Former school house adjacent to Tyrone's Ditches Presbyterian Church Lisnagree Poyntzpass Co. Armagh BT35 6RX

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey former school building with L-shaped plan-form in random coursed local stone with red brick dressings, first constructed in 1828, then rebuilt/remodelled c1850, located to the immediate W of Tyrone’s Ditches Presbyterian Secession Church, at Lisnagree, approx 4Km SW of Poyntzpass, a small village 14Km N of Newry, Co Down.

Natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, hipped to NE end, and pitched at SW end. All window openings now boarded with sheeted timber. Replacement sheeted timber doors. Single brick chimney stack to approx centre of plan.
Red brick dressings and squared granite cills to all openings.

NE Elevation
Four bay with a door opening to each side (opening on right side is bricked up), and two window openings to centre.
Two stone steps up to door opening on left side. Placement for datestone visible, but datestone not extant.
Large square quoin stones to each edge.

SE elevation
Longer four bay façade facing onto Tyrone’s Ditches Road towards church. With a door opening on left side, a window and door opening to middle and a window opening on right side. Large square quoin stones to each edge. Pitched roof to left side, and hipped to right side. Redbrick chimney located to right side of door on left.

SW elevation
Blind gable with pitched roof.

NW elevation
Advanced section on left side with hipped roof. Single window opening to centre.
Right side not seen at time of survey due to vegetation.

Materials:
Windows – 2/2 timber sliding sash with single glazing (visible from interior, boarded over on exterior)
Walls – random coursed rock faced stone with red brick dressings
Roof – natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, hipped and pitched
RWGs – none

Setting
Located on the side of the road, facing Tyrone’s Ditches Presbyterian Secession Church, in a rural
setting, surrounded by agricultural land. NE façade faces onto a wider portion of road used for car parking.

Historical information

Tyrone’s Ditches schoolhouse was first constructed, according to the OS Memoirs, in 1828, in connection with the nearby Tyrone’s Ditches seceding meeting house. Rebuilding/remodelling of the schoolhouse took place c1850 and it remained in use as a school until at least the early 1880s, also playing an important role as a local meeting place. In around 1900 the schoolhouse was converted into a dwelling house and forge.

A seceding congregation (a so-called ‘anti-Burgher’ cause), initially named ‘Drumbanagher’, was established around 1762 on estates belonging to the Close family of Drumbanagher House. The congregation at Lisnagree was named ‘Tyrone’s Ditches’ from 1765, which is also the date recorded in OS Memoirs for the construction of the meeting house, noted to have a capacity of 400 worshippers (Donnelly gives a date of 1797 for the current church building). The Tyrone’s ditches referred to in the name of meeting house and school is a defensive trench running alongside the location of the schoolhouse to the W and said to have been cut by Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone during the Nine Years War (1594-1603) (ARM018:031, Murphy).

OS Memoirs dates the establishment of the school at Lisnagree to 1828 and states that at the time of the Memoirs (1835), the school had 50 pupils in total, comprised of: 40 Protestants, 10 Catholics, 30 males and 20 females. The school received financial support from the Hibernian Society (£7) and 1d a week from the scholars.

The first edition OS map of 1835 depicts the ‘Seceding Meeting Ho[use] and also captions the ‘School Ho[use]’ to the W of the meeting house. However, the contemporary Townland Valuation (c1836) does not include any details of the schoolhouse. The footprint of the schoolhouse changed considerably between 1st (1835) and 2nd (1860) editions and it appears likely that the school was at the least extended, but may have been completely rebuilt during this period.

By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1863), the schoolhouse is included with the valuation of the presbyterian church and graveyard, giving a total valuation of £20, a valuation that is maintained throughout records until 1929.

No educational records of the school appear to have survived but a government educational census was carried out in Ireland in 1868, which includes details of Tyrone’s Ditches school. The census was carried out on Thursday 25th June and there were found to be 23 children present, 13 boys and 10 girls, 21 of whom were Presbyterians and two from the Church of Ireland. The school was not a National school and continued at this time to be connected with the neighbouring seceding church (Royal Commission 1871).

The schoolhouse is situated beside an open space, and the school has historically provided a meeting place for local gatherings. In 1881, a dispute between the landlord, Maxwell Close, MP for County Armagh, and his tenants led to a meeting of ‘a considerable number’ of Close’s tenants at the schoolhouse which was said to be ‘a very central point’ within the Close estates. The landlord’s negative reply to a request for reduction of rents was to be considered at a further meeting in the schoolhouse, but this was cancelled due to fears of unrest and indeed a disturbance occurred at the school on the night of the cancelled meeting which led to the smashing of the schoolhouse windows (Newry Reporter).

