exterior with original Arts and Crafts details. Despite having substantially altered detailing to the interior the plan form also remains largely intact. The gatelodge's setting is enhanced by the mature wooded backdrop to south and is a rural gate lodge of architectural character; it has group value with Carricklee Stableyard (HB10/08/004B.)

General comments

This record has been renumbered HB10/08/004C-previously HB10/08/008