Cowan Heron Hospital & Gates, Dromara Road, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 5EU

Cowan Heron Hospital, Gates and Entrance Piers

This is a two-storey, multi-bay Arts-and-Crafts style former cottage hospital, now converted to sheltered housing and apartments, built around 1898–1900 to the designs of Peter Chalmers Cowan (c.1859–1930), an engineer and County Surveyor for County Down from 1889 to 1899. Although the hospital has traditionally been attributed to local architect Henry William Edward Hobart (1858–1938), The Builder records confirm Cowan as the designer; the builder contracted to carry out the work was a Mr John Graham, supervised by Hobart. The building was commissioned and entirely funded by William Cowan Heron (c.1820–1917) of Altafort, a local Justice of the Peace and businessman, at a cost of £7,000, for the benefit of the people of Dromore and the surrounding area. The hospital opened in 1900 and was described at the time as one of the finest cottage hospitals in Great Britain. It was listed in 1994, the same year it closed. Its historic character has largely remained intact since the early 20th-century additions, though the internal layout and detailing have been compromised by conversion, and the loss of the mortuary, sundial, and sunroom detracts from its historic interest. The general plan form survives, and the building remains a good example of a type that is rare in Northern Ireland.

Architectural Description

The building sits on an elevated site adjacent to the junction of Dromara Road and Circular Road, southeast of Dromore town centre. It has an irregular plan form, with T-shaped single-storey wings flanking the central block, an adjoining two-storey block to the rear, and a further single-storey block to the southeast.

The roofs are pitched and hipped, clad in Rosemary tiles with crested terracotta ridge tiles, moulded finials, and exposed shaped rafter tails. The moulded timber bargeboards, incised red brick chimneystacks with corbelled upper courses, moulded terracotta string-courses and terracotta chimney pots, and cast-iron ogee-moulded rainwater goods all contribute to the building's Arts-and-Crafts character. Louvred square-headed vent dormers are finished with matching materials and detailing throughout.

The external walls are finished in painted roughcast render with a projecting squared uncoursed masonry plinth rising to cill level. Hammer-dressed long-and-short quoins have chisel-draughted margins. Applied neo-Tudor timber framing decorates the gable apexes.

Windows are a variety of timber sliding sash and casement types. The principal windows are composite irregular timber 6-over-1 sliding sash windows with horns and 3-paned casements over. They have irregular long-and-short sandstone surrounds with sandstone lintels with mould stops and a chamfered sandstone continuous cill. The timber front door has two etched glazed upper panels and two raised-and-fielded lower panels with bolection mouldings, single-pane etched side lights with panelled aprons, and a moulded timber frame rising to a dentilled cornice with a tripartite rolled-glass overlight above.

Principal (North) Elevation

The principal elevation of the central block faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. To the lower left is an ashlar sandstone Tudor-arched porch with moulded surrounds, a label moulding with foliated stops, foliated carved spandrels, and a carved frieze reading "COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE SAITH YOUR GOD." Above the arch is a moulded stepped pediment enclosing a carved heron with the inscription "AVEC MA VIE" ("With my life") below. The porch floor is laid with geometric terracotta tiles. Above the porch is a moulded sandstone panel enclosing a marble plaque reading "HERON'S COTTAGE HOSPITAL ERECTED BY Wm COWEN HERON 1898." To the right of the porch at ground floor level are two 6-over-1 timber sliding sash windows. At first floor, a tripartite sliding sash window is embraced by Tudor-style timber framing rising to the gable.

East Elevation

The east elevation is asymmetrically arranged and largely abutted at ground floor level by the single-storey east wing. The right bay is gabled with a single first-floor window. The left bay is hipped and projected, with a variety of sash windows to the first floor and a replacement uPVC window at ground floor. The single-storey wing matches the detailing of the central block.

West and South Elevations

The west elevation is asymmetrically arranged and abutted by a single-storey wing mirroring the east elevation. A later-added single-storey asymmetrically hipped-roof block adjoins to the right, with sliding sash windows and timber panelled doors to the west elevation, replacement windows to the east, and blank north and south gables.

The south elevation has no dressed stonework. There is a timber panelled door with six glazed panes and a tripartite overlight to the left. The east gable is further abutted by a pitched-roof single-storey block added in the early 20th century, with matching details but higher eaves and ridge levels. This addition has a tripartite window to the north gable and a timber panelled door without an overlight to the right cheek. Its east elevation has two windows with a louvred vent dormer above, and the rear gable is blank with no dressed stonework, abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed addition with casement windows.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation is symmetrically arranged and abutted by the two-storey rear block. There is a timber sliding sash window to the first floor and replacement uPVC windows at ground floor. A central two-storey pitched-roof corridor link connects the main building to the rear block, with sliding sash windows at first-floor level on both cheeks and a door at ground floor. The rear block itself has no dressed stonework, a variety of replacement uPVC windows throughout, a gabled north elevation with chamfered corners at ground floor level, and a hipped south elevation.

Interior

The internal layout and detailing have been compromised by conversion to residential use, though the general plan form survives. The building retains a number of portraits of William Cowan Heron.

Gates and Entrance Piers

A set of wrought-iron gates and railings, manufactured by Riddel & Co. of Donegall Place, Belfast, together with their associated masonry piers, were installed around 1900 at the entrance to the hospital. They are located at the northeast of the site, adjacent to the gate lodge, at the junction of Dromara Road and Circular Road.

The piers are of pointed-faced sandstone with chiselled draught-margins, three blocks tall on a projected plinth, and are surmounted by a gabled cap on a reverse ogee moulding. The wrought-iron gates have a mid-rail and are ornamented with lyre motifs and twisted balustrades; the top rail is surmounted by spear finials with flanking scrolls. The railings have a smooth rendered masonry plinth with details matching the gates and cast footings to the bottom rail. To the west, gated masonry piers and railings are terminated by a further pier; a hedgerow bounds the right side. The gates and piers have been maintained and may have been galvanised.

Setting and Grounds

The building occupies an elevated site partially screened from public view by hedgerows bounding the north of the site. The entrance is approached via the wrought-iron gates with masonry piers, beyond which a sweeping, inclining driveway leads to the principal elevation. The driveway is flanked by a large lawn with landscaped trees and planters, and a modern access ramp serves the entrance. A single-storey boiler house lies to the east. The grounds to the rear comprise parking and a largely overgrown garden, beyond which is modern housing. The gate lodge survives adjacent to the site entrance.

Historical Note

The hospital was constructed on land belonging to William Cowan Heron, who funded the entire project at his own expense. The 1901 Ulster Town Directory records that it was built "for the benefit of the people of the town and neighbourhood." Heron was responsible for numerous improvements to Dromore, including donating the town clock installed in the cupola of the Town Hall in 1891, and funding the rebuilding of a schoolhouse and construction of a schoolmaster's house in the townland of Ballyvicknacally around 1880. In 1901, the hospital cared for a number of British soldiers recently returned from the Second Boer War (1899–1902), who occupied a large portion of the building. The increased demand led to extensions being added to the ends of both the west and east wings sometime between 1903 and 1919–20, likely before Heron's death in 1917, as he continued to fund improvements and repairs until that time. A further rear return was added by around 1970 but has since been demolished. The hospital continued to operate until its closure in 1994, during its final years serving solely as a care home for the elderly. Since closure it has been converted into apartments. The entrance piers were either designed by Peter Chalmers Cowan or, more likely, by Henry William Edward Hobart, who designed the adjoining gate lodge around 1903. Hobart also designed the Ulster Bank in Church Street, Dromore, in 1920.