Muckamore House, Oldstone Road, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim

Muckamore House is a substantial two-storey late Victorian country house in a distinct though plain Italianate style, built around 1876 for Samuel Thompson, apparently to the designs of architect W.H. Lynn. Unsigned and undated drawings in Lynn's hand survive for a proposed larger house on the same site in the same style, referred to as Muckamore Abbey, and in 1876 Thompson made application to the Board of Works for the erection of a mansion. The house is laid out on an asymmetrical plan with the main entrance facing north.

EXTERIOR

The north (entrance) elevation is five windows wide at first floor level, with the main plane set back from the third to fifth openings from the left at first floor; the ground floor has a corresponding set-back from the third window and incorporates a projecting porch. Roofs are of Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with overhanging eaves on a bracketed cornice. Walls are of smooth cement render (stucco), with a projecting moulded plinth; the ground floor has channelled rustication and the first floor smooth render, with moulded string courses that also form the cills to both storeys.

Ground floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, one-over-one, with horns, set in rusticated reveals. First floor windows are similarly sashed but segmental-headed, set within segmental arched openings with chamfered reveals and moulded surrounds with keystones. Moulded cast iron gutters are fitted with rectangular cast iron downpipes secured by trefoil brackets, with moulded hoppers. Chimneys are smooth cement rendered with moulded cornices and caps.

The porch is single-storey with rusticated square piers and pilasters and a three-light rectangular timber glazed screen to one side, with moulded mullions and transom. It is surmounted by an open-work balustrade on three sides, returning to the east over the ground floor bay to the left. Four granolithic steps with moulded nosings now have a concrete ramp cut through them leading to the front entrance at the rear of the open porch. The porch ceiling is stuccoed with a moulded cornice; the side wall facing the glazed screen is rusticated to match the exterior. The main entrance consists of a large nine-panel timber door, stained and varnished, set between plain pilasters flanked by glazed sidelights and panels with a plain fanlight over. Modern tubular steel handrails have been fixed to each side of the ramp, attached to the door frame.

Extending to the left of the main block and set back from it is a lower two-storey wing, four windows wide to each floor, with walling and windows similar to the main block, except that the first floor surrounds are not moulded.

The east elevation is essentially symmetrical, three windows wide at first floor between projecting chimney stacks, but with the lower two-storey wing projecting from it on the right-hand side. The bracketed cornice is continuous across this elevation; the main projecting string course from the front and rear elevations returns at each side to meet the chimney stacks; channelled rustications from front and rear also return for a short length. First floor windows are rectangular timber sashes set in continuous moulded surrounds. The ground floor is currently visible only from within the courtyard: to the left is a rectangular doorway with a rectangular flush timber door set in a deep recess, approached by five concrete steps; to the right is a large rectangular timber sliding sash window, vertically hung, six-over-six, with horns, plain reveals, and a projecting concrete cill. A crude covered way of corrugated iron on tubular steel supports has been constructed across the ground floor.

The east gable of the service wing has smooth cement render to the first floor and a dry dash finish of mixed stone chippings to the ground floor. The hipped roof is slated as before, with a later modern fire escape door breaking up through the eaves line in a small, crudely constructed gable; the door is a modern glazed two-panel timber. There is one small first floor window, a rectangular timber sliding sash, three-over-three, with horns, with a recessed cill; and one ground floor window of modern rectangular two-light timber casements with a plain fanlight, set in plain reveals with a projecting rendered cill, partly damaged to reveal the brickwork carcass beneath. A large metal fire escape stair rises from the first floor. Cast iron gutter behind moulded cornice, with a rectangular cast iron downpipe fixed by trefoil brackets.

The south side of the service wing is two storeys laid out on an L-plan, with a later single-storey lean-to infill block of one storey in front. Walling is smooth cement render except for a dry dash finish to the ground floor of the projecting end bay. The roof is slated as before, with a hidden gutter behind a moulded cornice and circular cast iron downpipes. First floor windows on the main wall of the return are sashed, three-over-three, with horns; the first floor window in the end bay is one-over-one, with horns; the two ground floor windows in the infill block are large, sashed, six-over-six, with horns. The end bay has a plain rectangular flush door; the infill block has a glazed and panelled door with two-pane sidelights and a two-pane fanlight.

The rear elevation of the main block is two storeys with similar detailing and materials to the entrance front. It contains a central two-storey canted bay with one window to each storey in each face. To the left of the bay are two ground floor windows and one first floor window, sashed and detailed as the front elevation. To the right of the bay are two ground floor windows with two first floor windows above in line; the ground floor windows match those elsewhere, but the first floor windows are rectangular timber sashes, one-over-one, with horns, set in segmental arched openings with segmental recessed stuccoed panels above what appear to be moulded timber window heads. Extending to the right is the long screen wall of the yard to the east, linked to the main block by a modern tongued-and-grooved door screen. There is a circular section cast iron downpipe and soil pipe, two other modern soil pipes wrapped in insulating material, and a cast iron downpipe left incomplete and finished in PVC.

The west elevation is of similar architectural character to the front, with similar materials and detailing: four windows to the ground floor and four to the first floor, asymmetrically arranged, all timber sashed as per the entrance elevation.

