The Old Rectory, 17 Dunderg Road, Macosquin, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 4PN

The Old Rectory, Macosquin

The Old Rectory is a symmetrical three-bay, three-storey-over-basement rendered former Georgian rectory, built in 1780 and situated on the south side of Dunderg Road in Macosquin, in the townland of Camus Macosquin Glebe. It is a fine and well-preserved example of a large rural Georgian rectory, retaining much of its original detailing and character, and sits within an acre of mature grounds to the north side of Macosquin Bridge. The listing covers the house together with its outbuildings, boundary walling, railings, and gate screen.

Architectural Overview

The building has a rectangular plan. The principal elevation faces northwest and is symmetrically arranged around a later single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch. There is a two-storey-over-basement extension to the southwest, which is itself abutted at its southwest gable by a two-storey rendered servant's block. The roof is pitched natural slate with red-brick chimneystacks to the gables. Rainwater goods are mainly plastic on the projecting eaves, but cast-iron ogee gutters with a hopper and downpipes survive to the porch. The external walling is finished in ruled-and-lined cement render, with a rendered string-course between the basement and first floor of the porch.

Windows throughout are timber sash, set in simple painted rendered reveals with projecting painted sandstone sills. The main windows are six-over-six pane, not all fitted with horns; the second floor has six-over-three pane windows; the basement has six-over-three and three-over-three pane windows.

Principal (Northwest) Elevation

The principal elevation is three windows wide at the upper floors. At ground floor level there is one window to either side of the projecting porch. The porch opens to the northeast and is reached by a set of eight original sandstone steps fitted with a modern metal handrail. The doorway is a replacement six-panel timber door with brass furniture, set within a deep round-headed recess. The porch is lit to the southwest by a six-over-six sash window and to the northwest by a bipartite six-over-six timber window. The basement of the porch is lit to the southwest by a fixed two-over-two timber window. The southwest extension is two windows wide at each floor.

Northeast Gable

The northeast gable is blank.

Southeast Elevation

The southeast elevation has five evenly spaced windows at each floor, with metal bars fitted to the basement windows. To the right of centre at ground floor level there is a set of replacement timber steps. The extension to the left is two windows wide at each floor.

Southwest Gable

The southwest gable is abutted by the extension and has a six-over-three window to the first floor, left of centre. It is further abutted to the right by the two-storey rendered servant's block.

Outbuildings and Setting

The property is accessed from Dunderg Road to the northwest by a gravelled driveway, through curved ruled-and-lined entrance walls with square stone piers having corniced caps and supporting replacement cast-iron gates. The site boundary along Dunderg Road to the northwest is formed by a coursed rock-faced stone wall with coping topped by metal railings, which were acquired from Terrace Row Presbyterian Church (listed separately). To the northwest there is also a modern timber gate on tall red-brick piers with pointed concrete caps. The southern boundary, along the rubblestone three-span Macosquin Bridge, is formed by a low rubblestone wall.

The entrance driveway leads to an informal yard on the southwest side of the house.

Servant's Block

Adjoining the southwest gable is a two-storey roughcast rendered servant's block with rendered chimneystacks and plastic rainwater goods, enclosed within rendered walls and accessed through a round-headed cast-iron gate. The northwest elevation of the servant's block has six-over-three timber sash windows in simple rendered reveals with projecting stone sills, an eight-over-four sash to the right at ground floor, and two timber-sheeted doors at ground floor in simple rendered reveals. The southeast elevation has exposed areas of rubblestone and brickwork with replacement fixed timber windows at both ground and first floor. The interior is plain, with a partially quarry-tiled floor and a quarter-turn timber staircase leading to the former kitchen.

Single-Storey Outbuilding

Abutting the servant's block to the southwest is a single-storey slated rendered outbuilding with four-over-four timber sash windows and timber-sheeted doors in simple painted reveals. The southeast elevation has two bipartite round-headed windows with projecting stone sills and two slender red-brick vents. The southwest elevation has a window matching those on the southeast. The interior comprises one large room with a coved timber-sheeted ceiling, plastered and painted walls, and timber-boarded floors laid with carpet. To the northeast wall is a simple open hearth with a projecting chimneybreast.

