The Old Manse, 37 Magheraboy Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT56 8NX

The Old Manse, 37 Magheraboy Road, Portrush

The Old Manse is a symmetrical detached, two-storey, three-bay rendered house, built in the mid-19th century — most likely around 1863, though first recorded in valuation records in 1875 — as the manse for Ballywillin Presbyterian Church. It stands on the northern side of Magheraboy Road on the southern outskirts of Portrush, in the townland of Magheramenagh, within large lawned grounds with mature perimeter planting. The building is not listed, having been assessed as not of sufficient architectural or historic interest to warrant listing.

Form and Plan

The building is rectangular on plan, facing east, with two full-height gabled returns projecting from the rear (west) elevation. The southern return dates from around the time of the original construction. A truncated northern return is a modern extension added in recent decades. An enclosed yard lies to the rear, with a mono-pitched outbuilding spanning its western end.

Exterior

The roof is pitched and slated, with angled black and grey ridge-tiles. Rainwater goods are uPVC, fixed to projecting eaves on plain timber fascia boards; plain timber fascia boards are also used to the gables. The rendered chimneys carry multiple octagonal terracotta pots, some of which are missing or have been replaced; a smaller chimney in the valley between the two western returns has circular pots.

The walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined render over a projecting smooth base, with raised rusticated quoin strips at the corners. Window openings are plain square-headed with painted masonry sills. On the principal (east) elevation the openings have moulded architraves. Windows throughout are 6/6 timber sashes with angled horns, unless noted otherwise.

Principal (East) Elevation

The east elevation is three bays wide, with openings vertically aligned. The central door-case is recessed and has panelled linings; above it projects a cornice supported on scrolled console brackets and flanked by panelled pilasters. The timber door is four-panelled (the lower portion partially infilled) and retains its original brass furniture. Three-paned vertical side-lights are flanked by timber apron panels and pilasters; a narrow three-light transom sits above the door.

South Elevation

The south elevation has one window at each floor to the left. The ground-floor window has frosted glazing inserts. To the right-hand side and left of centre are similar but very narrow windows.

West and Return Elevations

The west elevation is abutted to the right by a gabled return. A modern mono-pitched single-storey extension occupies the far-right re-entrant angle and is of no architectural interest. The gable of the return has two 4/4 sashes above a large replacement timber casement. The right cheek of the return has two 4/4 sashes to the left and a single, narrow version with frosted glazing to the upper right.

The left cheek of the return and the left portion of the main west elevation are abutted by a shorter two-storey gabled extension in a similar style to the return, with 2/2 timber casements to the first floor of both its gable and left cheek. The view of the ground floor of this extension is obstructed by a perimeter wall; at ground floor, the left cheek is abutted by a flat-roofed outbuilding that extends to the north perimeter wall of the yard. The remaining portion of the west elevation is blank.

North Elevation

The north elevation has two windows to the left and two narrower windows to the right.

Setting and Boundary Features

The house is approached from the south-east by a sweeping drive. The entrance features alcoved and capped walls in painted ruled-and-lined render, with squared and capped piers supporting painted timber gates. Pedestrian access is through a pair of similar piers to the south, leading to a concrete stepped path. A small river forms the boundary to the far west.

An enclosed yard to the rear is bounded by a single-storey capped perimeter wall abutting both sides of the west elevation. The north face of this wall is rubble-stone and rendered; the south face matches the render treatment of the house walls. Both have timber-sheeted doors. The north face rises toward the east and has a flat-roofed outbuilding abutting the re-entrant angle. A mono-pitched outbuilding with a corrugated asbestos roof abuts the west wall, which has a parapetted wall and a modern garage door to the south, and a timber-sheeted door to the north.

Interior

The building has been extensively refurbished and altered internally.

Historical Notes

The house was built as the manse to Ballywillin Presbyterian Church and first valued at £13 10s in the Annual Revisions for Ballylagan Electoral Division in 1875. Church records and the historian Girvan suggest the manse may have been constructed slightly earlier, around 1863, shortly after the ordination of the first minister to occupy it. That first occupant was the Reverend Matthew Woodburn (minister 1862–1877), all six of whose children were born at the manse between 1865 and 1874; he died in 1877 having only briefly resided there.

The longest occupant was the Reverend Hugh Richardson Wells, who served at Ballywillin for five decades. The 1911 Census records Wells (then aged 57) residing at Ballywillin Manse with his wife Jessie (46); the census building return described it as a first-class dwelling with 13 rooms and a number of farm offices, including a coach house, a cow house and a shed, all within the outbuilding to the west. The third-edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904 shows the outbuilding but does not depict the two-storey rear return, which appears to have been built between 1904 and 1922, when it is shown on the fourth-edition map; despite this alteration, the valuation remained unchanged at £13 10s. The manse had previously been leased from a Mr. William Reid, and was purchased outright by the Trustees of Ballywillin Presbyterian Church in 1919. Wells retired in 1929 and died in 1933, by which time he and his wife had moved to No. 5 Dhu Varren Park.

By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland in 1935, the manse's value had risen to £26; it was then occupied by the Reverend William Hutchinson (minister 1932–1953). The second revaluation (1956–1972) raised the value to £39. Between 1954 and 1961 the Reverend William Cowper Lynas occupied the manse; from 1961 it was occupied by the Reverend James Frazer, the last minister to reside there. In 1973 the Trustees obtained permission from the Presbyterian General Assembly for Frazer to live instead at his own residence on the Gateside Road, and in the same year the Old Manse was sold. Upon Frazer's retirement, a new manse was purchased at No. 3 Magheraboy Drive. Since 1973 the building has been in private residential use.

In 1972 Girvan described the manse as "a late-Georgian style house, three-bay two-storey; rendered with moulded surrounds to the windows; Georgian glazing bars."