1 Baronscourt Road, Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone BT78 4EX

1 Baronscourt Road, Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone

This is a two-storey, three-bay house dated 1938, prominently situated on a slightly elevated site at the Y-junction of Baronscourt Road and Strabane Road in Newtownstewart. It presents a curious blend of Modernist and Domestic Revival elements, in which half-timbered ornamentation and bowed bays soften an overall angularity expressed through corner windows and jutting gables.

Architectural Description

The house is cruciform on plan, facing east, with an additional single-storey extension filling the south-west re-entrant angle. All gables project outward at the apex over a full-height bowed bay. The roof is pitched, covered in artificial slate, and has a central red brick chimney stack with projecting bands. The apexes of the principal elevations carry bargeboards, decorative half-timbering, and terracotta finials. Slightly overhanging timber-sheeted boxed eaves support cast-iron rainwater goods (replaced with uPVC to the rear). The walls are finished in painted pebbledashed render over a smooth rendered contrasting plinth.

The windows are uPVC casements with contrasting painted concrete sills; their framing suggests that the originals were mullioned windows to the first floor and transomed-and-mullioned windows to the ground floor.

The principal elevation faces east and has a centrally projecting bay with corner windows to the ground floor, flanked by a window to either side. Like the other elevations, the central bay has a bowed bay, but here the first floor is supported on circular cast-concrete columns with pronounced entasis, themselves supported on oblique pedestals set on the second of a series of concrete platform steps. This arrangement forms a porch with diagonal side walls enclosed by painted plinth walls and an encaustic tiled threshold; the door is uPVC. The side walls of the porch each carry a datestone framed with a contrasting rendered band: the left reads "N. DREW TIPPING / 1938" and the right reads "N. DREW 1775".

The south gable has a central bowed bay containing two windows at ground floor and a continuous bowed window to the first floor. The rear elevation consists of a central return, which is almost completely abutted at its south cheek by an extension; it is lit by a wall-head dormer at either cheek, and the gable has a uPVC door flanked by windows with a large window to the first floor. The left bay has a plain square window. The extension is detailed to match the main house and has a window to the south. The north gable mirrors the south.

The house is set within a garden bounded by roughcast boundary walls with segmental concrete coping. Decorative mild steel gates are hung on brick piers with pyramidal caps. The farmyard is accessed to the south through a pair of modern timber-sheeted gates.

Outbuildings

To the rear, a group of random rubble stone outbuildings enclose a farmyard on three sides. All have natural slate roofs with a red brick eaves course and cast-iron rainwater goods. The south range, which also bounds Baronscourt Road, is two-storey and carries a datestone to the east gable inscribed "N. TIPPING 1885". All openings have brick dressings and concrete sills; windows are fixed multi-lights and doors are timber-sheeted. A flight of external stone steps leads to a loading door at first-floor level on the north side. The window openings facing south onto the road are equally spaced and have been infilled with concrete block. The west range is single storey, with all openings infilled with concrete block, including two central window openings inserted into a segmental-headed red brick panel with a yellow brick head. The right end of this range has been roughcast cement rendered as part of a conversion to a dwelling, which is of little architectural interest. The north range has similarly been converted to a dwelling.

Historical Background

A property is recorded on the first Ordnance Survey map of 1833, showing a main house and an outbuilding to the south-west. By the third edition of 1905, further outbuildings to the west and north-west had formed an enclosed courtyard around the main house; the complex was captioned "Rustic Cottage", a designation retained on the fourth edition. By the time of the most recent edition (1976), the original main house to the east had been demolished and replaced by the present farmhouse.

The Townland Valuation of 1828 to 1840 records the property as comprising a dwelling, three offices and a piggery, occupied by Arthur Drew, with the buildings valued at £9 17s 1d. The datestone inscribed "N. Drew 1775" is believed to have survived from the original buildings on this site. By the time of Griffith's Valuation of 1858, Nathaniel Tipping was leasing the property from Daniel Baird; it then comprised a house, offices and land, with the buildings valued at £4. The datestone inscribed "N. TIPPING 1885" on the southernmost outbuilding, together with the map evidence, indicates that considerable extending and rebuilding took place around that date. This is reflected in the Annual Revision records: a marginal note of 1889 states "Complained valuation very low", following which the valuation was raised to £8. Several buildings are listed in the margin at that date — "house thatched", "offices thatched", and three slated "offices" — with dimensions given for each.

In 1895, the Tipping family also acquired ownership of Bellevue house nearby. After 1934, Nathaniel W. Tipping became the owner in fee of the cottage, which by then comprised two rooms, a kitchen and three small rooms. The valuer's notes comment: "House fair. Water from spring laid on to kitchen." Both the house and its return were of rubble masonry and thatched.

On 26 July 1939, a valuer returned to inspect a "new house", the former cottage having burned down. The valuer described it as "vacant and owner trying to let. Very superior for farm house." The accommodation recorded was: to the ground floor, three rooms, a lounge, a hall with cloakroom off with wash-hand basin, a kitchen, pantry, store and outside WC; to the first floor, three bedrooms, a maid's bedroom, and a combined bath and WC. It was noted as "moderately well finished" with water and electric light. The property's rateable value was subsequently raised to £28, with £2 5s for the outbuildings. A plan and dimensions recorded at that time show the main house to be constructed of brick and reinforced concrete with an asbestos roof. A motor house of rubble masonry and slate was also shown, along with three further outbuildings including a two-storey barn.

The Tipping Family

The Tipping family owned extensive land and property, including Bellevue and Deerpark (to the south-west of the present house), in and around Newtownstewart, and were noted as progressive farmers. Four generations of the family gave long and distinguished service to the Parish of Ardstraw. Nathaniel Tipping (1802–1844) was for many years a member of the Select Vestry. His son Nathaniel (1837–1896) was likewise prominent in the work of the Select Vestry. A third Nathaniel, Nathaniel William (1863–1937), gave distinguished service as a Parochial Nominator, Diocesan Synodsman, Churchwarden and Select Vestry member for over thirty years; the Select Vestry paid tribute to him as "a staunch supporter of his church and a liberal subscriber to church funds." His daughter Mary (1897–1975) was appointed Honorary Secretary from 1940 and Honorary Treasurer from 1951. One of Ardstraw church's six stained glass windows, made by the distinguished Caldermac Studios in 1979, was erected in her memory.

Note on Listing Status

Although the house and associated farm buildings form an interesting group of late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings, the original door and windows in the main house have been replaced with uPVC, and the buildings are not considered to be of sufficient interest to merit listing.