Stable Block

To the southwest side of the yard stands a two-storey roughcast rendered slated stable block. The southwest elevation has a square-headed carriage arch entrance with timber-sheeted doors, six-over-three timber sash windows, and a timber-sheeted loading door to the first floor, along with six-over-six sash windows and a replacement timber-sheeted door at ground floor. The northeast elevation has a timber-sheeted door on a rubblestone and concrete plinth with steps to the first floor, left of centre. The southeast gable has windows at ground and first floor. The interior retains cobbled flooring, timber partitions to the stalls with metal rods, slates in the tack room, and a cobbled stone floor in the carriage room.

Garden and Grounds

The large garden to the south contains a variety of mature trees and plantings. An original wall to the northeast gable encloses a paved patio area with original cast-iron gates on polygonal cast-iron piers.

Historical Background

The Old Rectory was formerly known as Macosquin Glebe House and served as the residence for the clergy of St Mary's Parish Church for almost two centuries. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of around 1830 recorded that it was occupied at that time by the Reverend George Craig, and confirmed a construction date of 1780. The same memoirs noted that although the house was sufficiently spacious for its purpose, it had been badly built, and that its walls, though thick, were not waterproof. The memoirs also claimed that the remains of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey, located near the site of St Mary's Church, were demolished in order to build the glebe house. Lewis recorded that the glebe house was constructed at a cost of £738 9s., and the Townland Valuations of around 1830 valued it at £14.

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830 shows only the main three-storey-over-basement building had been constructed by that date, along with some minor outbuildings that were subsequently demolished. Between 1830 and the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1849–50, the house was considerably extended to the southwest: the two-storey-over-basement extension, the two-storey servant's block and adjoining outbuilding, and the two-storey stable block were all added during this period. The projecting porch to the northwest elevation was also present by this time, though given the lack of detail on the first edition map it is possible it could be earlier. Griffith's Valuation recorded that as a result of these additions the value of the property had doubled to £28. Griffith's Valuation noted that the glebe house was owned by the Established Church and occupied by the Reverend Thomas McClellan in 1856.

Further improvement works were carried out in 1861, raising the value to £30 that year, though the specific features attributable to this phase of work are not known. An additional outbuilding, which first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904, may have been built at this time; it was subsequently demolished before 1949.

The Reverend McClellan continued to reside at the glebe house until after the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871, when the Reverend Edward Newland became Rector. Following the disestablishment, the property became known as the Rectory. Subsequent rectors included the Reverend Charles Albert Stubbs (1884–1893), the Reverend Thomas Carey Knox (1893–1900), and the Reverend Edward O'Brien (1900–1932). The 1901 Census recorded that the Reverend O'Brien, then aged 32, lived at the Rectory with his aunt and two domestic servants, who presumably occupied the adjoining servant's block. The census building return described the Rectory as a first-class dwelling with eight main rooms and a range of outbuildings including a stable, coach house, cow house, barn, and fowl house.

The Reverend O'Brien vacated the Rectory in 1933, when the Reverend Robert H. Faulkner took possession. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland in 1935 the combined value of the Rectory and its outbuildings had risen to £40. St Mary's Church records note that the Reverend George Reginald Minchin took possession in 1946. The fifth edition Ordnance Survey map records the demolition of the pre-1904 outbuilding by 1949, and since the mid-20th century the general layout of the site has not been noticeably altered. The Reverend Minchin was still in residence during the 1950s when the property's value was raised to £45 under the second revaluation. In 1968, the trustees of St Mary's Church sold the former Rectory to the current owner as a private dwelling, using the proceeds to fund the construction of a modern Rectory built in the 1970s to the northeast of the former building, which continues in use as the rector's residence.

The architectural historian Alistair Rowan suggested a construction date of 1770 with modernisation around 1800, but the map and valuation evidence indicates that the principal period of alteration was between 1830 and 1849–50.

The Old Rectory makes a substantial contribution to the historic quality and character of Macosquin village and the surrounding area. It has historic group value with St Mary's Parish Church, located to the northeast. The associated outbuildings, rubblestone walling, and ironwork all enhance the setting considerably.