Outbuildings at Loughanmore, 51 Loughanmore Road, Dunadry, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 2HN

These are former coach house and stable block outbuildings arranged around a courtyard, incorporating portions dating from at least the early 19th century, with significant remodelling in the mid-to-late Victorian era in Gothic Revival style by architect John Boyd of Belfast, and more recently converted to a domestic residence. The successive remodelings give the buildings considerable added interest and illustrate a clear historic development, though the main front block has lost some important features through alteration.

OVERALL FORM AND LAYOUT

The complex is a two-storey stone building in Gothic Revival style, with a four-storey entrance tower and two-storey wings to the rear enclosing a courtyard. The main entrance faces south. The south elevation is asymmetrical, comprising a central gabled block with a central entrance tower, flanked on each side by slightly lower gabled blocks, the one to the east terminating in an angled square end tower. Roofs are of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with black ridge tiles. Walls are of roughly coursed squared basalt rubble to the central block, and roughly coursed basalt rubble to the central tower, the first floor of the flanking wings, and the end tower. A projecting smooth cement-rendered stringcourse runs at first-floor cill level to the central block and wings, but not to the central tower or angled end tower. A projecting red brick eaves course on angled brick corbels runs along the central block and flanking wings, including the raking gables of dormers. Cast iron gutters and downpipes are fitted, the downpipes recessed into the stringcourse. Three chimneys are present, one to each gable of the central block and one to the gable of the lower wing to the right; these are smooth cement rendered with stepped cornices, splayed caps, and projecting vertical rendered strips.

CENTRAL TOWER

The central tower is of basalt for the first three floors, with two-stage buttresses at the front extremities. These buttresses are of basalt rubble with modern red brick block dressings and original sandstone weatherings. A short angle buttress to the west corner above eaves level retains its original red brick dressings. The top storey of the tower has been later smooth cement rendered, with some render missing at the base of the bartizan turret to reveal the original brickwork. The top storey has a battered base and a parapet carried on rendered corbels. A circular corbelled bartizan turret projects from the south-west corner, with a swept lead-dressed roof surmounted by an ironwork weathervane, and two narrow Gothic arched lancets at the top containing timber louvres. A circular clock occupies the front face of the top storey. The two side faces each have a semi-circular arched niche with projecting rendered drip mouldings and cills, and corbels to the parapet.

The entrance in the ground floor of the central tower is elliptically arched, with thin basalt voussoirs, and contains a rectangular timber four-panel door set in a timber-framed screen of modern leaded glazing, with a red brick doorstep. Above the entrance, in the first floor of the tower, is a shallow Gothic arched opening with red brick block dressings and a projecting smooth rendered cill, containing an arched timber sash window, six over six, with horns. Above this, in the second floor of the tower, is a small pair of coupled rectangular timber four-pane casements or fixed lights, with segmental brick heads and chamfered brick reveals, and recessed stone or rendered cills.

WINDOWS TO SOUTH ELEVATION

The first-floor windows of the main central block are brick-dressed coupled Gothic lancets with a circular tracery light above. The lancets contain Gothic arched four-pane timber fixed lights with two-pane opening vents at the base, and the tracery lights contain leaded ornamental glazing. The ground-floor window to the right of the tower is a pair of Gothic arched coupled lancets glazed in the same manner as the first-floor windows but without a tracery light. The ground-floor window to the left of the tower is a rectangular timber sliding sash, six over six, with horns, set in plain reveals with a flat arch of basalt to the head resting on a steel lintel and a projecting concrete cill. The ground-floor windows of the flanking wings are of similar character with horned sashes but are of tripartite design, comprising a central six-over-six light flanked by narrow two-over-two lights. To the right of the ground-floor window in the east wing is a doorway containing a modern rectangular timber four-panel raised-and-fielded door, with flanking timber sidelights sashed two over two with horns, set in basalt reveals with a flat basalt arch above resting on a steel lintel. The first-floor windows of the flanking wings are shallow Gothic arched sashes similar to those on the first floor of the tower, set in wall-head dormers.

