Ballydevitt House, Ballydevitt Road, Aghadowey, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 4DR

Ballydevitt House is a detached, asymmetrical three-bay, two-storey Victorian house, built in 1890 for James Thomas Moon, superintendent of the associated bleach works, on a site with strong connections to the linen industry stretching back to the mid-18th century. The house stands in a mature rural farmland setting on an elevated position to the south of Ballydevitt Road, Aghadowey, overlooking fields, woodland, and the Aghadowey River.

HISTORY AND CONTEXT

The bleach green at Ballydevitt was established by John Blair in 1744, with a datestone formerly recorded in the wash mill. By the 1830s the works belonged to Thomas Bennet and John Adams, and the neighbouring house of Wigmore (formerly called Ballydevitt) dates from 1806. The linen industry in the Coleraine area was at its peak in the early 19th century; the finest quality cloths were known as "Coleraines." Ballydevitt linen in particular enjoyed an exceptional reputation, winning gold medals at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and in New York in 1853, with purchasers reportedly buying goods without inspection. A substantial international trade was conducted with Germany, Italy, and France. Steam for the works was generated by burning peat cut in summer by workers at Carnrallagh bog, and spring water was piped from wells in Ballywillan and Carnrallagh. The bleaching works survived until the 1920s when a downturn in the linen industry forced its closure.

Buildings are recorded on the site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1831–2, showing ranges forming three sides of a courtyard, a gate lodge opposite the entrance drive, and Ballydevitt bleach green to the east. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 lists the occupier as James Thomas, leasing from the Representatives of John B. Stirling; the house and offices were valued at £8, set within a plot of over 81 acres including an expanse of bog. Subsequent occupiers included James Adams (1867), son of bleacher John Adams of Wigmore, followed in 1886 by James Adams' sister, Catherine Mary Lopdell (née Adams). The Lopdells lived in Athenry, County Galway, visiting Ballydevitt regularly. In 1889, Catherine Lopdell let Ballydevitt House to James Thomas Moon, who managed the bleaching business in her absence. In 1890, Moon demolished the two western ranges of the original courtyard group and, retaining the two-storey eastern range, constructed the present house, a return, and a single-storey outbuilding at a contract price of £1,225. The valuation of the buildings was consequently raised to £32. At the 1901 census the house was designated first class, and Moon lived there with his wife, five children, and three servants including a governess. By 1911 Moon described himself as a magistrate and linen merchant; one son, William John Kidd Moon, was an apprentice in the linen trade and later served with distinction in the First World War, being awarded the Military Cross in 1919. Another son entered the legal profession, a daughter Mary Ethel Moon served in the St John's Ambulance Association, and James Moon himself was active in organising a war memorial in Aghadowey. The house continues in use as a private dwelling.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The main house is rectangular on plan. A substantial two-storey return extends to the north-east as part of the original construction, and a further single-storey return runs parallel to it, dating from the early to mid-20th century. The design reflects both the status of the original owner and a rich, eclectic architectural style, characterised by relatively restrained classical detailing and enlivened by asymmetrical projecting bays.

The roof of the main house is flat-topped and hipped, covered in slate with angled terracotta ridge and hip-tiles. A pair of tall rendered chimneys rise from the front and rear ridge-lines. The lower-level returns are gabled with pitched slate roofs, angled terracotta ridge-tiles, and a single matching chimney to the ridge of the main return. The two-storey advancing bays on the principal elevation have hipped slate roofs that break through the eaves, finished with black and grey hipped ridge-tiles. Rainwater goods consist of ogee cast-iron gutters mounted over bracketed eaves edged in plain timber fascia on the main house, with a mix of round and squared downpipes (some with decorative brackets); the main return has plainer projecting moulded eaves.

The walling of the main house is ruled-and-lined render on the upper floor, with projecting strip quoins, a projecting string course below, and smooth render with horizontal channelling to the ground floor, over a smooth rendered base on a projecting plinth. The returns are generally ruled-and-lined rendered, with roughcast to the gable and south elevation of the primary return.

