Gatelodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-bay one-and-a-half-storey gate lodge built c.1850 to designs by William Farrell; located to the west side of Donaghanie Road, Omagh; located to the east of and built concurrently with the main hospital complex (HB11/15/004A). L-plan facing north with single-storey porch at internal angle; series of lean-to extensions at rear.

Roofs are pitched natural slate, blue/black clay ridge tiles; lead valleys; saddleback stone verges with projecting kneeler blocks supported on moulded corbels to ends; u-profile cast-iron rainwater goods supported on corbelled eaves course; cast-iron hoppers; walls are roughly coursed squared-and-snecked rubble with droved finish stepped sandstone quoins and projecting chamfered plinth. Windows are multi-pane square-headed metal casements within stepped chamfered sandstone surrounds and flush splayed cills, unless otherwise stated.

Principal (north) elevation faces north with projecting gabled bay at left containing single window at each floor, (diminished at first floor); square-headed loophole to apex; right bay contains single window with stone voussoirs over. Internal angle is abutted by single-storey porch with pitched natural slate roof.

Left (east) elevation is blank.

Rear (south) elevation is abutted by series of four lean-to extensions, exposed section (gable) contains single window at first floor with yellow brick stepped surround and square-headed loophole to apex.

Right (west) gable contains window at each floor; that at first floor diminished.

Single-storey porch has pitched natural slate roof detailed as main block; walls are coursed dressed sandstone; windows as main block; north gable contains segmental-arched-headed opening containing segmental-arched-headed timber sheeted door with weatherboards, accessed by single masonry step; right cheek contains single window.

Rear extensions all have felt lean-to roofs; walls are cement rendered; windows are replacement timber casements. Three extensions at left are contained within enclosed yard, bound by random rubble wall with segmental coping; the fourth (left) extension (boiler house) remains outside the enclosed yard and appears to be more recently constructed.

Setting:-
Set within the grounds of Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital (HB11/15/004A); situated east of the main hospital block and north of the protestant church (HB11/15/004D). Bound by Donaghanie Road at east and hospital entrance with car parking at north.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Sandstone
Windows: Metal casements
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Gate Lodge at Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital first appears on the second edition of the OS Map (1854) in the grounds of the large hospital complex. It is likely that the lodge was constructed concurrently with the main hospital block (1847-1853) to designs by the same architect, William Farrell. Similarly, the stone is likely to be the same as that used on the main buildings, which was transported by horse and cart from a quarry at Lack. (McKinley, p.64)

The hospital, then called the “Omagh District Lunatic Asylum,” was part of “the second series of asylums erected by the Irish Board of Works at a cost of £35,000.” (Rowan, p.447). According to McKinley the hospital was designed for 300 patients and eventually cost £41,407 12s 2d. Farrell’s Elizabethan-style treatment of the hospital main block, which is shared with the Picturesque-in-style gate lodge, was dictated by the Board of Works in that “asylums were to be of pleasing designs, Gothic in style… [and] not like jails or workhouses”.(McKinley p.64).

The hospital was enlarged several times and eventually had over 1,000 patients (McKinley p.71). The nearby Protestant Church of the hospital was built between 1903 and 1904 and therefore the gate lodge appears isolated in historic photos before then, such as a frontal view of the hospital main block dated 1880 (McKinley p.72).

In 1921, the Residential Medical Superintendent records that “an attendant’s wife took charge of the Gate Lodge for £10 per year with light, fuel and house free.” During partition in 1922, all staff were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown, which led to some dismissals. The woman took the oath because by 1924 her “pay had soared as she was now getting £15 per annum for the gate lodge plus free fuel and light. The married attendants got 10 [shillings] yearly towards bog rent and free patient labour for securing their turf….” (McKinley p.75).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/6/35/1-3 -First Edition OS Map (1906)
2. PRONI OS/6/6/35/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1854)
3. PRONI OS/6/6/35/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1906)
4. PRONI VAL/1/A/6/35 -Townland Valuation Map(1828-40)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/645A&B -Townland Valuation Records (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/A/6/35 -Griffith’s Valuation Map (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/6/47A - Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/41/26A-F -Annual Revision Records (1860-1923)

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

2. McKinley, Robert. “Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital: A Chronological History” in Haldane Mitchell, ed. “Images of Omagh and District.” Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999, pp64-83.
3. Mitchell, Haldane, Ed. “Images of Omagh and District.” Vol. 7. Omagh: Rotary Club of Omagh, 1999.
4. 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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A two-bay one-and-a-half-storey gate lodge built c.1850 to designs by William Farrell. Located to the east of and built concurrently with the main hospital building (HB11/15/004A). Although modernised, the plan, layout, exterior proportions and characteristics remain intact. The gate lodge had an important role in the history of the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital; it has value as one of a group of buildings on the site (HB11/15/004A-F) including the hospital building (HB11/15/004A), Catholic Church (HB11/15/004C) and Protestant Church (HB11/15/004D). The complex represents a significant phase in the history of such institutions.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group - previously HB11/15/007