Clonaslee, 2 Lurgan Road, Seapatrick, Banbridge, BT32 4AF

'Clonaslee', 2 Lurgan Road, Seapatrick, Banbridge

'Clonaslee' is a late-Victorian detached villa built around 1900 to designs by the Dromore architect Henry Hobart, and dated by architectural historian Rankin to 1901. It is a gabled, two-storey-with-attic, three-bay house in Flemish-bond red brick, set within a mature landscaped site of over four acres on the west side of Lurgan Road in Banbridge, on the outskirts of the Edenderry linen district. The house was built by Norman Dickson Ferguson (1866–1960), a linen manufacturer and third son of Thomas Ferguson of Edenderry House, who constructed 'Clonaslee' shortly after his father's death in 1900, when his elder brother inherited the family seat. It first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903–18, and entered valuation records in 1902 at a valuation of £48, rising to £58 by 1910 following the addition of a detached two-storey garage and ancillary outbuildings. The estimated total building cost was £1,300. The house is a good example of a late-Victorian semi-urban villa by a notable local architect, and shares a close similarity in style with the nearby 'Dunida' at 9 Lurgan Road, Banbridge, also designed by Hobart.

Historical and Social Context

Norman Ferguson was the prominent figure at the head of a distinguished linen family. His brothers Howard and Thomas worked in the warehouse while Norman worked in the factory, and all three were regarded by their contemporaries as outstanding businessmen; Norman in particular was respected for his ability and determination. He became Chairman of Down County Council, Chairman of Belfast Ropeworks, a director of Banbridge Reservoir Company, and a Deputy Lieutenant for County Down. In the early years of the 20th century, Norman and his brothers introduced damask weaving at their Edenderry factory, producing double damask for the North American market. This product eventually eclipsed their earlier trade in towels and drying cloths, and by the 1930s the company had become primarily damask manufacturers. In the 1930s an associated company — Ballievey Bleaching Co Ltd — was established to bleach, dye and finish cloth for Ferguson's and Samuel Lamont and Sons Ltd. During the Second World War, with flax supplies limited, Fergusons produced aeroplane cloth and other standard cloths under the Utility regime. After the war the company passed to Norman's two sons and one of his nephews, and remained in family ownership until 1988, when it was sold to William Franklin and Son, who continue to trade under the name 'Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen' and are now the only linen damask weavers remaining in Ireland. At the time of the 1911 census, Norman Ferguson — married with two children — was recorded in the house with only a cook from County Louth and a table maid.

The First General Revaluation of the 1930s provides a plan and dimensions for the house, including the porch (also described in the records as a 'piazza') and attached outbuildings to the rear, which have partially survived. Further outbuildings to the north, still surviving, included stores, a garage with a playroom above, and a greenhouse (now derelict). The internal accommodation at that time comprised seven bedrooms, three reception rooms, three bathrooms, a pantry, kitchen and scullery. The valuer noted the house was 'very substantially built and in excellent condition', though considered its proximity to the mill a disadvantage.

Architectural Overview

The entrance façade faces south over mature landscaped gardens. The roof is pitched and covered in natural Welsh slate, with decorative terracotta ridge tiles and finials, and decorative bargeboards to the gables. The tall red-brick chimneystacks have chamfered shafts and tall clay pots. The veranda canopy and canted bay roofs are finished in fish-scale natural slates, with roll-leaded hips to the canted bays. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on projecting eaves with exposed rafter tails, together with cast-iron downpipes and soil pipes with decorative wall fixings.

The walling throughout is Flemish-bond red brick on a chamfered plinth. Decorative carved panels and a string course with a dentilled frieze at first-floor cill level enliven the elevations, and the gable apex features a herringbone brick panel. Hobart's domestic revival design incorporates decorative brickwork on the gable in a pattern suggestive of Tudor timber-framing. Windows are mainly single-glazed 1/1 timber sliding sash with horns and projecting sandstone sills, except where noted below.

South Elevation (Principal Façade)

The principal south elevation comprises a two-storey projecting gabled bay to the right and three bays to the left. The projecting gabled section has a canted bay window at ground floor level with a natural slate fish-scale hipped roof, and a centred bipartite 1/1 timber sliding sash window above at first floor level. The gable apex has a decorative brick string course with brick-relief detailing above.