OUTBUILDINGS AND STABLE YARD

Extending to the east from the end of the service wing is a screen wall of rendered rubble with a roughcast finish, containing a pair of smooth cement rendered square piers, now missing their gates, leading into the former stable yard. To the east of the gateway is the gabled end of a two-storey block: roughly coursed basalt rubble with handmade red brick quoins and block dressings to two windows, one on each floor, with projecting concrete cills and a platband at first floor level. The upper opening contains timber louvres; the lower is a rectangular timber sliding sash, three-over-three, with horns, with iron bars affixed. Eaves oversail with timber barge boards on shaped brackets.

The east elevation of this two-storey block has similar walling. The ground floor to the right contains a later insertion with machine-made red brick dressings, a concrete lintel, and metal casements; to the left of this is a rectangular ledged timber door set in a segmental brick archway; further left is a small window with brick surrounds, a rectangular timber sliding sash, two-over-two, with horns; further left still is a poor-quality lean-to outside toilet; and at the extreme left is a crude rectangular opening blocked with wood and dressed in cement. Across the upper level are small rectangular openings containing timber louvres; the entire elevation is difficult to view owing to overgrowth. The roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with oversailing eaves and timber barge boards. A large heating flue emerges from the base of the east wall.

The south gable end is smooth cement rendered with a rendered platband at first floor level and timber barge boards on shaped brackets. There are two ground floor windows — rectangular timber sliding sashes, two-over-two, with horns, with iron bars affixed — and one first floor opening containing timber louvres. To the left of the south gable is the smooth cement rendered, lined-and-blocked rear wall of a single-storey gabled block within the stable yard, with its roof slated as before and the gable end to the west having oversailing eaves with timber barge boards on shaped brackets. Set back to the left of this single-storey block is a screen wall to the yard, smooth cement rendered, partly coped with black ridge tiles and partly with concrete coping, with three rows of pipe ducting attached.

Within the stable yard the ground surface is loose black stone chippings on hardcore. The east side is occupied by a gabled two-storey block with a roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, black ridge tiles, and cast iron gutters and downpipes in poor condition. Walling is basalt rubble with red brick dressings to openings. Openings include a new doorway to the left with a flush timber door and plain fanlight set in modern pressed bricks; a ground floor window, a rectangular timber sliding sash, two-over-two, with horns, set in an original brick surround; and a large rectangular opening with timber boxing to a beam supported on chamfered timber struts, leading into a recessed lobby. At first floor level are small rectangular openings containing timber louvres, with a gabled dormer above the main rectangular opening; the dormer has a segmental brick arched opening now without a door, with timber barge boards on shaped brackets. The chimney to the right-hand end is of brickwork in smooth cement render, in poor condition. Within the recessed lobby the brick walling contains rectangular ledged timber doors leading into heating chambers, with a timber-boarded ceiling.

The south side of the stable yard is occupied by a single-storey gabled block and a line of garages, all with Bangor blue slate roofs in regular courses; the single-storey block has brickwork walls and ledged timber doors. The west side of the stable yard is formed by the east gable of the service wing, already described, with a later low-quality lean-to block to its south.

SETTING

The house stands in its own grounds surrounded by grassed areas, with agricultural land to the south and east. Mature trees and shrubs grow in the immediate vicinity of the house, with a tarmac area to the front and west side. It is approached by a winding driveway from the main road to the west. There is also an overgrown driveway from the main road to the east, marked by a set of gate piers, but this eastern driveway is now disused and not passable.

GATE PIERS AT ENTRANCE TO EASTERN DRIVEWAY

A pair of square gate piers with recessed panels and moulded caps, flanked by curving screen walls terminating in a pair of smaller and less elaborate piers; all are smooth cement rendered. The original gates are missing and have been replaced by a modern tubular steel gate. Extending to each side of the gate screen are low basalt rubble boundary walls to the estate. The original wrought iron ornamental gates, which had scrolling designs and ball finials, are currently in storage in a garage within the stable yard.

HISTORY

The Thompson family reputedly settled in the district in the 17th century and were residing at nearby Greenmount in the late 18th century. Members of the family recorded as living at the Muckamore property before Samuel Thompson in the 1870s included a previous Samuel Thompson J.P., who died in 1838, and his successor John Thompson, who built the nearby Church of Ireland church in 1839–41. In the 1830s the property, then known as Muckamore Abbey, was described as "very old fashioned looking, 2 storeys high" with "high pitched and thatched roof and narrow windows", of uncertain date but considered to have been built in the early 17th century. Its name derived from the remains of a medieval abbey occupying a site to the north of the present house; in the 1830s two small fragments of the abbey walls were recorded as being attached to the garden wall of the residence of Samuel Thompson Esquire.

Sometime between 1832 and 1857 — the dates of the first and second Ordnance Surveys — the early house was either rebuilt or enlarged before the site was apparently cleared to make way for the present building. The present house was built around 1876; directory entries from the 1870s and 1880s offer no precise indication of when it was completed. Contemporary with the present house are the gate piers to the east, at or near the site of a driveway entrance recorded from at least the 1830s, and a gate lodge to the west, still standing but no longer connected with the estate. The entrance gateway associated with the lodge is now closed off and no longer intact, and a new entrance to the western driveway has been opened on Oldstone Road.

The Thompson family remained in occupation until around 1949. By 1952 the house had become Muckamore Abbey Hospital, later a Hospital and Girls Home, and finally Muckamore House Special School, recently closed at the time of recording.

Part of the grounds to the north of the house falls within the area of recorded monuments ANT50:77 and ANT50:78, and appears to lie within the area of scheduled monument ANT50:76.