The schoolhouse is no longer identified as a school on the 1906 OS map and it appears that the school was closed sometime between 1881 and 1906 (changes to exempted buildings are often not recorded in valuation books). By 1911, William Graham, blacksmith, was resident in the building, which had been converted into a dwelling and forge. Newly-married Graham, lived with his County Antrim wife at the house, which had a stable, fowl house and forge as outbuildings. The dwelling house comprised three rooms internally. Graham had advertised for an apprentice to the blacksmith trade in 1909 (Belfast Telegraph).

‘Billy’ Graham had served his apprenticeship with blacksmith Bob Loughlin of Poyntzpass and had bid for the old schoolhouse when it came up for sale at auction. Billy was outbid but the successful bidder, a man named Lundy, made the schoolhouse over to Graham and Billy paid him back over the ensuing years. Billy raised a large family of seven daughters in the converted house. Dympna Murphy’s article ‘Gates and Gatemakers’ (although Billy Graham did not specialise in gates) provides an insight into Billy’s personality and sense of humour (Murphy).

The general revaluation of the 1930s records the former school as a house, forge, outbuildings and garden leased from the nearby presbyterian church and valued at £3. In 1933 the dwelling comprised a kitchen and bedroom with cement floors and boarded ceilings. The forge had a plain, earthen floor with an ‘open roof’. The valuer’s plan of the building shows that the forge, consisting of a felt roof supported by posts, was contained within the re-entrant angle between the dwelling and its return. The plan also shows that the return to the dwelling house contained a stable for the forge (G04) and a separate stable used by the church (G05). Billy Graham remained resident in Lisnagree until at least 1945 (Portadown News).

Field inspection of the former school shows evidence of several minor changes during the lifetime of the building: one of the entrance doorways, likely providing separate entrances for boys and girls, was blocked up when the building was converted. The chimney providing an outlet for the two fireplaces within the dwelling house is no longer present. Joist holes can be seen within the stable at G04 consistent with a former hay loft.

The former school is currently (2023) unoccupied.

References:
Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/2/18/1 First edition Six Inch OS map (1835)
2. Day, A and McWilliams, P (eds) (1990) Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Vol 1 Parishes of County Armagh 1835-8 Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University
3. PRONI VAL/1/B/214 Townland Valuation, Parish of Ballymore (c1836)
4. PRONI OS/6/2/18/2 Second edition Six Inch OS map (1861)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/32E Griffith’s Valuation, Barony of Orior Lower (1863)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/24A-D Annual Revisions Electoral Division of Tullyhappy (1864-1929)
7. Royal Commission on Nature and Extent of Instruction by Institutions in Ireland for Elementary or Primary Education, and Working of System of National Education, Volume VI, Educational Census (1871). Dublin: HMSO
8. Newry Reporter, 15th January 1881
9. PRONI OS/6/2/18/3 Third edition Six Inch OS map (1906)
10. Belfast Telegraph, 16th September 1909
11. Portadown News, 17th February 1945
12. PRONI OS/6/2/18/4 Fourth edition Six Inch OS map (1955)
13. Census of Ireland 1911 online
14. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/13 First General Revaluation ED Tullyhappy (1936-1957)
15. PRONI VAL/3/D/2/6/N/4 Valuer’s notebook TL Lisnagree (1933-57)
16. Large scale OS maps 1906, 1955, 1972 (https://shop.centremapslive.co.uk/)

Secondary Sources:
17. Donnelly, C (2004) ‘Masshouses and Meetinghouses: The Archaeology of the Penal Laws in Early Modern Ireland’ International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol8, No 2, pp.119-132
18. General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (1982) A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982. Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland
19. Kirkpatrick, L (2007) Presbyterians in Ireland: An Illustrated History. Booklink.
20. Murphy, Ciara (2013) ‘Local Aspects of the Plantation of Ulster’ “Before I Forget…”: Journal of the Poyntzpass and District Local History Society, No 12, pp.41-46
21. Murphy, Dympna (1987). ‘Gates and Gatemakers.’ “Before I Forget…”: Journal of the Poyntzpass and District Local History Society, No 1, pp.15–26.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached, two-bay, single-storey former schoolhouse first constructed in 1828, then rebuilt/remodelled c1850, located to the immediate W of Tyrone’s Ditches Presbyterian Church, at Lisnagree, approx 4Km SW of Poyntzpass, Co Armagh.
In use as a school until at least the early 1880s, the schoolhouse played an important role as a local meeting place. In around 1900 the schoolhouse was converted into a dwelling house and forge. The diminutive, roadside building retains much authenticity with its random-coursed local stone, red brick dressings, historic planform and interior detailing. It is a good example of a small former rural schoolhouse of local and social interest contributing positively with the adjacent Tyrone's Ditches Presbyterian Church forming a neat ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a rural setting.