Old Rectory, 68 Culmore Point Road, Londonderry, BT48 8JW

Old Rectory

A late Georgian house much modified and extended in the Victorian period and further altered in the twentieth century, retaining some architectural detailing within. The house enjoys a fine walled garden and commanding views of the River Foyle.

The building is a rambling two-storey double pile structure of roughcast render with natural slate roofing. The front pile is gabled with three chimneys, while the rear pile has hipped roofs with gables that do not coincide with those at the front. The front pile is four bays long with a flat roof projecting over a porch occupying the third bay from the west. The other bays feature flat bow-type windows with low ground floor cills, slated canopies at first floor level, and the bow continuing upward to form an upper window. Each window is divided into nine almost square panes, with small brackets on each side supporting the canopies. Canopies are repeated at the eaves to protect the bows. Above the porch is a six-pane casement window. There is minimal eaves overhang except for a half-round metal gutter, and the gables have no fenestration. In the angle between the west gable and the projection of the rear pile is a two-storey flat-roofed porch forming the main entrance. The rear pile comprises two parts: the section behind the principal porch has a lower pitched hipped roof, which joins onto a hipped or pyramidal roof covering the kitchen area. To the rear are various windows—casement, sliding sash, and french doors—the latter giving access to a walled garden enclosing approximately 1,200 square metres with a three-metre high wall built of mixed brick and stone. The house sits close to the roadside, separated by a high hedge, with a partially enclosed court in front of the main entrance and to its side. Views upstream overlook Culmore Bay and the narrows, with direct southerly views toward the Foyle Bridge.

Prior to 1860, the house lay within the Culmore Estate, which was under the governance of the Governor of Culmore Fort. When the last Governor, Lord Strafford, died in 1860, the estate reverted to the Irish Society. In 1859, Anderson McCausland was the lessor, with W J Cregg as lessee and the property valued at £21. The Irish Society purchased the lease in 1867 for £1,000 to provide a residence for the incumbent of the newly established Holy Trinity Church. It is presumed the house was abandoned as a rectory when Wylie, a solicitor, donated his residence at No. 48 Culmore Point Road to the church as a rectory circa 1915, after which that became known as the new rectory. In 1882, the Irish Society carried out improvements to the old Culmore parsonage. The bow windows are a later addition made after the 1972 heritage survey. The current owners have occupied the house for twenty years, preceded by Mr Greenwood, Mr Kinnaird (circa 1910), and Mr Smith.