Officers’ Mess, Building 16, St. Lucia’s Barracks, Barracks Lane, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78

Officers' Mess, Building 16 — St. Lucia's Barracks, Omagh, Co. Tyrone

Overview

This is a detached, multi-bay, two-storey-over-basement barracks mess hall, built in 1881 to designs by Mr. James H. Butler, Civil Engineer, superintending officer of the Royal Engineer Department. It was probably constructed by the contractors Messrs. Colhoun Brothers of Derry, who also held a further contract of £25,000 for the wider barracks complex (with Messrs. Fulton of Belfast responsible for other elements). The building sits on the west side of the St. Lucia's Barracks parade ground, east of Barracks Lane, and forms part of a remarkably complete and well-preserved late-19th-century military barracks complex occupying an elevated and imposing site in the town.

Plan Form and Massing

The building is T-shaped on plan, facing east, with two gabled projections and a gabled entrance porch on the principal elevation. To either side is an advanced single-storey gable-fronted wing: the right-hand wing is contemporary with the main structure, while the left-hand wing dates from approximately 1990 and connects to a further setback wing. There are several original gabled single- and two-storey returns to the rear.

Roofs and Rainwater Goods

The roofs are pitched and covered in natural slate, with cut sandstone verges resting on sandstone kneeler stones. Large stone chimneystacks are fitted with terracotta chimneypots. Rainwater goods are ogee-profiled cast-iron gutters with half-round cast-iron downpipes.

External Walling and Dressings

The walls are built in random-coursed, squared, rock-faced limestone — the local stone — with ashlar sandstone dressings throughout. These dressings include a splayed plinth, projecting sill course, lintel course and eaves course, a flush platband at mid-window level, and quoins. Every gable has a ventilation loop at its apex dressed in ashlar sandstone with a platband beneath. The original specification recorded in the Tyrone Constitution of 16 December 1881 confirms the walls were built of local limestone with Dungannon grit-stone dressings and brick-lined internally as a precaution against damp.

Windows and Openings

Window openings are square-headed, fitted with uPVC windows (a modern replacement), and have dressed sandstone sills and dressed sandstone surrounds with stop-chamfer reveals and bull-nosed lintels.

Principal (East) Elevation

The principal elevation is nine windows wide. To the left is a full-height gabled projection with two windows to the first floor and three to the ground floor. At the centre is a lower gabled projection, two windows wide, fronted by a single-storey gabled entrance porch. The porch features three round-headed glazed apertures at its apex above a segmental-headed entrance opening with a voussoired and bull-nosed archivolt. It is flanked by two-stage sandstone buttresses and approached by four stone steps with a bootscraper to the right. A modern steel staircase to the left of the entrance porch descends to the basement level. The single-storey extensions on each side of the principal elevation each contain a paired window.

South, Rear (West) and North Elevations

The south elevation is abutted by the modern south wing, detailed to match the main block; the exposed section is blank. The rear (west) elevation is abutted by a projecting bay at the centre, a single-storey lean-to extension (of no architectural interest), and a return at the right end. The exposed section has a number of equally spaced windows and a segmental-arch-headed replacement door leading to the basement, with a wall-head gable to the right of centre. The return is extended further by a lower addition whose gable forms part of the western boundary wall of the site and faces the street. The right cheek of the return has two windows to each floor; the left cheek has a variety of diminished first-floor windows; the ground floor has blind loops at the right end and a replacement door reached by concrete steps. The north gable is abutted by the north wing, and its exposed section is blank with a chimneybreast at the centre. The north wing is single-storey to the east, rising to two storeys at the west as the ground falls; there are windows to each floor on the north side, a uPVC porch rising from external stone steps, and the west gable is cement rendered.

Interior

Although some modernisation has taken place, the building retains many original architectural features of merit. The Tyrone Constitution of 1881 described the internal fittings as "most elegant," noting that the passages were laid with ornamented encaustic tiling on a concrete floor — a finish used widely throughout the complex for passages, landings, corridors, kitchens, sculleries and yards. The ground-floor windows were originally fitted with patent revolving shutters. The officers' rooms contained polished mahogany presses and finely wrought Portland stone chimneypieces, while the Mess and Anteroom were fitted with massive marble chimneypieces. The 1881 account also records that the building contained, besides the Mess and Anteroom, quarters for eight officers with accommodation for their servants in the basement storey, with the field officers' quarters connected to the building but served by separate entrances.

Historical Context

The barracks were built for the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on land purchased by the government at the rear of the old Militia Barracks, Omagh. The total cost of the works was reported at between £30,000 and £40,000. Annual Revision records from 1879 describe the northern range of the new Military Barracks as comprising regimental shops and stores, a Paymaster's Office, soldiers' quarters, a Militia Office, Bread Store, Regimental Shop and meat store, commanding officer's and orderly room, guardroom, and related accommodation, with an estimated cost of approximately £15,500 for that phase alone. A further entry in 1881 records the Eastern and Western Division at £500. The buildings first appear on the 1882 Ordnance Survey town plan of Omagh, where they are captioned "Infantry Barracks," with the Officers' Mess shown as "Officers' Quarters." The complex has strong historic associations with both The Royal Irish Regiment and The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and reflects an important aspect of the architectural and social heritage of Omagh. It is notable for the unusual completeness and degree of preservation of the overall barracks group.

Setting

The Officers' Mess stands within the enclosed St. Lucia's Barracks complex on the west side of the parade ground. Surrounding it, clockwise, are the Waterloo and St. Lucia's Barracks Block, St. Lucia's Club, the Sergeant's Mess Hall, the Battalion Headquarters, South Africa and two stores, the Guardroom, and the Army Recruiting Centre.