Gate Lodge at Glebe House, Fingerpost Road, Kilskeery, Trillick, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT78 3RQ

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-bay single-storey gate lodge, built c.1850, located to the south side of Fingerpost Road. Rectangular-on-plan.

Roof is hipped natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles over brick corbelled eaves; smooth rendered corbelled chimney. Walls are roughcast rendered over rubble construction. Windows are timber-framed 3/3 sliding sash with painted masonry sills.

Principal elevation faces south; central replacement metal casement window flanked at left by single window and at right by replacement square-headed timber framed glazed entrance door.

West elevation is overgrown.

North elevation is overgrown.

East elevation is largely overgrown; single window to centre.

Set to west of entrance to house at south; bounded to east by roughcast walling attached to lodge at south-east corner with access through pair of square pillars with concrete coping; lodge bounded at north by hedging.

Roof Natural slate
Walling Roughcast
Windows Metal
Rainwater goods Cast-iron

Historical information

The building is first shown on the second edition OS map of 1852 captioned ‘Gate Lodge’. It appears to undergo some changes in plan in subsequent additions.

The Townland Valuation records the main house on the site as a ‘house offices and land’, occupied by the Rev. J. G. Porter, and valued at £29.17s. Dimensions are given for a dwelling house and offices (some of which are cow sheds). There is no gate lodge at this stage.

OS Memoirs of this period, note that the ‘the Glebe House, situated in Kilskeery Glebe, is the residence of the Rev. Thomas Porter, rector for the parish, it was built in 1774’. J. G. Porter ‘gave £900 for purchasing a glebe house for [Kilskeery] parish’. The Rev. John Grey Porter of Kilskeery is ‘the proprietor of 7 townlands’, and is also a magistrate who is ‘firm and respected by the people’ (p. 69, 73, 114, 115).

Lewis further notes, “The glebe-house, a spacious and handsome residence, surrounded by old plantations was built in 1774 at an expense of £1200, of which £92.6s was a gift from the late Board of First Fruits.” (p.210)

The gate lodge is not separately numbered on Griffith’s Valuation map, the valuation being £37 for the whole property. Valuation Revisions list the ‘Glebe house, offices and land’, occupied by a Rev. W. Fleming valued at £36, and separately a house (lodge), valued at £1.

Rowan mentions the Glebe House as being derelict in 1979. Dean remarks that the gate lodge was built by, “the immensely prosperous and long-lived incumbent John Grey Porter of Belle isle Co Fermanagh” Two lodges were built at this property in Belle isle at around the same time as the current gate lodge, i.e. c.1850.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/56/1-4 - Ordnance Survey Maps (1833, 1852, 1905-6, 1939)
2. PRONI VAL/1/B/631B - Townland Valuation (1820-1840)
3. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/33B - Griffith’s Valuation (1858)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/40/2A-F - Valuation Revisions (1864-1929)

Secondary Sources

1. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Tyrone II, 1825, 1833-5, 1840, Vol. 20.”
Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1990.
2. Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
3. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin:
Penguin Books, 1979.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A detached two-bay single-storey gate lodge, built c.1850, located to the south side of Fingerpost Road. The building has been compromised by replacement of windows and doors, although its original character is still discernable. However, it is not of special architectural or historic interest, being a modest representative of a relatively common type, of which there are better examples.