Tower

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-stage rubble stone folly, built c.1800, located on Stramore Road, north-west of Gilford village, incorporated to the boundary walling to Stramore House (HB17/01/037A). Square on plan.

No roof. Walling is random rubble stone, with fieldstone quoins to lower reaches and some snecking, and vestiges of lime render. Pointed-arched lancet window openings having remains of timber frames; no sills. Pointed-arched arrow loops and roundels to upper stage.

Each elevation has a single opening to each stage, centrally placed. Walls rise to parapet stage which has a single Irish crenellation set to a slightly breakfront panel at centre, flanked by decorative corner turrets in brick, each slightly overhanging and having three vertical rectangular apertures to each face. Top stage has three brick-lined roundels to each face, beneath parapet level. Pointed arched entrance opening to SE face, no door.

Setting:
The folly is set at a bend on a narrow country road, and is abutted to NW and SE by a tall rubble stone boundary wall. The house is located a short distance to SW, set in extensive lawned
setting with mature trees.

Roof: None
Walling: Rubble stone
Windows:Pointed arched openings
RWG: None

Historical information

The tower is shown, uncaptioned, on the first edition OS map of 1834, to the north east of Stramore House on the edge of the demesne and close to the roadside, forming a prominent feature which deflects the course of the road. On the third edition of 1901-2 it is depicted as roofless and on the 1960/70s edition the building is captioned ‘T[o]w[e]r’.

The structure is listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) as a ‘castle or square tower’ 16½ feet by 16½ and evaluated as ‘old but in repair’. The tower is part of the Stramore House demesne and belonged to the prominent linen manufacturing family the Nicholsons, who may also have been the builders. No further reference is made to the building in valuation records.

The tower is said to have been built by John Nicholson as a barracks and watch tower for Orangemen who were recruited by the local landed gentry on behalf of the government to serve as yeomanry during the 1798 rebellion. A much smaller tower at Banford House (HB17/02/018, still present) was built by John Nicholson’s brother, Robert Jaffrey Nicholson. John and Robert Nicholson were both involved with the Bann infantry. (Magennnis; Rankin )

Although they were part of the Richardsons’ extended family, the Nicholsons did not inherit the Stramore estate from the Richardsons until 1801, and it may be that the tower was constructed sometime after the 1798 rebellion.

The Tower is in the same ownership as Stramore House.

References:
Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/26 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)

Secondary Sources
1. Howley, J “The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland” New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993
2. Magennis, P “Banbridge, An Illustrated History and Companion” Donaghadee, Cottage Publications, 1996
3. Rankin, K “The Linen Houses of the Bann Valley, The story of their families” Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A rubble stone folly in the form of a two-stage crenellated stone tower, built c.1800 and detailed with roundels and Gothic arched windows. The tower is located on the boundary of the grounds of Stramore House (HB17/01/037A), forming a prominent and distinctive feature. Although it may have been constructed for other purposes, the detailing is representative of the fashion for romantic landscape features and resurgence of interest in the Gothic style which was prevalent in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.