Windows throughout are generally segmental headed, fitted with original one-over-one horned timber sashes in plain reveals. Continuous moulded and projecting sill courses wrap around the elevations of the main house; stone sills are used to the rear elevation and returns.

PRINCIPAL AND SIDE ELEVATIONS

The asymmetrical principal elevation faces south-west. It has a full-height double-light bay window to the left and a similar canted bay window to the right. Between them is the main entrance: an original eight-panelled double-leaf door with a window above and a segmental plain-glass transom. The door-case is surmounted by a projecting triangular pediment supported on scrolled brackets and engaged panelled pilasters on plinths. Sandstone steps with dwarf walls on each side lead up to the entrance.

The north-west elevation is asymmetrical and two bays wide, with three windows to the upper floor and two to the right side of the ground floor. On the left side, a pair of windows lights an advancing flat-roofed, single-storey box bay.

A small gabled return to the left side of the main north-east elevation contains matching windows to each cheek and in the gable. These are all squared one-over-one timber sashes with decorative frosted glazing, original to the early 20th century. A narrow timber-sheeted door with a plain-glass transom sits in the left cheek.

The rear north-east elevation is roughcast to the centre, with a single window to the far left, and two semicircular-headed, leaded and stained-glass stairwell windows to the centre — the upper one being of larger scale with timber glazing bars. The two-storey gabled return abuts to the right. Its right cheek is asymmetrical, ruled-and-lined rendered, and lit by five windows at each level; there is a continuous moulded sill course to the first floor, a string course, and a projecting rendered base. The left cheek is also asymmetrical, with four windows to the upper floor (the far-right being square-headed), a pair of replacement timber-sheeted doors to the right, and two windows to the left, one very narrow. The upper gable of the return contains a single square-headed timber casement window.

The south-east elevation is asymmetrical, with two windows to the upper floor and a window and canted bay window below. To the far right is an original narrow six-panelled timber door in a similar style to the main entrance, with a plain-glass segmental transom above.

SETTING, GATES, AND BOUNDARY WALLS

The house is set back on the southern side of Ballydevitt Road within mature rural farmland. The main access from the north-west passes through a pair of curved, painted, and capped walls, with large spherical-capped piers supporting cast-iron gates, opening onto a winding gravel drive. The associated gate lodge is sited directly opposite the entrance. Coursed and uncoursed rubble-stone walls run along the main road and abut the gable of the principal return. A rendered wall punctuated by two large squared piers extends south-east from the eastern corner of the main house, enclosing the yard with a hung sliding metal gate. Stone-capped circular rubble-stone pillars to the north-east provide access to the outbuilding yard to the east.

OUTBUILDINGS

Double-height historic stone and roughcast outbuildings form an informal yard to the east, dating from the mid to late 19th century. These are roughcast and slated with stone ridge-tiles and have been re-roofed in recent decades with refurbished interiors and modern replica or replacement windows and doors to the exterior.

The northern outbuilding (approximately 1830) is a former stable and tack building: two-storey and gabled, with louvered upper openings, metal-frame windows, timber-sheeted doors to the south elevation, a large sliding door to the right side, and a plain-glass replacement transom and side-lights to the door right of centre. A decorative iron weather vane sits at the centre of the roof ridge. The interior has been modernised, with animal stalls inserted and the upper floor refurbished for group use.

The eastern double-height outbuilding has a hipped roof with two replacement metal and timber louvered lanterns, two six-pane metal windows, and a timber-sheeted sliding door. The interior has a modern concrete floor and rendered walls, with an upper floor to the southern portion (formerly used for storage); original ladders remain but are no longer in place. Both outbuildings have decorative vents to the exterior.

Three further outbuildings are located within the yard, all rendered, with mono-pitched corrugated metal roofs, replacement timber-sheeted doors, and metal windows.

Beyond the outbuildings to the north and east lies a working farmyard and fields, in which a brick watch house survives from the period of linen bleaching. Wigmore House is situated to the north-east. Together, Ballydevitt House and Wigmore House constitute an important and well-preserved example of late 19th century rural architecture, and the site also has group value with the nearby watch house and the gate lodge.