9 Gargadis Road, Trillick, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT78 3NX

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached asymmetrical seven-bay two-storey smooth painted rendered former police barracks built in 1932 to an established design by the then Ministry of Finance Assistant Architect T.F.O. Rippingham. Rectangular on plan facing south-west with a single storey return and enclosed yard to rear. The former police barracks is set back on the north-east side of Gargadis Road on an elevated compact landscaped site 150m north-west of the junction with Main Street in the village of Trillick.

Detached asymmetrical seven-bay two-storey rendered former police station, built c.1930 to standardised designs by Ministry of Finance architect T.F.O Rippingham. Converted for use as three self-contained apartments in the late twentieth century. Rectangular on plan, with perpendicular single-storey rear return bounding the south-east side of an enclosed rear yard.

Hipped natural slate roof with slightly sprocketted eaves and angled grey ridge and hip tiles. Replacement plastic ogee rainwater goods on deep projecting eaves. Tall, slightly tapered chimneystacks with simple flat caps. Walling is painted smooth render over a pre-cast rusticated concrete plinth, also painted. There is a fine quadrant cornice and continuous cill course to first floor level. Windows are uPVC throughout, with simple moulded cills. All openings are covered with metal shutters.

Principal elevation faces south-west. The first floor appears diminished in height, with seven equally spaced windows. The ground floor is read in two sections; to left are three equally spaced windows, lighting the constable’s quarters. To right, a shallow breakfront contains three openings each contained in a round-headed recess, linked by plain impost mouldings, and comprising a central square-headed door flanked by round-headed window openings. Above the door remains the oval base panel of former insignia and banner (badge and inscription since removed).

The north-west elevation has a door to ground floor set to left side (formerly separate access to the self-contained constable’s quarters). It has a moulded architrave with central rectangular panel, and plain impost blocks to a round-headed recess. Single window opening directly over. The elevation is extended by the wall of the enclosed yard.

Rear elevation has five irregularly spaced windows to first floor, including three narrow openings; there is a stairwell window to left side. The return abuts to left side; only the south-east elevation is visible, and is lit by two windows. (Ground floor of rear elevation not visible.)

The south-east elevation has two windows to each floor.

Setting:
The former barracks is located a short distance to the north west off Trillick Main Street, on Gargadis Road. It is set slightly back from the road, opposite a GAA club grounds and playground, next to the community leisure centre. There is an original metal pedestrian gate to left, hung on plain rendered piers; to right the vehicular gates have been removed, although similar piers remain. A strip of lawn and a hedge bounds the site to the road, and to rear is an overgrown garden area. A tarmac path is aligned along the front of the building, with a driveway to south-east.

Roof: Slate
Walling: Render
Windows: uPVC
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

A two-storey former Police Station, built c. 1931 to one of the standardised designs of the English born architect T.F.O. Rippingham. The building is first shown on the fourth edition OS map (1939) captioned “RUC Barracks”, rectangular on plan with a rear return to the southern end and a small group of detached outbuildings to the north, enclosed within the rear yard.

The third edition OS map (1905-6) shows that prior to construction of the present building, this site was undeveloped. An earlier Police Constabulary was located on Main Street in Trillick however this was vacated and fell into ruin after being burnt down in October 1920, likely as a result of violent activities during the Irish War of Independence (1920-22). Letters and records contained in the ‘Police Barracks Reconstruction’ records (1929-53) note that the present site was purchased in July 1928 by The Ministry of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland, and construction was completed in c.1931, with a rateable value of £28 noted in the Annual Revisions (1930-35). Although the value rose during the mid 20th century, there are no changes to the footprint of the building. In 1954 an Ulster Special Constabulary Hut was erected nearby, indicative of the turbulent political climate at the time; as a permanent armed and uniformed reserve corps, the USC (known as the B Specials) was mobilised in border patrol to counteract an IRA guerilla campaign during the 1950s and 60s.

The Royal Irish Constabulary was formed in 1867 and the initial constabulary barracks, established countrywide, were housed within existing buildings. It was not until partition, that a planned programme of purpose-built Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks was implemented across the province. Notably the design of these barracks would incorporate married quarters for the sergeant in charge. Thomas F. O. Rippingham was an London-based architect who moved to Belfast in 1922, first working as assistant architect to the newly formed Government of Northern Ireland Works Division, and then succeeding C.S. Agnew as chief architect in the mid 1940s, a post which he retained until his retirement in 1956 (DIA). Commissioned by the Ministry of Finance to design a series of RUC stations in the decade following the partition of Ireland, Rippingham was responsible for generating their basic design, which was then adapted in size to suit the requirements of each individual site, ranging from three windows wide to eight or nine. The style of this highly successful scheme drew influence from earlier building types found within Ulster; Dixon (2008) notes that the hipped roof and tall end-wall chimneys recall the styling of the early 18th century while the arched recessed openings of the front door and flanking windows echo the refined proportions characteristic of the Late-Georgian or Regency periods. Further examples of Rippingham’s RUC stations exist throughout Ulster, although several have now been decommissioned.

Contemporary OS maps show that the footprint of the building complex has remained largely unchanged since construction. In recent decades, the former police barracks was closed down and was taken over by the Housing Executive. The building now comprises two apartments and a house, all currently vacant.

Resources

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/56/3 Third edition OS map (1905-6)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/3/4 Fourth edition OS map (1939)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/40/5F Annual Revisions (1913-29)
4. PRONI VAL/3/B/7/11 First General Revaluations (1935)
5. PRONI VAL/3/G/158/1 & 2 Valuation Maps (1934-5)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/7/16 First General Revaluations Annual Revisions (1936-57)
7. PRONI CAB/9/G/12/2 Police Barrack Reconstruction Scheme (1929-53)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1901-1935)
9. HB File (HB11/LQ036)

Secondary Sources

1. Dixon, Hugh “An Introduction to Ulster Architecture” UAHS (2008)

Online Sources

1. Trillick History (http://www.trillick.org/about/history-and-photos/)

References: Primary Sources
1 PRONI OS6/6/56/2 (1854)
2 PRONI VAL12F/7/8/13 (1930-35)
3 NIEA FIN19/8/53-60 B1045/1929 (1966) [This file relates to the construction of a small automatic telephone exchange building next to the police station, and not to the station itself.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

The fomer RUC station in Trillick is a two-storey multi-bay former barracks with self-contained sergeant's quarters, built c.1931 to standard designs by the Department of Finance architect, TFO Rippingham. Rippingham's barracks design is one of Ulster's most familiar building types, once seen in towns throughout the province. The design is aesthetically pleasing, recalling motifs from earlier architectural forms but in a stripped back modern style, but was successful due to its adaptibility to suit a variety of individual site contraints. This adaptibility is well demonstrated at Trillick, a large seven-bay variation, which retains its original floor plan almost unchanged, despite conversion to three self-contained apartments. Set on the outskirts of the village, the barracks makes a contribution to the social and historic interets of the village, but there are better and more intact examples of the type.