Islandderry House, near 170 Lurgan Road, Islandderry, Dromore, County Down, BT25 1HL, *** See general comments

Islandderry House is a large, two-storey over basement gentleman's country residence of around 1800, now derelict, roofless and virtually stripped of all interior detailing. The house and its gatescreen are listed together. Although late Georgian country houses of this type are still relatively common, and despite its very poor state, the building remains impressive and retains local importance. It is set on a rise to the north of Lurgan Road, roughly 3.5 kilometres northwest of Dromore, and is approached via a long curving drive. Approximately halfway along this drive stands a large two-storey replacement house built in around the 1980s.

The front elevation is symmetrical and faces roughly south. At the centre of the ground floor is the main entrance: a flat-arched doorway with stone pilaster jambs and a semicircular fanlight with a moulded stone archivolt. The door itself has been lost, but the fanlight retains the dilapidated remains of its spoked tracery. The entrance is reached by a much weathered and somewhat overgrown flight of splayed stone steps with dilapidated wrought-iron handrails. To either side of the entrance are flat-headed windows with the dilapidated remains of one-over-one timber sash frames and stone sills — two windows to the left, two to the right. The first floor has five similar but somewhat shorter windows. At basement level there are two windows to the left of the steps and one to the right, each fitted with security bars.

The west elevation has a doorway just to the left of centre at basement level, presently without a door. To the left of this doorway is a flat-headed window now devoid of its frame. To the right is another window of similar size retaining a dilapidated mid-20th century metal casement frame. Set at an intermediate level directly above that window is a slightly smaller window with a metal frame of similar date and condition. At the uppermost floor, left of centre, are two windows of the same size: the left one with a mid-20th century metal frame, the right with a badly dilapidated three-over-three timber sash frame. An extension or projection of some kind appears to have been attached to the right-hand side of the west elevation at some point; its outline and what appears to have been a doorway opening leading from the main building are still visible. At the left-hand, southern edge of the west elevation there is a tall wall constructed in rubble.

On the east elevation, at basement level, there is a narrow flat-headed window without a frame, and to its right a smaller window also minus its frame. Directly above these, at ground floor level, is a pair of much taller windows with the remains of two-over-two timber sash frames. Directly above those are two smaller windows with equally dilapidated timber sash frames — the left one probably originally two-over-two, the right (a smaller window) three-over-three.

The rear elevation has five large evenly spaced windows at ground floor level and five much smaller windows directly above them at first floor level. All retain the remains of timber sash frames: those at ground floor level are a mixture of one-over-one, two-over-two and six-over-six; those at first floor level are three-over-three. The basement level windows all appear to have been blocked.

The façade is finished in unpainted roughcast. There is a moulded eaves course and a projecting base course. The roof was hipped but had largely collapsed at the time of survey, with only the remains of a small amount of its timber structure surviving to the east and west sides. There are two large rendered chimneystacks flush with the east facade and two more flush with the west facade. Some sections of cast-iron rainwater goods remain in place, including downspouts to the east, west and south elevations.

At the road entrance there is a fine symmetrical gatescreen comprising a central vehicular gate flanked by pedestrian gates. The gate piers are square stone, 1,500mm high, with shallow pyramidal caps and an incised panel on the outer face. The gates themselves are unusual, made from round-section ironwork with six bars and curved cross-bracing. Curved wings complete the screen, formed of replacement vertical railings set on a stone plinth with two further stone piers matching those of the main gate.

The townland of Islandderry was in the possession of Art Oge McGenis (also recorded as McGuinness) for much of the first half of the 17th century. In 1640, Art and his son Hugh mortgaged the townland to Alexander Waddell for six years in consideration of £160. The civil upheaval following the events of 1641 resulted in Alexander retaining Islandderry beyond his allotted tenure, the McGenises being, in the legal language of the time, Catholics and therefore not entitled to the equity of redemption. In 1668, Alexander received an official grant of the land from King Charles II. The present owners have suggested that there has been a dwelling on the site of the current house since the 1600s, and it has been noted that a detailed examination of the building's fabric could possibly reveal the use of earlier material. The asymmetric arrangement of openings on the west elevation may also be instructive in this regard. A substantial residence within the townland is confirmed by Taylor's and Skinner's map of 1777, where one is clearly indicated. Judging by its design, however, the building as it stands today is most likely a creation of the late 18th or early 19th century. It was definitely standing by 1834, when it appears on the Ordnance Survey map of that year and is recorded in the near-contemporary valuation alongside a very substantial collection of single and two-storey outbuildings to the west. Notably, the valuers graded the property as 'A', suggesting it was perhaps less than 20 to 25 years old at the time of assessment. The second valuation of around 1860 describes the house as a good plain mansion house with a large lower storey and a low upper storey, and records no alterations to the building; none are listed in the later revaluations either. The Waddell family remained in possession of the house until the mid-1970s. It was then purchased by the present owner's family, who lived in it until the mid-1980s, when they built a new dwelling some distance to the south. The building has remained vacant since then. The house was listed in 1976 and the gatescreen in 1986; both records shared the same reference number and have since been combined into a single listing.