END TOWER AND LINK BLOCK

Extending at an angle at the right-hand extremity of the right-hand wing is a short link block connecting with the end tower. This link block has a shallow Gothic arched window to the ground floor, brick dressed, containing a timber six-pane fixed light with a projecting concrete cill, and a stepped parapet above surmounted by a later earthenware urn finial. The end tower is three storeys of roughly coursed basalt rubble with red brick block quoins and similar block dressings to the windows. It has a flat roof with projecting sandstone coping carried on a sandstone corbel table. The front face of the south elevation of the end tower has one window to each floor: a rectangular timber two-pane fixed light to the ground floor with chamfered brick dressings and a projecting red sandstone cill; a rectangular timber sash window, three over three, with horns, to the first floor with chamfered brick dressings and a grey sandstone cill; and a rectangular timber six-pane fixed light to the second storey in a similar surround. A similar window appears on the top floor of the other three faces of the end tower. The east face of the end tower has rectangular openings to the ground and first floor that are now blocked with smooth cement render, with modern brickwork to the dressings incorporating an original segmental relieving arch. There is a small rectangular brick-dressed opening to the ground floor on the rear face, now bricked up, and a cast iron soil pipe.

WEST ELEVATION

The west elevation of the main front block is a gable of basalt rubble with a red brick raking course and corbels to the eaves verges, continuous across the base of the chimney stack. Two large Gothic lancet windows at first-floor level have new red brick block dressings and are glazed as on the entrance front. A narrow angle-headed blind opening dressed in original brick sits in the apex of the gable. The ground floor is covered by a projecting modern gabled and lean-to roofed conservatory with red brick plinth walls, concrete cills, and painted timber framing. Within the conservatory, the ground floor of the original gable has a new rectangular doorway dressed in new red brick containing a pair of double doors, rectangular timber, with Gothic arched small-paned glazing.

Extending to the left of the conservatory is the west block of the courtyard, with a hipped roof slated as before and a terracotta finial at the north end. The wall is smooth cement rendered to the left of the conservatory and left as basalt rubble within it. The rendered portion contains a segmental arched opening with basalt voussoirs left unrendered; this opening is currently unfinished and boarded up. Cast iron gutters and downpipes are present, one downpipe discharging into a wooden barrel.

Projecting to the west is a wing or extension of the north block of the courtyard. Its south elevation is smooth cement rendered and contains an elliptical archway of exposed basalt voussoirs with smooth rendered reveals; the inner walls of the opening are of rubble with a concrete surface to the floor and it leads through to a segmental arched opening in the north elevation. The roof is of asbestos slates with two original flush rooflights. The west gable of the west wing of the north block is of basalt rubble with moulded cement-rendered verges surmounted by an earthenware vase finial at the summit. A narrow angle-headed brick-dressed opening in the apex of the gable is now blocked with bricks. Projecting from the left-hand side of the gable is a short nib wall of basalt rubble dressed at the end with concrete brickwork to form a gate pier surmounted by an earthenware vase finial.

WALLED GARDEN

In the angle between the west wing of the north block and the west block of the courtyard is a walled garden, formerly the stock yard, now laid out with a small lawn surrounded by brick-paved and stone-cobbled paths and brick and stone planters. The enclosing wall is of coursed basalt rubble surmounted by crenellations; the inside face of the walls is smooth cement rendered with a concrete offset coping up to the base of the crenellations. The elliptically arched entrance in the south side contains an iron gate in a Victorian style, with stepped smooth-rendered crenellations over the gateway surmounted by a stone or cement-cast eagle. At the south-west corner of the garden wall is a small corbelled square corner turret, smooth cement rendered and slightly spalled to reveal a brick course beneath, with blind arrow loops.

