Craigmore, 18 Orken Lane, Aghalee, Craigavon, BT67 0ED

Craigmore (No. 18 Orken Lane) is a formal two-storey plus attic semidetached late Georgian house with a large rear return, built around the 1820s. Its almost identical neighbour, No. 20, appears to be somewhat later, possibly dating from around 1840. The house is situated off a relatively secluded country road approximately 1.2 kilometres north-west of Aghalee, with a large collection of outbuildings to the south. A short distance to the north-west stands a Methodist Church of 1846, whose history is closely linked with this property and its neighbour.

Although too much original fabric has been lost for the building to be listed, it has been recorded for its historical interest.

Architectural Description

The building consists of a main two-storey plus attic gabled front block with a part three-storey, part two-storey rear return. The front elevation is finished in painted render, with the remaining elevations largely in painted roughcast. All sections of the roof are gabled and covered in a mixture of natural Welsh slate and artificial slate. The chimneystacks appear to have been rebuilt in what looks to be concrete brick. The rainwater goods are a mixture of PVC downpipes and extruded aluminium guttering.

The front (north) elevation is formal but asymmetric. An off-centre entrance features a panelled timber door with a sunburst elliptical fanlight and four-panel sidelights set on painted brick aprons. There is one window to the left of the entrance and another further left, with three windows to the first floor aligned above the ground floor openings. All of these windows are square with tripartite sash frames in a 2/2, 4/4, 2/2 glazing pattern, and have painted stone cills.

On the east elevation, the southern half of the return is two-storey, while the northern half rises to three storeys, projecting above the eaves line of the main front block. The floor levels of the two sections are not aligned, with the southern section set at a higher level. The ground floor has a window, a doorway and a window; the first floor has three windows; and the second floor has two windows. The windows are of various sizes and all have replacement PVC frames. The doorway has a partly glazed timber door. The east gable of the main section is asymmetric, with the rear roof slope longer than the front, and contains a small attic window with a replacement frame that may be PVC.

On the west elevation, the return directly abuts the return of No. 20, while its south-west corner abuts an outbuilding. On the exposed two-storey section of façade between these constraints, there appear to be two windows to each floor, all with replacement uPVC frames.

On the south elevation, the three-storey portion of the return to the west extends further and steps down to two storeys, spanning part of the rear of No. 20 and abutting its return. It should be noted that this section may actually belong to No. 20. On the exposed south face of this part there are two openings to the ground floor (possibly a door and a window, or two windows), with two first-floor windows, all with replacement frames. On the south face of the main block there is one window to each floor, also with replacement frames.

Outbuildings

To the south and east of the property there is a large complex of sheds. Most of the larger structures to the south are mainly late 20th century, or earlier but much altered, and are of no particular interest. Those to the east are older and of greater note, particularly those closest to the house. These are linked together to form an irregular plan and consist of an L-shaped two-storey gabled structure. The southern section, lying roughly on an east-west axis, is built in brick and has a tall square chimney to its west-facing gable. The northern section is rubble-built and is probably older. At the north end of this rubble-built section, set at an angle, is a lower rubble-built block of roughly square plan with a broad north-facing gable containing a bellcote.

Historical Background

A house with a long rear return, roughly similar in footprint to the present No. 18, is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, along with outbuildings to the south and east that do not appear to correspond precisely to any of those surviving today. In the valuation of 1834 the property is recorded as the home of Mr Henry Shillington, with the dwelling described as a 'not new' slated structure in good condition, graded '1B+'. The main front section is recorded as measuring 32½ feet by 18 feet by 20½ feet high, with a 'kitchen return' of 19½ by 19 by 13½ feet. Also recorded were 'stores' (probably attached to the return) of 51 by 21½ by 10½ feet; 'sheds' of 26 by 7 by 4 feet and 12½ by 9 by 5 feet; a 'scullery' of 18½ by 8 by 4 feet; thatched 'offices' measuring 65 by 16 by 5 feet, 31½ by 16½ by 5½ feet, 42 by 17½ by 6 feet, and 28 by 18½ by 13 feet; a 'kitchen' with returns of 34½ by 18 by 6 feet and 15 by 6 by 5 feet; a 'barn' of 34 by 19 by 8 feet; and a stable measuring 19 by 17 by 6½ feet.

