12 Castle Place

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An attached multi-bay two-storey stone former gaol house, built 1804, located at north of Abbey Street and spanning Castle Place. Rectangular on plan, facing south; lower return to east; full-height addition to north.

Hipped natural slate roof, lead ridge and hip caps; dressed sandstone chimneystack with ovolo-moulded cap, beaded terracotta chimneypots; ogee uPVC gutters on projecting eaves. Walling is dressed and squared sandstone (built to courses) over chamfered rendered plinth with dressed granite quoins. Windows are square-headed painted timber 6/6 sashes (with replacement glazing), painted stone architraves with keyblocks and sills.

Principal (south) elevation is asymmetrical with four-centred tudor carriage arch left surmounted by a window, central door with single window over; right side, two windows over. Door is square-headed painted timber fifteen-light door with nine-light overlight, painted stone architrave with keyblock.

Carriage arch to south and north elevations has painted chamfered stone surround, intrados springing section has wrought-iron eyes, stone bollard at left of south elevation, interior has flat concrete ceiling, square-headed entrance with lugged sandstone architrave to each side; that to right (formerly accessing 7 Castle Place) is blocked with red brick, that to left (formerly accessing 12 Castle Place) is blocked with cement render.

West elevation is entirely abutted by adjoining structure, exposed carriage arch section detailed as above.

Rear (north) elevation is abutted to left end by two-storey addition. Exposed section as carriage arch to right end, single window at ground floor left end and two windows are first floor level.

Addition is block-marked with cement-rendered quoins; north elevation is blank; left cheek is inaccessible; right cheek has single window to left end, single entrance to left end, square-headed replacement painted timber raised-and-fielded four-panelled door with white plate glass overlight, cement-rendered architrave with keyblock.

East elevation is abutted by return; exposed section is blank. Return east elevation has single diminished 4/4 sash window to first floor left end (ground floor is inaccessible); right cheek is inaccessible; left cheek is blank.

Setting:-
The gaol gatehouse is situated at the southeast corner of the complex, spanning Castle Place on an elevated site visible to south of Abbey Street. Attached to west is 7 Castle Place (HB11/09/004B).

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Basalt
Windows: Timber
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833 as part of the Gaol. The OS Map of 1905-6 captions the Gaol site as ‘disused’.

Valuation Revisions record the property together with the ‘County Gaol and yards’, it is vacant in 1909 and it is leased from Tyrone County Council. The building valuation is £12 in 1912 and the occupier is William Porter. In 1913 the occupier is Joseph Ballantine. It appears that the property is the former gatehouse of the older Gaol, of which little else survives.

Lt. William Lacey’s OS memoirs of 1834 describe the Gaol as follows; ‘…it consists of the old and new gaols. The former was built in 1796…and is now used as the women’s and debtors' prison. The new part was erected in 1823 of cut freestone in a semi circular form, divided into [?] wards, each having a separate yard for the different classes of prisoner. Both old and new gaols are three storeys high. In front of the old building an open space has lately been enclosed for the prisoners to work in and the whole building is surrounded with a high stone wall to prevent their escape. This establishment can accommodate 300 prisoners and is guarded by 14 keepers. (pg 104,105)

Rowan writes: ‘In Castle Street, west of the court house and churches and on the west bank of the river, is a little precinct entered through a pointed archway. This was the site of the old Prison, built in 1796 and rebuilt by John Hargrave in 1823. Various late Georgian terraced houses remain, together with the octagonal three-storey sandstone block of Hargrave’s Governor’s House. It has a gallery on the first floor and short wings on either side’ (Rowan, p.448-449).

Omagh Tourist Information Centre gives the following information: Omagh Gaol was originally located on the site of the present Assize Court House (HB11/13/001). The later gaol complex of buildings on the present site, was begun in the 1790s and opened in 1804 with the Gaol Governors’ house being built in 1823. The gaol closed in 1904. (Omagh Tourist Information Centre).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1-First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2-Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3-Third Edition OS Map (1905-6)
4. PRONI VAL/1/D/6/6 -Town Plan of Omagh (1824-1844)
5. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/17 -Town Plan of Omagh (1849-1869)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/36 -Valuation Revisions (1860-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/37-Valuation Revisions (1903-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/186/1/5 -Town Plan of Omagh (1882-1909)
9. PRONI VAL/12/F/7/7/1- Valuation Revisions (1930-35)
10. PRONI OS Memoirs. Vol 5.1834

Secondary Sources

1. Omagh Tourist Information Centre
2. Rowan, Alistair. “North West Ulster: Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone.” Buildings of Ireland Series. Dublin: Penguin Books, 1979.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

An attached multi-bay two-storey stone former gaol house, built 1804. This is part of the gatehouse (with HB11/09/004B), located at the southeast corner of the former gaol complex, which was begun in the 1790s, opened in 1804 and closed in 1904. The gatehouse retains its original carriage arch (now part of this property), which was the entrance to the complex and therefore the most visible element to the greater public. The plan, proportions, and ornamentation of the gatehouse all contribute to the stern and imposing composition of the complex that manifested the prison ideals of order and control. It is one of only a few surviving structures of the former gaol complex and is an important part of the group.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group - previously HB11/09/002B