A decorative open timber veranda occupies the main south façade, abutting the western face of the projecting gable. Its natural slate fish-scale lean-to roof is supported on square timber columns with decorative spandrels and drop finials, and the stone plinth is laid with square terracotta tiles. The veranda gives access to the porch to the right, which retains its original raised-and-fielded bolection-moulded six-panel varnished oak door with brass door furniture. There is a window opening to the left side of the porch, within the veranda. Above the veranda at first floor level are two window openings; the left-hand window sits below a gablet with a pitched roof and terracotta finial. At roof level there are two flat-roofed timber-framed dormers, both now fitted with replacement uPVC multipane windows. A tall brick chimney is located between the two dormers. The leftmost bay of the south elevation is a circa 1960 extension, consisting of a single window opening on both ground and first floor levels, with decorative string coursing, eaves and ridge detailing carefully matched to the existing house.

East Elevation

The east elevation has a two-storey canted bay to the right of a single bay, which carries a single window opening at both ground and first floor levels; the first floor window sits below a gablet with a terracotta finial. The ground floor window is a 1/1 timber sliding sash and the first floor window is a bipartite 1/1 timber sliding sash. A tall brick chimney is located between the gablet and the canted bay. The ground floor windows of the two-storey canted bay have been altered, with the cill height raised and pipes to the kitchen sink visible within the raised brickwork.

The remainder of the east elevation is set back from the canted bay. The two-storey section has two window openings at first floor and a window at ground floor right. To the ground floor left there is an original panelled-and-glazed timber door with a two-pane transom light, set in a stop-end chamfered reveal and accessed by a bull-nosed stone step, with a plain overlight above. A barometer is attached to the rear door frame. A single-storey section continues towards the north and presents a blank façade with a bricked-up window opening on the left side.

North Elevation

The large gable to the north is abutted on the left by a single-storey red-brick return and on the right by a red-brick garage added around 1997, together reforming a small courtyard. The original wash-house, bathroom and scullery have been demolished. The north face of the single-storey element has a single door opening on the right with an original timber sheeted door. The modern garage has an up-and-over door opening to the north. The main rear elevation of the house has a single window opening at both ground and first floor levels and two narrow window openings at attic level, centred below the apex.

West Elevation

Reading from left to right, the west elevation begins with the modern garage, which has a single window opening fitted with a uPVC window and uPVC rainwater goods. Next is a two-storey section with three window openings at ground floor level. At first floor level to the left there is a single window opening under a raised-eaves section of roof, with a tall chimney immediately above. To the right there is a multi-paned timber round-headed stairwell window with two metal casement opening lights to the lower portion; this window rises above eaves height and has a hipped roof over, with a small conservation-style rooflight above. A large two-storey extension of around 1960 occupies the right side of this elevation, with large timber-framed tripartite picture windows at both ground and first floor levels. Timber bargeboards on the extension match the detailing of the original house.

Former Garage and Outbuildings

To the north of the site is a kitchen garden and a two-storey red-brick detached outbuilding, the former garage or motor house, built in a similar style to the main house. It has a pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, timber bargeboards and finials to the gable, and a red-brick chimneystack. Three-paned timber casement windows with projecting sandstone sills are provided to each elevation, with an oculus at the apex of each gable. The east gable retains its original double-leaf timber panelled garage doors, and the south elevation has a timber-sheeted door with a two-paned transom. A single-storey abutment to the west gable is accessed by a set of timber steps to the left and is enclosed by a gable wall with stone coping to the right. Remnants of a former glasshouse remain on the left side of the south façade. The outbuilding can also be accessed from the road bounding the north side of the site, which leads to a modern housing development. At the east end of this road there is a set of modest stone gateposts with chamfered edges and a pointed coping stone.

Setting and Boundary

'Clonaslee' occupies a large mature site bounded to the road by a rock-faced stone wall with stone coping, dating from around 1974. The entrance has square gate piers supporting original cast-iron gates, also dating from around 1974. A metal shed, formerly used as an electric battery store, and timber dog kennels are located along the northern boundary. A modern housing development lies to the west of the site.

The house continues in use as a private dwelling and is of interest as a record of domestic progress — having received electricity and central heating over the course of the 20th century — as well as for its connections to the linen industry and the ongoing expansion of Banbridge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.