The Shillington family, whose name is commemorated in nearby Shillington's Hill just to the east, is believed to have held land in Ballymacilrany townland since the later 17th century, and it is probable that a dwelling has existed on this site from that period. Henry Shillington (c.1774–1864), recorded in the 1834 valuation, was a farmer and prominent Methodist in the Aghagallon area. He is mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1838 as that denomination's 'principal class leader' in the district. In 1845 he set aside a plot to the west of his home for the building of the adjacent Methodist church.

Both the church and No. 20 are shown on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858, along with a different configuration of outbuildings to the south and east that again do not correspond precisely to any of the present structures, though the small scale of the map makes certainty difficult. In the valuation of around 1860, No. 20 is recorded as measuring 34 feet by 18 by 20 feet, with additional sections of 17 by 21 by 16 feet and 10 by 6 by 6 feet. The dimensions of No. 18 are recorded as much the same as in 1834, though the kitchen return is now noted as 20 feet high rather than 13½ feet, with two additional sections of 17 by 12 by 6 feet and 8 by 13 by 16 feet. The valuers graded the main front portions of both houses as '1A', suggesting that No. 18 had been either rebuilt or refurbished at some point after 1834, more likely refurbished.

By the early 1860s both houses had assumed the collective name of 'Craig Villa' or 'Craigvilla', with No. 18 in the possession of Henry Shillington junior and No. 20 occupied by Henry Shillington senior. The elder Henry died in 1864 at the age of 90, and following the death of the younger Henry Shillington in 1875 at only 34, both houses passed to Maria Shillington and then, in 1884, to Thomas Shillington. Changes in rateable value suggest that new structures may have been added to the site in 1869 or existing ones upgraded. Records from 1874 mentioning a 50-foot chimney and engines of five and three horsepower indicate that the southern brick-built section of the L-plan outbuilding to the east of No. 18 dates from this period. By 1889 the valuers reported that No. 20 was 'only partially furnished, with 2 rooms occupied by steward Samuel [?Cowan]', while the outbuildings were 'used for machinery in manufacturing part of business.' By the 1890s a 'winding room' is mentioned, indicating that the business involved the winding of thread. The plans of both houses, and the outbuildings immediately to the east of No. 20, are shown much as at present on the 1900 Ordnance Survey map.

In 1902, Thomas Shillington (died 1914), by then a successful businessman in Belfast, donated both houses along with 140 acres of farmland to the Methodist Church for use as a boys' orphanage. 'Craigmore Boys' Home' opened in 1903, and over the following 34 years almost 400 children were cared for there and educated in a schoolhouse added in 1908 along Orken Road just to the north. The children were also given instruction in agricultural techniques on the farmland, while the younger children appear to have been accommodated in a 'playroom' in the former winding room. The two houses were extended to meet their new purpose, though the precise extent of these alterations is uncertain as their footprint does not appear to have changed significantly during this period. The home was merged with Childhaven, near Millisle, in 1937.

Ownership of the properties is difficult to trace with certainty for the following decades, by which time the wider area had taken the name 'Craigmore'. It is likely that both houses were those offered for sale as a single lot in September 1944 by a Mrs M. Martin. The sale notice described one property as containing dining and drawing rooms, five bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, scullery and pantry, with the other having dining and drawing rooms, three bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and scullery. The outbuildings at that time included a milk house, coalhouse, garage, workshop, cart shed, large potato house, poultry house, byre for three cows, and wash-house, all forming a large enclosed yard.

'Craigmore House — two superior residences' were advertised for sale again in October 1950. The main residence was described as stone and lime built and in first-class decorative order, containing an entrance hall, two large reception rooms, a living room with parquet flooring, a large kitchen, cloakroom, three main bedrooms, two secondary bedrooms, a bathroom, and a separate WC. Its neighbour was of similar construction and contained an entrance hall, two reception rooms, a kitchen with a modern range, a scullery, a cloakroom with bathroom off, and five principal bedrooms. The outbuildings at this date comprised a large hall of 40 feet by 28 feet with a partly glazed roof, a store with a loft over measuring 40 feet by 21 feet, a wash-house and fuel store adjoining the main building, a large garage, loose-boxes, a byre, feeding-house and barn of 70 feet by 40 feet, all with slated roofs and in good structural repair, together with a large poultry house of 20 feet by 18 feet with a corrugated iron roof. The pair were acquired for £2,800 by William and Eveline Anderson, with whose family they remain. A single-storey extension to the west side of No. 20 was added after 1966.