NORTH ELEVATION

The north elevation consists of the one-and-a-half-storey north block of the courtyard, with a single-storey stable block projecting to the north on the left-hand side and a single-storey wing projecting to the west. The north block of the courtyard has a hipped roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with terracotta finials at each extremity of the ridge. There is a PVC gutter and downpipe to the east end and what appears to be a metal gutter to the right of the right-hand dormer. A five-light flush central rooflight occupies the position where originally there was a belfry or turret. Tin guttering with cast iron downpipes is also present. The walls are of basalt fieldstones and rubble with two red brick dormers. Between the dormers is an arched entrance leading into the courtyard. Red brick block dressings appear to two ground-floor windows flanking a red brick dressed doorway below the right-hand dormer; the door appears to be a later insertion in a large segmental brick-arched opening. The ground-floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, eight over eight, with horns. The dormers are gabled with slated roofs and contain semi-circular arched timber six-pane fixed lights. To the right of the ground-floor windows is a small rectangular window opening blocked with timber sheeting, and to the right of that is a large doorway with rectangular ledged timber sliding doors and a large timber lintel in front of a smooth rendered coved archway.

The single-storey wing to the west is of similar walling, with a roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. It has three openings: a central segmental open archway leading to the walled garden; to the right of that, a similar coved archway leading to a barn fitted with a large rectangular ledged timber sliding door; and to the left, a coved archway leading to a store fitted with a similar sliding door but with a rendered nib wall to the right-hand side. Tin guttering with cast iron downpipes is present.

The single-storey block projecting to the north is gabled with a corrugated asbestos roof containing two modern circular metal ventilators on the ridge. The walls are of roughly coursed basalt rubble with red brick block quoins and dressings to openings, and there are timber bargeboards, a PVC gutter and downpipe to the right-hand end, with the corresponding fittings on the left now missing. Small rectangular windows in the north wall contain rectangular timber bottom-hung four-pane vents. Each gable has a central segmental arched doorway with bull-nosed brick dressings fitted with a rectangular ledged timber sliding door, and above each doorway is a rectangular timber six-pane fixed light.

EAST ELEVATION

The east elevation comprises the east gable of the main south block, with a lower two-storey lean-to projection covering its left-hand portion, and the long east elevation of the east block of the courtyard extending to the right. The east gable is of basalt rubble with a red brick raking eaves course and corbels to the verges, continuous across the base of the chimney stack. A narrow angle-headed brick-dressed blind slit opening sits at the apex. There is one window in the gable to the right of the lean-to: a rectangular timber sliding sash, three over three, with horns, with a projecting concrete cill and a modern flat arch of narrow basalt voussoirs on a steel lintel, with a cast iron soil pipe to the left. The lean-to projection is of basalt rubble with a red brick eaves course, red brick block quoins to the first floor, and red brick block dressings to the openings. There is one window to the first floor, a rectangular timber sliding sash, three over three, with horns. Two doorways to the ground floor are set in chamfered Gothic archways: the one to the left is blocked with smooth cement render, and the one to the right contains a Gothic arched ledged timber door. The roof is slated as before, with a cast iron gutter and downpipe. The east block of the courtyard extends to the right from the east gable, with basalt rubble walls, a slated roof, and PVC gutter and downpipe. The openings from left to right are: a new doorway with flat basalt voussoirs on a steel lintel containing a panelled and glazed door; a rectangular timber twelve-pane fixed light with brick dressings and concrete cill; a small rectangular timber single-pane fixed light with smooth rendered reveals and recessed cill; a rectangular timber small-paned fixed light with projecting concrete cill; a gabled red brick dormer with slated roof and semi-circular arched opening containing timber louvres; a rectangular timber fixed light with top-hung vent set in smooth rendered reveals with recessed cill and flat arch over; a small rectangular single-pane fixed light as the previous; a small concrete brick-dressed opening with glass bricks; a rectangular open doorway with cement dressings and a sliding door now missing; and a rectangular metal casement in a smooth cement surround with the wall below smooth rendered.

COURTYARD

The courtyard is entered through an arched entrance in the north block. The passageway has a concrete surface and roughly coursed basalt rubble walls to each side, with each apex constructed or reconstructed in concrete brickwork. There is one high-level opening to each side wall: the one on the west side contains a rectangular timber boarded door in a timber frame, and the one on the east side is dressed in concrete brickwork and currently boarded up.

