Outbuildings, Lagan Lodge, 26 Lower Quilly Road, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1NL

Outbuildings at Lagan Lodge, 26 Lower Quilly Road, Dromore

These are a group of traditionally constructed early- to mid-19th century outbuildings associated with Lagan Lodge, a late-Georgian linen house situated on Lower Quilly Road to the west of Dromore. The outbuildings vary in size, scale and function but form a coherent traditional group that has been sympathetically restored with minor appropriate alterations. They form an important part of the setting of the main house, enhancing its integrity and representing the full range of functions associated with running a prosperous house in the 19th century. Aligned along the roadside, the group also makes a notable contribution to the character of the immediate local landscape.

The outbuildings are arranged in a quadrangular courtyard and comprise stables, lofts, out offices and animal houses, with an additional cart house located outside the courtyard to the south-east, and a linear store linking the main house and the courtyard at the north-west. All outbuildings have pitched natural slate roofs and cast-iron rainwater goods over brick eaves. Walling is random rubble stone throughout, with openings generally formed in red brick and fitted with timber sheeted doors.

The courtyard is bounded on the north side by a tall rubble stone wall with a rendered coping supported by wide brick buttresses, and is accessed by a simple iron gate. Segmental-headed timber coach gates from the road are located at the south-east corner. The central area of the courtyard is grassed, and there are two pumps.

The two-storey east range contains a loft over stables. The ground floor has stable doors flanked by timber fixed-pane windows of four and six panes, with no sills. The upper floor features honeycomb brick ventilation panels, a timber loading door and several small square timber-sheeted openings. The gables are blank. The rear (east) elevation has a series of elliptical-headed openings infilled with brick or rubble stone, with an infilled door opening to the right.

The south range is a single-storey stable range with a monopitched roof and enlarged elliptical stable openings, with original square openings above, except at the extreme left. To its right it is abutted by a two-storey out office. This out office has three twelve-pane fixed windows asymmetrically arranged to each floor and a timber-sheeted door with granite plinth blocks offset to the left. All ground floor openings have elliptical-headed brick voussoirs over brick tympanums, and there is a plainly detailed door to the right side. All roadside elevations are blank. The garden-facing (west) gable of the out office has two windows to the ground floor and a single elliptical-headed multi-pane window to the upper floor. Immediately to the left is a round-headed timber garden gate.

The west range is a single-storey animal house with a monopitched roof. On the courtyard side it opens into a large rectangular enclosure bounded by rubble stone walls and accessed by a gate. To the left side is a door; two infilled round-headed openings face into the enclosure, one containing a small four-paned window. The garden (west) elevation is blank except for a door to the left and small unglazed openings at the upper level.

At right angles to the west elevation of the animal house, and linking the courtyard and the main house, is a single-storey store with a hipped roof, now partially incorporated into the house. It is bounded by the garden to the south and the entrance forecourt to the north. The north elevation is roughcast rendered with sash windows and vehicle doors; the south elevation is blank. A single eight-over-eight sash window in brick at the east end overlooks the courtyard. The north wall is abutted internally by a small monopitched pigsty with an enclosure.

To the south-west of the main courtyard is a two-storey cart house with a loft over. The north elevation has two elliptical-headed cart doors with brick voussoirs, along with infilled and timber-sheeted openings to the loft. To its right is an additional pair of timber vehicle doors providing access to a secondary court.

Along Lower Quilly Road, in proximity to the outbuildings, there are five pairs of painted round rendered gate pillars with conical caps — three with stone oval orbs to the apex — all five fitted with painted metal field gates.

The outbuildings are a setting feature of Lagan Lodge itself, a two-storey three-bay late-18th century linen house overlooking the River Lagan, set within extensive, maturely planted grounds.

Historical Background

Lagan Lodge was constructed around 1830, first appearing on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for the area in 1834. That map recorded the two-storey square-shaped dwelling, part of its south-facing rear return, and two two-storey outbuildings — those furthest to the south-east, nearest the current entrance gates — as already built. The contemporary Townland Valuations of around 1830 record the site as occupied by a Mr Thomas McMurray Esquire, a local textile manufacturer and gentleman who owned a beetling mill to the north of Lagan Lodge along the southern bank of the River Lagan. Lagan Lodge, its outbuildings and the beetling mill were jointly valued at £42 19s., with the house separately valued at £20 3s. 10d. after deductions. According to E. R. R. Green's work on the industrial archaeology of County Down, Lagan Lodge was constructed shortly after Thomas McMurray of Waringstown moved to Dromore in 1827 to establish a linen business; the two-storey rear return to the south of the dwelling was originally erected by McMurray as a pay office for his workers.

Between 1834 and the second edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1858, a number of additions were made to the site. All of the remaining outbuildings, with the exception of the connecting extension at the southern end of the rear return, had been built by 1858. An additional outbuilding to the south of the house, also present by 1858, has not survived and was demolished after the 1973 Ordnance Survey map. The construction of the additional outbuildings raised the total value of Lagan Lodge to £50 by the time of Griffith's Valuation, by which point the farm had passed to a Mr Waldron Burrowes, while the beetling mill had come into the possession of William McMurray of Clanmurry House. Following the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871, Burrowes purchased Lagan Lodge from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. That same year he let the house to a Mr George Hobart, a local linen manufacturer, who resided there until his death in 1868, after which his widow Hannah Hobart took possession. Hannah Hobart purchased Lagan Lodge from Burrowes in 1884 and lived there until her own death the following year, at which point the property was devalued to £43 10s. The site then passed to her son, Henry William Edward Hobart (1858–1938), a local architect who assisted in the construction of the Cowan Heron Hospital between 1898 and 1900, designed the hospital's gate lodge around 1904, and formed the architectural partnership of Hobart and Heron in 1904. The 1901 Census describes Lagan Lodge as a substantial farm with a first-class farmhouse of 14 rooms, and records Henry Hobart (recorded as aged 42 and Unitarian) residing there with his wife Maria (aged 29) and their two infant sons. The outbuildings at that time housed a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, fowl house, boiling house, barn and store. Henry Hobart continued to reside at Lagan Lodge until his death in 1938, when the property passed to his widow Maria.

Since the fourth edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1903–16, there has been little alteration to Lagan Lodge. The two-storey extension connecting the rear return of the house to one of its outbuildings was constructed after the 1973 Ordnance Survey map. Lagan Lodge was listed in 1977 and has continued to be occupied since that time. The current owner has maintained the outbuildings in an excellent state of preservation, retaining the original historical character of the site.

The listing covers the outbuildings, pig crewe, stables, pumps, gate pillars, steps, boot-scraper, gates and walling.