Urney Park

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay two-storey over concealed basement rendered country house, built c.1810, with stone Doric portico. L-shaped on plan facing north in a parkland
setting to the southeast of Urney Road and approached by an avenue to north. Single-storey over basement return to east and pair of enclosed yards to rear with some rubble outbuildings.

Hipped natural slate roof, rolled lead ridges and three rendered chimneystacks with clay pots. Cast-iron box gutter to overhanging eaves on front elevation with render corbel course, half-round guttering to side and rear elevations supported on iron drive-through brackets, cast-iron dowpipes. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling, rusticated stone ashlar quoins and stone plinth course. Square-headed window openings, stone sills, projecting moulded cornice to ground floor only and 6/6 timber sash windows (some uPVC replacements).

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation with shallow central breakfront and Doric prostyle tetrastyle stone ashlar portico comprising; four Doric columns supporting full entablature, pair of engaged Doric pilasters flanking stone ashlar tripartite doorcase. Central square-headed door opening with six-panelled timber door, beaded muntin and iron door furniture flanked by pair of full-height sidelights having 4/4 timber sash windows; stone flagged portico opens onto four stone steps. Two replacement uPVC windows to first floor.

Two-bay two-storey over basement east side elevation with uPVC windows to the first floor, blocked up window openings to the basement and a further uPVC window to the ground floor of the return.

Rear elevation has a round-headed window opening to the first floor with 6/6 timber sash window and a further 8/8 timber sash window to the basement. The west projection is abutted by a ruinous stone and brick wall (formerly an outbuilding), enclosing the rear yard to the west. The single-storey return has a single door opening with uPVC glazed door opening onto flight of steps.

Three-bay two-storey over basement west side elevation has three uPVC replacement windows with timber casement windows to the basement.

Rear yard is enclosed to the south by a two-storey range of rubblestone outbuildings having a pitched corrugated iron roof and an elliptical-headed carriage arch formed in red brick giving access through to a further smaller yard. The smaller yard is enclosed by mainly twentieth-century cement-rendered sheds.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Ruled-and-lined render / stone quoins & plinth
Windows 6/6 timber sash / uPVC replacements
Rainwater goods Cast-iron

Historical information

The house was built or radically remodelled by Sir James Galbraith in 1814. Galbraith had been made a baronet the previous year and was law agent to the Marquess of Abercorn at the time. A letter to his employer on 27 July 1814 states that he is rebuilding Urney Park, the former residence of a Mr Fenton.

“My Dear Lord [Abercorn], We have had fine weather and a fine harvest. Abundant and good. Except the poor man’s all is in and he has a fine prospect for his also. It has been most favourable for my Building. Mr Fenton quitted Urney in July and I have one wing covered in and the cornice laid on the other. I hope I may yet be so happy as to have your Lordship’s opinion of it tho’ it should be to say that I was a blockhead for not building where I first intended and break new ground and leave Fenton where he was but what I have done fixes me for life within an hour of Barons Court and I shall be comfortably fixed next year. Time is everything. May God Bless you my Dear Lord. Your faithful and affectionate servant ever.”

The first surviving letter from Galbraith that appears to place him in residence at Urney is dated August 14th 1815. Previous letters are largely headed “Holy Hill” and “Dublin”. John Fenton Esq is mentioned in OS Memoirs as an absentee landlord of Urney parish.

The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832-33, captioned ‘Urney Park’. Formal gardens are also shown. Outbuildings to the rear are possible survivals from the earlier house mentioned above by Galbraith. On the second edition of 1855 a new outbuilding is shown to the rear of the house, forming an enclosed courtyard. A ‘Gate Lodge’ is shown to the north and a ‘Farm Yard’ and ‘Thrashing Machine’ to the South.

The Townland Valuation records Lady Galbraith as the occupier; this is revised at a later stage to Richard Hamilton. Measurements are given for a dwelling house, offices etc, including a cellar and threshing machine. The property is valued at £64.10s but this is later revised to £36.

OS Memoirs places the house in County Donegal. “Urney Park, the seat of the late Sir James Galbraith Bart and at which his widow Lady Galbraith is constantly resident, is a handsome modern house with portico situated in an extensive demesne looking over the plantations which divide it from the mail coach road to Sligo and over the grounds of Urney House to the River Finn, the picturesque hill of Crohan on the opposite side of the river forming a pleasing background and termination to the prospect in the north west.” (p.176) Sir James also seems to have resided in Dublin where he owned a house in North Great George’s Street. He was at one time the crown solicitor for Ireland, and his title became extinct when he died in 1827, as he left no male heirs. (Courthope, p84, Cosgrave, p.52)

Griffith’s Valuation of 1857 records a ‘house, offices and land’, which is occupied by Richard Hamilton and leased from Captain Andrew Knox, the property being valued at £50.

Valuation Revisions list the occupier as Andrew Knox, various members of the Knox family taking ownership throughout the 19th century, until 1908 when Catherine Perry is in residence. A gatelodge is added to the property description, this is deleted in 1894 and entered separately valued at £1.10. It is noted as being ‘slated’. Consequently the property valuation decreases from £49 to £47.10 in 1894. It is further reduced to £46 in 1908.

In 1933 valuers note that Catherine Perry is the occupier in fee and give a value of £25 later raised to £30. The house consists of kitchen, scullery, pantry and three rooms on the ground floor and six bedrooms, bathroom and separate WC on the first floor, but a note reads ‘two storeys and basement’. Measurements and a plan are given. There is hot and cold water, but the property has no electricity, being lit by oil lamps. The valuers note that the property is an ‘old mansion house in rambling condition – accommodation excessive’. Perry is also the lessor of the gate house and the farm to the south.

The Dictionary of Irish Architects online proposes Robert Woodgate as the architect of Urney Park. However, this is not supported by the primary evidence. This suggests that Woodgate was the architect of Urney House, the parish glebe house. The glebe adjoins the Urney Park estate.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI D623/115/113 – Letter from Sir James Galbraith to Marquess of Abercorn (27th July 1814)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/9/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832-33)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/9/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1855)
4. PRONI OS/6/6/9/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1905)
5. PRONI OS/6/6/9/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map (
6. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/9 -Townland Valuation (c1820-1840)
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/642 -Townland Valuation (c1820-1840)
8. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/9A -Griffith’s Valuation Map (1858)
9. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/44 -Griffith’s Valuation (1857)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/20A-G -Valuation Revisions (1860-1924)
11. PRONI VAL/12/D/6/9B -Valuation Revisions Map (1882-1903)
12. PRONI D2298/8/5 –Various papers/letters relating to the Knox Estate
13. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Donegal II, 1835-6, Vol. 39.” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1997.
14. PRONI VAL/3/D/7/10K/2 – Valuers RV Binders (1933-1957)

Secondary Sources

1. Cosgrave, D “North Dublin: city and county”, 1977
2. Courthope, W.J. “Synopsis of the extinct baronetage of England”, 1835
3. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.
4. www.dia.ie - Dictionary of Irish Architects online.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A three bay, two storey Georgian country house situated in a rural location south west of Strabane town, near Clady, thought to be remodelled by Sir James Galbraith, law agent to the Marquess of Abercorn. The building displays a well proportioned symmetrical façade and a neo-classical portico. Despite the loss of some of its original sliding sash windows, the building retains some fine detailing with an ashlar portico, stone quoins and plinth and ornate chimneys. The building with its mature landscape setting, group of outbuildings and historical connections to the Abercorn Estate makes a positive contribution to the architectural heritage of Strabane.