The block on the south side of the courtyard, facing the arched entrance, is of similar character to the main front entrance elevation. A circular clock appears in the top storey of the main tower. The central block is slated as before with cast iron gutter and downpipe, and walling as before, with two large gabled dormers containing two-light Gothic lancets with circular tracery lights glazed as on the entrance front. Between the dormers is a shallow Gothic arched window, sashed six over six as on the entrance front; below that is a large coved arched opening, originally an open arched passage running through the tower, now containing a timber window with leaded glazing as on the entrance front, with a low stone plinth wall containing a planter box at cill level. To the left of the large central window is a wooden shallow Gothic arched window sashed as at the first floor; to the left of that is a modern rectangular timber window sashed six over six with horns, with a flat basalt arch on a steel lintel. The ground-floor area to the left of the large central window shows traces of earlier flat-arched coach house openings now blocked up. To the right of the large central window are two rectangular openings: one to the left containing a tripartite sashed window as on the front elevation, and one to the right containing a rectangular glazed and flush-sheeted door set in small-paned sidelights and a fanlight, enclosed within a lean-to glazed-roofed porch constructed of modern red brick. Wings extending to the east and west of the central block have gabled dormers of basalt rubble with brick-dressed sashed windows as on the entrance elevation.

The block on the west side of the courtyard has a hipped roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, basalt rubble walls, and rectangular undressed openings to the ground floor containing two ledged timber doors and one window containing glass bricks, along with one segmental arched doorway with rendered reveals containing a modern aluminium shutter. Timber steps lead to a first-floor dormer, with ornamental ironwork balustrading incorporating a lampholder at the bottom and one at the top. The dormer is of red brick, gabled, with a slated roof, containing a semi-circular brick-arched opening with a ledged timber door. Cast iron gutter and downpipe are present. To the left-hand side is a modern red brick projection with a partly glazed roof, containing a pair of rectangular timber garage doors with a concrete lintel, timber eaves board and bargeboard, moulded metal gutter, and PVC downpipe.

The block on the north side of the courtyard has a slated roof with a central five-light rooflight at the ridge, cast iron gutter and downpipes, and basalt rubble walls with two red brick gabled dormers containing semi-circular arched six-pane windows as on the north elevation. A central archway opening has double doors of slatted timber. Below each dormer is a rectangular opening: the one to the left contains a ledged timber door in a timber frame with a flat basalt arch to the head; the one to the right, originally a similar doorway, has been partly blocked up to form a rectangular window containing a rectangular metal casement with red brick reveals. Each of these openings is flanked by red brick block-dressed windows, rectangular timber twelve-pane fixed lights with four-pane top-hung vents, with smooth rendered cills that are spalled to reveal a red brick core.

The block on the east side of the courtyard has a hipped slated roof as before with two modern rooflights, cast iron gutter and downpipes, and walls of basalt rubble containing four rectangular openings: two doorways with flat basalt arches and ledged timber doors; one window, a rectangular timber twelve-pane fixed light with four-pane top-hung vent set in red brick block surrounds; and one modern sashed window, six over six as on the south block. There is also a large segmental arched red brick-dressed opening containing a modern up-and-over panelled PVC garage door set in a timber frame with a two-light fanlight, and a gabled red brick dormer as before containing a semi-circular arched ledged timber door.

HISTORY

The complex was built as a stable block, coach houses, and outbuildings for the now-demolished Loughanmore House. The precise date of construction is uncertain as the complex evolved over time. A courtyard layout appeared on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, and the bulk of the rear blocks may be taken to date from around that time. The main front block and other High Victorian elements, such as the brick dormer windows in the rear blocks, are thought to date from 1866, when Henry Adair succeeded to the estate and is known to have embarked on alterations and improvements. The architect for the remodelling of the stable block appears to have been John Boyd of Belfast, who is known to have been involved in re-roofing the stable offices for Henry Adair in 1887. Boyd was also the architect employed by Adair in the virtual rebuilding of Donegore Parish Church in 1871, and was in charge of building the demesne wall at Loughanmore in 1880.

