20 Drumnascamph Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two storey three-bay former manse, built c.1878, located in Drumnascamph Td, north of The Point at Lawrencetown. Rectangular plan with rear extension and converted loft.

Hipped natural slate roof, with modern rooflights. Angled clay ridge tiles; twinned central rendered chimneystacks with moulded caps; ogee gutters on overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render with stepped quoins. Windows are generally 6/6 timber sliding sashes with painted masonry sills and plain reveals.

Symmetrical principal elevation faces south, and is three openings wide to each floor arranged about a central doorcase. The original rectangular opening has been altered. It is now elliptical arched with spiderweb fanlight and replacement door.

West elevation not inspected.

Rear elevation not inspected in detail. Completely abutted by catslide extension with central gabled return.

East elevation is two windows wide, and is extended to right by a rear extension.

Setting:
The building is in a garden, with outbuilding to rear. The outbuilding is detailed as the house, having painted rendered walling. Circular tarmac drive to tarmac forecourt, accessed at south via a pair of cast iron gates with spear-headed finials supported on rendered square piers with pointed stone caps, flanked by set back entrance walls. Lawns to front. Secondary entrance to rear. Rural
setting.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Smooth render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current building was constructed as a manse in 1878 on the site of an earlier manse dating from c.1830, part of a tradition that extends back to the earliest days of Presbyterian settlement in Ulster in the seventeenth century.

A Presbyterian congregation has existed at Tullylish since 1670 and the aftermath of the Cromwellian wars, but the continuous period of appointment to the Tullylish charge did not start until 1703. An early minister to the charge, Samuel Morrell, was shot and killed in the agrarian unrest of the early 1770s. (Kirkpatrick) In the mid to late eighteenth century no manse existed at Tullylish, it being usual among other congregations for a minister to be paid a salary of £25-30 per annum together with 20 barrels of corn and the use of a small farm. The manse at Tullylish, built c1830, is the first to be noted in association with Tullylish congregation. (Kirkpatrick; Tullylish Presbyterian Church)

The Townland Valuation of 1828-40 describes the earlier building on the site, shown on the first edition OS map of 1833, as ‘not completely finished’ suggesting it was newly built at this time. Dimensions are given for a house on an elongated rectangular plan with outbuildings, both thatched and slated. The valuation is £10 and the occupier is Rev John Johnston, minister from 1811 to 1858. Lewis (1837) records the name of Rev Johnston’s house as ‘Fannymount’.

The Rev Johnston was a loving, yet strict father and much of his parenting style and the character of family life at the manse is revealed in the biography of his son the Rev William Johnston. (Prenter) Johnston was also a noted evangelical and open-air preacher who was elected moderator of the General Assembly in 1858, and was instrumental in igniting the 1859 Revival. (Kirkpatrick) The second edition OS map shows the earlier building, now captioned ‘Tullylish Manse’ in a tree-lined setting with an orchard close by. Griffith’s Valuation lists the occupier as James Cargin, minister from 1862 to 1872, and the valuation as £14. Cargin’s successor from 1874 to 1911 was Rev John Morison who rebuilt the manse in 1878, leading to a rise in valuation to £16 in 1879.

John Morison, from County Monaghan, had a large family of five children and the manse was rebuilt as his family began to grow. He was resident at the time of the 1901 and 1911 censuses and his children are now grown up, his older two daughters undergraduates at the Royal University of Ireland, which had become in 1882 the first university in Ireland to grant degrees to women on a par with those granted to men. (Luddy) The elder son was working as an apprentice manager in a weaving factory while the two younger children are scholars. The house was designated first-class and had 11 rooms. By 1911, the year that Morison died, he was a widower, and two of his daughters and his elder son, now working as a factory manager, remain at home. The family now has a staff of two, a ‘lady housekeeper’ and a general domestic. The manse underwent extensive ‘reconstructional’ work c.1900 (Tullylish Presbyterian Church).

After Morison’s death the manse passed to his successors, John Kyle in 1913 and John Knowles in 1924. Rev John Knox Ferguson Watson (minister from 1958-1971) undertook a refurbishment of the exterior of the manse and laid a tarmac drive, much of the labour was from the voluntary contribution of members of the congregation. (History of Congregations; Tullylish Presbyterian Church) The building served as the manse until at least 1970 but in recent years has passed out of Presbyterian church hands and is in use as a private dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map (1833)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map (1860)
3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map (1903-4)
4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map (1903-20)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/350 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/12/F/4/2/9 Annual Revisions (1930-35)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/2 First General Revaluation (1936-57)

Secondary Sources

1. “A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at
www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2. Kirkpatrick, L “Presbyterians in Ireland” Booklink, 2006
3. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co.,
1837.
4. Luddy, M “Women in Ireland, 1800-1918: a documentary history” Cork University Press, 1995
5. Prenter, S “Life and labours of the Rev William Johnston DD Belfast” 1895
6. “Tullylish Presbyterian Church 1670-1970”, Banbridge: Review Press, 1970

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A late-nineteenth century two-storey three-bay former manse, composed on symmetrical plan with central entrance. The original plan form, ornamentation and detailing survive, although somewhat compromised by alterations to the principal entrance. The setting survives and the house is a good example of the type. Its former use as a manse is also of note.