Bridge Hill, 111 Drumquin Road, Castlederg, Co.Tyrone, BT81 7RB

Bridge Hill, 111 Drumquin Road, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone

Bridge Hill is an early 19th-century two-storey, three-bay farmhouse with attic, dating from around 1815, set on an elevated site on the west side of Drumquin Road, Castlederg. Together with its outbuildings, entrance gates, garden walling and cast-iron water pump, it forms a substantially intact historic farmstead grouping prominently situated at the junction of three public roads. The house and outbuildings have been exceptionally well maintained and retain an early appearance. The rural setting is unspoiled and enhanced by the presence of a rath contained within a mature plantation to the west.

The House

The house is rectangular on plan, with an attached L-shaped single-storey lean-to store to the west, a single-storey porch to the north, and a later two-storey return to the south. The roof is pitched natural slate with roll-moulded clay ridge tiles and three rendered gable chimneystacks fitted with terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are replacement ogee-profile metal on a rendered eaves course. The walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined cement render over a projecting contrasting plinth course.

Windows throughout are timber sliding sashes without horns, with exposed sash boxes and cylinder glazing. Ground floor windows are 6-over-6 panes; first floor windows are 6-over-3. Cills are concrete.

The principal elevation faces north and has one opening per bay at each floor, arranged around a flat-roofed porch. The porch is detailed to match the house, though its windows have horns. It has a window to the north face and to the right cheek. The left cheek has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with kickboard, a beaded frame set on painted stone plinth blocks, and cast-iron door furniture, reached by two concrete steps. To the far right, the lean-to store is screened at this elevation by a raised wall running up to eaves level, with a simple chimneystack at its outer corner and a small central bipartite 4-over-4 sash window with horns.

The east gable has a central window at ground floor level and a similar, smaller attic window above. The rear elevation is centrally abutted by the two-storey return, which is detailed to match the house. The left and right bays each have a window at both floors. The return has two 2-over-2 sash windows with horns to each cheek, except at ground floor left, where there is a 6-over-6 sash and a vertically sheeted timber door; there is also a 6-over-6 sash at ground floor in the gable. The west gable is abutted by the lean-to store and has an attic window; the render here is unpainted.

The L-shaped lean-to store encloses a small stone-flagged rear yard. The south portion abutting the house has a timber-sheeted door surmounted by a uPVC casement imitating a sash. The east elevation enclosing the yard has a 2-over-2 sash and a timber door; the west elevation is blank, with whitewashed coursed squared rubble stone walling. At the south-west corner the store is abutted by a two-storey barn.

Grounds and Setting

The house has lawns to the north with a gravel forecourt and peripheral paths, all enclosed by a rendered garden wall with saddleback coping. The main site is accessed from the east by a farm lane bounded by hedges and flanked at its entrance by splayed plinth walls, each terminated on either side by square piers with gableted caps. The inner piers support replacement metal gates; the outer piers support identical wrought-iron field gates giving access to pasture on either side. A further similar gate at the head of the lane opens onto the gravel forecourt of the house.

To the south, a secondary farm lane is accessed from Lettergarn Road and is flanked on either side by split-level ranges of lime-washed rubble stone outbuildings. The farm lane is tarmacked with gravelled borders and is bounded beyond the outbuildings by dry rubble stone walls.

The Outbuildings

The outbuilding ranges consist of a two-storey barn to the west of the secondary lane; a two-storey stable range with a cast-iron cow-tail water pump to the east side of the lane; a two-storey coach house to the west side of the lane; and additional single-storey stable ranges extending both main ranges to the south. Unless otherwise noted, all have pitched natural slate roofs, cement-rendered chimneystacks, and lime-washed rubble stone walls.

The barn is set on a slope, making it two storeys at the east end and one-and-a-half storeys at the west. It has a number of ventilation openings, some now infilled and lime-washed, along with tongue-and-groove sheeted doors and window openings, all with timber lintels. There is a square-headed vehicular opening with timber lintel to the south. The east gable has two sheeted timber doors, with the upper-level door accessed from the yard by an external flight of stone steps. The north elevation has a bipartite 4-over-4 fixed window surmounted by a uPVC casement, and also three horizontal three-light windows.

The east stable range has a chamfered corner and external steps leading to a loading door with a gablet above. All openings, including window openings, are tongue-and-groove sheeted, with stone sills and painted timber lintels. The original timber doors retain ventilation slots and most have wrought-iron hinges. The lower stable range at the east has a pitched corrugated asbestos roof and a series of stable doors, each flanked to the left by a three-light horizontal window opening.

The west range has a double timber-sheeted door set within an elliptical-headed coach arch with a brick head, and immediately adjacent a square-headed coach house opening with a heavy timber lintel surmounted by a loading door. There are two additional single-storey structures to the south: a byre with a chimneystack, detailed as the others, and a roofless range with doors intact, abutted by a circular pier with a wrought-iron field gate giving access to a cobbled yard.

To the north of the house, between the house and the river course, there is a one-and-a-half-storey rubble structure of mill type with a corrugated metal roof. Adjacent to this is a small single-storey rubble structure with a pitched natural slate roof.

Historical Background

Buildings are shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, comprising the main house and outbuildings to the west and south-east, with a mill shown nearby to the west. By the second edition of 1855 the complex is named Bridge Hill, and a flax kiln is also shown on the site, alongside a flax mill and corn mill nearby. A further long outbuilding to the south-east appears on the third edition of 1905, and by the fourth edition of 1939–50 a hydraulic ram is recorded on the site.

The Townland Valuation of 1828–40 lists the house as the dwelling of Samuel Sproule, a name later changed to William Gamble. The outbuildings recorded at that time include a car house, stable and hayloft, barn, and corn kiln. The entire holding was valued at £9. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 records the lessor as the Earl of Castlestuart, with the value slightly raised to £10; the valuer notes that "this farm has been considerably improved by thorough draining land reclamation." Annual revision records of 1860–1924 show the value rising again to £12. The property passed to James Fulton Gamble in 1906, who became the owner in fee in 1913 under early 20th-century land purchase legislation.

By 1933 the valuation was raised to £20 for the house and £4 for the outbuildings. At that time the ground floor contained three reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery, and pantry; the first floor had five bedrooms, a bathroom with hot and cold water, and a separate WC; and the second floor had two attic rooms. There was no electric light or gas, and water was hand-pumped. The valuer noted that ceilings were low on both the ground and first floors.