Traymount

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey / three bay house in mature
setting on W side of Corcreechy Road. House has been practically rebuilt since a fire in the early 1990s.

Pitched natural slate roof aligned NW-SE. Rendered chimney on ridge between central and right bays. Wavy bargeboards with overhanging modern timber eaves which carry modern moulded rainwater goods. Walls are rubble stone with red brick dressings to windows. Façade faces SW. All windows are 6/6 sashes.

The left bay is completely abutted by a two storey return with roof as main block. Walls as main block. Its left cheek has a window at ground floor and a dormer above. Its front (SW) gable has a pair windows on each floor. Its right (SE) cheek has a pair of French windows at ground floor and a single window in wall head dormer above. The central bay has two windows at ground floor and two dormer windows above. The right bay has a window at left and a canted bay window at right. Bay window has a pitched natural slate roof and pair of windows on front and single window on each cheek. Over is a dormer window.

The right (SE) gable has a semi-elliptical headed archway at ground floor; infilled with glazed doors, sidelights and fanlight. Over is a large multi-glazed casement window.

Rear elevation is abutted at left end by two returns. The left one has a high hipped roof and the right one has a lower pitched roof. Both are detailed as main house. The central bay of rear elevation has two ground floor windows and a dormer window. The right bay at rear has a window and modern t+g sheeted door at ground floor and a dormer window at first floor.

The left gable of main house has 3/3 sash at ground floor left and a window in the gable above..

Setting.

Large mature garden is accessed by gates at S and another set at NE. The S gates are the main ones and serve the front driveway. They are wrought iron and hoop topped on slender cast iron posts, with matching convex screen.

On front lawn, aligned NE-SW is a late 18thC doorcase, almost completely obscured in ivy; it has a pair of large fluted columns and a segmental headed opening. This doorcase once served an earlier house, which was destroyed by fire in the 1920s.

There is a large yard to rear (NE) of house, accessed by a modern masonry arch with bell on the SE side. It is enclosed on three sides by attractive stone built outhouses. The SE and NW block are two storey and the NE block is single storey and linear. All have natural slate roofs and original openings with timber doors and windows. To centre of yard is a large lawn with mature trees.

Historical information

It is known that a John Johnston purchased the townland of Lisserboy in 1702 and set about erecting ‘Tremont’. In 1705, he donated ground for the nearby Donaghmore Presbyterian Church and became its first minister. He died in 1765.

The present owner believes that ‘Tremont’, the earlier house (of which only the doorcase survives), was a sister to Derrymore House and was a similar thatched ‘cottage orne’. It is shown, along with the outbuildings, on the 1834 OS 6" map as 'Traymount' and described in the 1836 Valuation book as measuring 70ft x 26ft x 10ft, with various returns. Similar dimensions are given in the 1862 Valuation and there is no subsequent change to its £20 valuation. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in the 1920s and the occupant (a Mrs Robinson) converted an outbuilding (probably of early 19th C date) into the present house. This house was itself gutted by fire in the early 1990s and lay derelict until refurbished in 1995. The original HMBB first survey slide shows it in its derelict state. Walls are cement rendered and dormers are flat headed. A porch abuts the central bay of the façade. Windows boarded up.

Primary sources:
1. OS 6" map, 1834, Co Down sheet 41 (PRONI OS 6/3/41/1).
2. First Valuation, 1836 (PRONI VAL 1B/389, p.334).
3. OS 6" map, 1859, Co Down sheet 46 (PRONI OS 6/3/41/2).
4. Second Valuation, 1862 (PRONI VAL 2B/3/69E, p.334).
5. Information from owner in February 2000.
6. HMBB first survey slide.

Secondary sources:
1. J. Davison Cowan, ‘An ancient Irish Parish, that of Donaghmore’, London 1914.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This much rebuilt house, a former outbuilding, replaced a much earlier house which burnt down in the 1920s.