Aghaderg Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical three-bay two-storey detached house, predating 1833 and in use as a manse from 1880. Located east of Scarva Street in the centre of Loughbrickland village. Rectangular on plan with two-storey return, two-storey extension and single-storey flat-roof addition to rear; single-storey modern extension to south.

Hipped natural slate roof with leaded ridge and hips; rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render. Windows are tripartite double-hung timber sliding sash with projecting granite sills unless otherwise stated.

The principal elevation faces south-west and is three openings wide to each floor. To centre at ground floor is a six raised-and-pointed panelled timber door with brass door furniture surmounted by a cast-iron spider-web fanlight; fronted by a lattice porch with gabled roof.

The north-west gable has a 2/2 timber casement window to first floor left.

The north-east (rear) elevation is abutted at left by the two-storey return (likely early part of the house), with two-storey flat-roof extension to re-entrant angle; abutted to north by the single-storey flat-roof addition. Return has a pitched roof and clipped verges with a rendered chimneystack to gable; 1/1 paired window to first floor at gable; north elevation with window at first and ground floor. South elevation has uPVC doors to right and a canted bay window to left. Two-storey extension is three windows wide to first floor; abutted at right by the single-storey addition with timber casement window and a modern panelled-and-glazed timber door.

The south-east gable has a timber casement window to first floor left; abutted at ground floor by the modern extension.

Setting

Set back from the road behind roughcast rendered boundary wall and piers with masonry caps. Directly to front of house is a low smooth rendered wall with masonry coping topped by metal railings; to centre are two slender granite gate piers with pointed caps supporting a wrought iron gate. To north-west is vehicular access to rear yard via electronic cast-iron gates (original) on smooth rendered gate piers with pointed caps. Further to the north-west is No. 47 Scarva Street which was previously the gatelodge to Aghaderg Lodge but is now much altered and separated from the site. Rear yard has garage to north and stable block to southeast; enclosed to east by rubble stone wall with modern farm gate leading to paddock (former kitchen garden). Paved and shrubbed to front of house with walled garden to south accessed via a gothic arch with metal latch gate (also to east wall leading to paddock).

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The original house on the site dates from c.1770 and primary evidence suggests that it was built by Edward Trevor in his role as land agent to absentee landlord Charles Whyte, the Whyte family later constructing Loughbrickland House to the north. In its early years the current house was situated on a large plot with a substantial stable block to the north (now gone) and a gate lodge, which is still present (No.47), at the head of a driveway leading to the rear of the building. Valuation records suggest that the house and return have been reversed, and that the earliest part of the building is the portion that now forms the rear return.

A surviving lease between Charles Whyte, local landowner and Edward Trevor, his land agent, shows that Trevor obtained a tenement in Loughbrickland in 1770 which passed to Andrew Marcus Trevor in 1790 and Helen Trevor in 1853; names which are listed as occupiers of the house in nineteenth-century valuation records. (PRONI)

The house is first shown in identifiable form on an estate map of 1819 where it is noted to be the property of Major Trevor (for ever) ‘cabbin, gardens &c’. On the map the footprint is similar to that of today with a rectangular return partially abutting the main house. The only major change to the site in the intervening years has been the loss of a range of outbuildings to the north of the house which is shown on OS maps including the fourth edition of 1903-18. Major Trevor was a member of the prominent Trevor family. Marcus Trevor, later Viscount Dungannon, had married the daughter of Marmaduke Whitechurch who was originally granted the lands around Loughbrickland by Queen Elizabeth I in 1585. (PRONI)

The Townland Valuation notes that there is a garden of 252 feet by 22 feet ‘in front of’ the house, which suggests that in the 1830s the main part of the house faced southwards. The first edition OS map of 1833 shows the main dwelling house abutting a narrow return to the rear. By the second edition of 1859, the rear return has been extended and it can be surmised that the house and return were reversed c.1840, so that the house faced the road.

The Townland Valuation lists the house, offices and yard at £16 and they are the property of Andrew Trevor. The dimensions given are for a 2-storey house (44.6x24x18.6) with two returns measuring 31x16.6x13 and 29x19x18.6 respectively. Also listed is a flower garden (94x50), a vegetable plot (465x160) and a field (480x138). Further along the road is a gate house to the residence measuring (27x24x8) and a second small field (150x156).

The house is listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as the property of John J Whyte, leased to Helen Trevor. It is a house, office and over 20 acres of land, with buildings valued at £20. When Helen Trevor died in 1866 the house passed to Miss Harriett Ansell, a relative of the Trevors (1870) (United Service Journal) and then William Simpson (1877). In 1880 the house was taken over as the Presbyterian manse by the Reverend Alexander Cockburn Buchanan. The house remained the manse until 1955 when a new red-brick building was constructed beside it.

The Presbyterian church in Loughbrickland was founded in 1610 by Scottish settlers on a site near the far end of Loughbrickland Lake, known locally as ‘The Far Meetin’. The current house was purchased from Andrew Ansell for £320. (Magennis)

At the time of the 1901 census, Derry-born Rev Buchanan lived with his wife and adult son. The house had 21 rooms and was of the first class. The next minister to occupy the house was Andrew Boyd but the manse could not be identified in the 1911 census, and was probably vacant at the time. Boyd was followed by Thomas Shaw Reid (1911-1948), who was also installed as minister of Scarva in 1927, making this a two-point charge. (History of Congregations) The house is now known as Aghaderg Lodge.

At the time of the First General Revaluation in the 1930s the Rev Thomas Shaw Reid leased the house, office and garden from the Trustees of Loughbrickland Presbyterian church. The house was rent free to the minister and was revalued at £37. The accommodation comprised three receptions, four bedrooms, a kitchen, pantry, scullery, nursery and two boxrooms, and a bathroom with hot and cold water and a separate WC. The house had electric light, but water was obtained from a pump. The valuer commented that the house was in ‘fair repair’ but the rear part of the roof was in bad condition. A plan and dimensions are given for the house and stable block, there is also a lavatory to the rear of the house, over four acres of land, later deleted, and the gate house now measuring 26x24x12. In 1937 the valuation was reduced as it was thought too high. From 1953 the dwelling house was let to Eleanor McElroy for £1.5s per week free of taxes and later to Liam Morton (n.d.). By 1953 the outbuildings had been partly demolished to make way for the new manse.

The house continues in use as a dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/34/1 First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/34/2 Second Edition OS map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/34/3 Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
4. PRONI OS/6/3/34/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/351 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/18A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/2 First General Revaluation (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/H/2 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
10. PRONI D2918/1/1/45 Lease 1770
11. PRONI D2918/1/1/80 Lease 1790
12. PRONI D2918/1/1/170 Lease 1831
13. PRONI D2918/1/1/186 Lease 1853
14. PRONI D2918 Papers of the Whyte family
15. United Service Journal 1834

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. Magennis, P “Loughbrickland Historic Trail” 2008

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Aghaderg Lodge is a symmetrical three-bay two-storey detached house, predating 1833 and used as a manse from 1880 into the early 20th century. In the centre of Loughbrickland village. Well-proportioned, with architectural detailing largely intact, the building is a relatively well-preserved Georgian house with some early fabric and evidence of later remodelling. The walled garden and former kitchen garden add to the interest of the site and the house is a good and relatively unaltered example of the type.