Colebreene, 233 Loughan Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 1UD

Colebreene is a mid-19th-century villa built around 1840, sitting on the west side of Loughan Road south of Coleraine. It was built by the politician and religious controversialist Lord Robert Montagu (1825–1902) and first appears, captioned, on the second-edition Ordnance Survey map of 1849–53. The listing covers the house, its outbuildings, boundary walling, cast-iron water pump, and gate screen.

ARCHITECTURE AND APPEARANCE

The house is symmetrical, three bays wide, and sits single-storey over a part-exposed basement. Its plan is roughly cross-shaped, with a two-storey bowed bay to the front (west) elevation and two-storey canted bays to the north and south sides. To the rear there is a flat-roof porch projection and a single-storey L-shaped modern extension of little architectural interest; a single-storey extension also abuts the south side.

The roof is hipped natural slate with leaded ridges and hips, red brick chimneystacks carrying decorative tall clay pots, and overhanging eaves with timber-sheeted soffits fitted with cast-iron half-round rainwater goods.

The walling combines several materials used with care. The ground floor is Flemish-bonded yellow brick with blackstone quoins. The basement is rock-faced blackstone with yellow brick dressings. The rear elevation is blackstone built to courses with red brick dressings. A blackstone string-course runs between the two floor levels throughout.

Windows are tall timber transomed and mullioned multi-paned casements at ground floor, and 6-over-6 timber sash windows with horns set in yellow brick stepped surrounds at basement level. The east elevation has 6-over-6 timber sash windows without horns in red brick stepped surrounds. All windows have projecting stone sills. The canted bays carry eight-paned casements flanked by a pilastered frame with four-paned windows to their left and right facets at ground floor; at basement level the bays have 6-over-6 timber sash windows flanked by 4-over-4 timber sash windows to the side facets.

The principal elevation faces west. The central bow bay contains double-leaf multi-paned glazed timber doors flanked by windows in the same style, with a stepped bridge over the basement channel below; the bridge has curved rendered walls with a stone coping, and there are windows to either side of the bridge at basement level. A window sits to each side of the bow at both floor levels.

The east elevation, which faces the entrance drive, has the basement exposed on the right side only. At its centre is a flat-roof red brick porch projection on a stone plinth, housing the original double-leaf bolection-moulded four-panelled timber door with bronze door furniture. Above the door is a plain transom light, and the whole is set within a fluted timber architrave with decorative patera at the top corners. The right cheek of this projection has a timber casement window at basement level; the left cheek is abutted by the modern L-shaped rendered extension. To the right of the porch are two windows at ground floor over a 4-over-4 window and a central half-glazed door at basement level, reached by a steep ramp with a modern metal handrail. To the left of the L-shaped extension is a 6-over-6 window.

The south elevation has a two-storey canted bay at its centre. A lower single-storey extension abuts it to the right; the east face of this extension is blackstone with a 6-over-6 window in a red brick surround, while the west face is Flemish-bonded red brick on a blackstone plinth. A segmental-headed red brick archway serves the basement channel.

OUTBUILDINGS AND SETTING

Access from Loughan Road is via a long straight concrete drive flanked by hedges, leading to a square courtyard entered through a square-headed carriage entrance. The original two-storey rubblestone outbuildings form a U-shape around a central concrete yard, with the main house enclosing the courtyard to the west. These outbuildings have hipped slate roofs with angled ridge tiles and leaded hips, along with red brick chimneystacks, eaves, and dressings.

The north and east blocks have been refurbished and now function as a coffee shop and office. They have replacement timber sash windows with projecting stone sills and timber-sheeted doors, all in red brick stepped surrounds, with enlarged openings to the north elevation. The south block has modern timber casements and three 4-over-8 sash windows with exposed boxes at first floor, over a large modern square-headed entrance to the left and an original elliptical-headed carriage arch entrance to the right. At the centre of the ground floor is a timber-sheeted door with a five-paned transom light, flanked by six-paned timber casement windows with five-paned transoms over. Abutting the south block at its far right is a projecting single-storey tack room with an original red brick chimneystack to the west gable, a timber-sheeted door, and a 3-over-6 window.

To the west of the house is a small garden, now overgrown and enclosed by mature trees and plantings. A cast-iron pump stands in the yard. The entrance from Loughan Road has roughly coursed squared blackstone walls with square piers supporting cast-iron gates; the gates within the yard are replacement cast-iron. To the east of the courtyard are a group of large modern agricultural units and a gravelled car park.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) records the house and outbuildings at a valuation of £25, with Marcus Gage listed as occupier. Gage was a descendant of the family that had supplied two prebendaries of Aghadowey parish in the 18th century. The property was leased from Lord Robert Montagu, who also owned a large house in Portstewart. A sitting of the Royal Commission on the Irish Land Laws in 1897 heard that Montagu had constructed the very substantial farm buildings at Colebreene and had thoroughly drained and well fenced the land.

Lord Robert Montagu served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire from 1859 to 1874 and held a ministerial role in education. He wrote on shipbuilding and advocated for a naval school of architecture and engineering modelled on the Royal Military Academy. He declared trade unions to be a natural right, and in 1870 converted to Catholicism, which led to his expulsion from the Conservative Party three years later. He subsequently represented County Westmeath from 1874 to 1880 as a Home Ruler. After retiring from parliament in 1880 he devoted himself to religious controversy, rejoining the Church of England in 1882 and campaigning against Catholicism through a series of pamphlets. He died at his London home in 1902.

In 1890 the house passed to John Sharpe, a farmer and merchant, who was resident at the time of the 1901 census with his wife, children, and a live-in servant. The eight-room house was classified as first class. By 1907 the valuation had been reduced to £17 because the buildings were described as old and out of repair. By 1911 the farm had passed to farmer James D. Hart and his sister, who remained resident until 1941. A revaluation in the 1930s set the house at £17 and the agricultural buildings at £5 15s. Accommodation at that time comprised a porch, lounge, two reception rooms, four bedrooms, and a kitchen; the cellar, which had originally formed the ground floor, was by then used as a single wood store.

The house was listed in 1977. Renovations and repairs took place in 1983, and in the late 1990s some of the outbuildings were converted into holiday lets. At the time of listing the premises was in use as a boatyard, with the house itself vacant.