Following Henry Adair's death in 1887, a chapel was created out of a coach house sometime in the mid-to-late 1890s — the precise date is uncertain — to the right of the clock tower. The chapel had been established as a result of the unfriendly conduct of the then clergyman of Donegore Parish Church toward the Adair family, and was instituted as a memorial to the Reverend James Hunt of Loughanmore, who had married a daughter of Colonel Benjamin Adair and who had died in 1894. There is apparently no record of the chapel having been consecrated, but it was built with the approval of Bishop Welland and subsequent bishops concurred. The congregation, who comprised the family and their staff — generally about 20 in number — preferred to worship there in severe weather rather than walk up to the parish church. Its furniture consisted of an organ, communion table, reading desk, chairs, and a communion service of silver. When General J.N. Adair sold the estate in 1920 to Charles MacKean, he offered to pass the furnishings to the tenant for life of Loughanmore if the chapel's function was intended to be continued. The chapel was later converted to domestic purposes around 1984, when the stained glass windows were removed to Donegore Parish Church and the entire front block was renovated to become the main residence on the estate. The date on which the crenellations were removed from the clock tower is uncertain but may have been connected to renovations to Loughanmore House in 1961.

The Loughanmore estate was laid out in its present form in the years following 1798, when Loughanmore House was built by Thomas Benjamin Adair, who served as High Sheriff of County Antrim in 1801. He died in 1855 and was succeeded by his son Charles, a Captain in the 33rd Regiment. Charles died in 1866 and was followed by his brother Henry, who altered the house, remodelled the stable block, and improved the gardens and grounds. Henry restored Donegore Parish Church in 1871, was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of County Antrim in 1870, and served as High Sheriff in 1871. He died in 1888 and was succeeded until 1896 by Miss Amelia Sophia Adair, daughter of Thomas Benjamin Adair; she was in turn succeeded by her youngest sister Eleanor Margaret, who had married the Reverend James Hunt. The Adair family connection with the estate ended when General J.N. Adair sold it to Charles MacKean of Larne in 1920.

Loughanmore House as built in 1798 was remodelled following Henry Adair's succession in 1866, when it was crenellated, towered, and turreted; a tower was in the course of erection in 1870 when flags were hoisted on it to celebrate the visit of Prince Arthur to nearby Castle Upton, as recorded by Peden in 1878. Further alterations were carried out after Charles MacKean bought the property; designs were prepared for him by Guy Elwes, architect of London, in 1936, for a new dining room with a canted end, new stairs and landings, and the removal of the front tower. In 1961 further renovations were carried out under the direction of Arthur Jury, architect of Belfast, when the top floor was taken down and crenellations were removed. The house was finally demolished in 1988. It was described in the first survey of 1972 as a two-storey five-bay house with basement, much altered in the 19th century and at that time partly restored to its original appearance. The windows were plain sashed. On the first floor, the central window was surmounted by a triangular pediment and the side windows by segmental pediments. Ground-floor windows were in eaved architraves. Extensions had splayed ends. Keystones on the ground floor of the main roughcast block had sculptured masks. Modern lampholders stood before this block, along with a Doric porch to the front service entrance.

SETTING

The building stands in a rural area within the grounds of the Loughanmore estate, approached by three main driveways: two from the main road to the north and one from a side road to the west. The two former driveways are marked by a main gatelodge and gateway and a secondary gatelodge and gateway leading to the rear. The driveway to the west is marked by a gateway only leading to the front of the building: this comprises a pair of square piers of coursed granite ashlar with projecting plinth and moulded weathered caps, flanking screen walls of similar masonry with moulded granite copings terminating in similar smaller end piers, and a pair of double wrought iron gates of plain character with iron urn finials to each end. The driveways are lined by mature trees.

The building stands well back from the main public road and faces away from it, overlooking parkland. Immediately in front is an extensive lawn separated from the parkland and grazing area by a ha-ha, formerly stone revetted but later smooth cement rendered. The grazing land beyond is approached by a short flight of steps whose side walls incorporate stone-sculpted human heads; the origin of these heads is not recorded. To the rear of the building lies a stable yard bordered to the north and east by single-storey stables and outbuildings of no architectural interest. To the east lies a large enclosed field, formerly a well-stocked garden, bounded to the south by iron railings and on the other sides by brick walls; a former greenhouse against the north wall has been demolished. Directly to the east stand two garden features: a garden tower and spire and an ice house with a columnar tower on top, both of uncertain date. At the south-east corner of the building is the now-cleared site of the former Loughanmore House, its site grassed over to form part of the front lawn with nothing retained in position.