Mullaghmore House, 94 Old Mountfield Road, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT79 7EX

Mullaghmore House is a detached three-bay two-storey Georgian double-pile house of complex and layered origins, situated on the north side of the Old Mountfield Road. The rear portion dates from around 1750, with the front pile added around 1800. The house is of particular interest for its asymmetrical façade, which formalises essentially vernacular elements — including a narrow front door — and reflects a complicated spatial history rooted in the gradual absorption and extension of an earlier structure. Alterations carried out in the 1950s and again in the early 21st century have added further layers to this history, not always with clarity, but the survival of early fabric and the unusual detailing of the façade remain of considerable architectural interest, as does the record of construction revealed during recent renovation work.

The house is arranged on an L-plan, facing south, with a two-storey return to the rear, an extended lower two-storey addition, a single-bay two-storey annex to the east of the return, and a lean-to two-storey addition to the west of the return, with a lean-to single-storey porch to the north of the extension.

The roof is natural slate, forming an M-profile at the west elevation, hipped at the return junction, with angled blue-black clay ridge and hip tiles. The painted rendered chimneystacks at the gables carry octagonal terracotta chimneypots. The eaves are deeply projecting painted timber box eaves on carved brackets, with half-round cast-iron gutters. Walling throughout is painted roughcast render.

The windows on the principal elevations are round-headed painted timber 12-over-6 sashes with intersecting tracery above, set on stone sills. The principal south-facing elevation is asymmetrical, with bipartite windows to each bay — except the left-hand bay at ground floor, which is tripartite. At the centre is a round-headed painted timber moulded panel door with a moulded architrave, a stilted 8-light radial fanlight over, and a replacement elaborate brass nautical-themed clipper door knocker.

The west elevation is largely obscured by a modern orangery of no architectural interest. The exposed section of the first floor on this elevation has two single 12-light casements with intersecting tracery above.

The rear north elevation is abutted to the left by the return and at centre by the extension. The exposed section has two square-headed painted timber 6-over-6 sashes at first floor. The return is abutted by the lower return extension; its exposed section is blank, and its right cheek is abutted by an addition with a single square-headed painted timber 1-over-1 stained glass sash at first floor. The left cheek of the return is abutted by the annex. The annex has a single square-headed diminutive painted timber lattice-glazed casement; its left cheek is blank, and its right cheek has a square-headed replacement timber door with a central diminutive lattice-glazed casement above.

The return extension's north gable has a single square-headed replacement timber door at the first floor left end, accessed by an external decorative cast-iron staircase with balcony. Its left cheek has a single painted timber lattice-glazed window to the left end of each floor. The right cheek at first floor has two square-headed painted timber 2-over-2 sashes; at ground floor there are two central square-headed entrances, of which the right is blocked with render, and a painted timber raised-and-fielded four-panelled door with central fillet, flanked by two 2-over-2 sash windows.

The addition's west elevation has two square-headed windows. Its right cheek is entirely abutted by the house, and its left cheek is abutted by the porch; the exposed section of the left cheek has a single square-headed painted timber 1-over-1 stained glass sash to the left end. The porch's north elevation is blank; its left cheek is entirely abutted by the return and return extension; its right cheek has a single square-headed painted timber moulded panelled door.

The east elevation's right end has tripartite windows to each floor: at first floor a 6-over-6 sash flanked by 2-over-2 sashes; at ground floor a 6-over-6 sash flanked by 4-over-4 sashes.

The house is set in an elevated, landscaped, lawned garden, set back from the road by a pebble forecourt enclosed by a standing stone, moulded stone piers, and rubble stone boundary walls.

The late Georgian front pile was built around 1800, though the rear of the house is likely older. The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, captioned "Mullaghmore." The Townland Valuation records it as a "house and offices" occupied by William Laney, valued at £17. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1834, authored by Lieutenant William Lancey, describe "Mullaghmore house" as "a substantial dwelling" (Vol. 5, p. 17). Griffith's Valuation of 1858 records the owner as George H. Stack, with the Rev. W. Stack as lessor. The building valuation was later revised at an unknown date to £28, with no further increases or decreases recorded beyond various changes of occupier.

According to the current owner, the orangery was rebuilt in 2002 on the site of an early-19th-century predecessor that collapsed in the 1940s. The interior was modernised in 1952 when central heating was installed, and many historic features were altered at that time. The house was subsequently restored between 2000 and 2002. During that renovation, the removal of render from the front pile revealed that it is constructed of random rubble stone with very large quoins that appear to have been reused from a more substantial earlier structure. The owner believes these tooled quoins may be of late medieval origin and are not in keeping with the late-18th or early-19th-century front pile. The temporary removal of render also revealed several blocked low doorways and diminished windows with deeply splayed embrasures. Two low brick tunnels originating from the kitchen were also discovered: one leading outside to the east of the kitchen and another running beneath the boiler room.

During the same renovation works, a toppled twelve-foot standing stone was found buried in the ground in front of the house. The stone weighs several tons, is tooled, and is not indigenous to the local area. The owner reports that it is believed to have fallen in the 12th century, based on pottery found beneath it; it does not appear on Ordnance Survey maps because it was buried at the time of survey. The stone has since been re-erected and now forms part of the forecourt enclosure.

Alistair Rowan, writing in North West Ulster (1979) in the Buildings of Ireland series, describes Mullaghmore House as a "Late Georgian (c.1800)... charmingly unsophisticated double pile that is little more than a cottage" (p. 449).

The current owner states that "Mullaghmore" means "Mound of the high place," and that the house as it appears today was largely built by the Stack family, who had connections to several properties in the area and in England. The Stack family also constructed the nearby Knock-na-moe Castle (1875), which was demolished around 1990. They donated stained glass windows to St. Columba's Church of Ireland Church, where one family member, the Rev. William Stack, had served as curate. Another member, Richard Stack, was rector of Cappagh Parish Church on Gortin Road from 1807 to 1812. An original window pane, now lost, was inscribed "R. Stack 1838."

The house subsequently passed to the Scott family, who had extensive military connections and frequently let the property. In 1922, Major General Patrick Scott rented the house to the Gorman family. Sir John Gorman, an influential participant in the Northern Ireland peace process, was born here in February 1923. His father, a Royal Irish Constabulary district inspector for County Tyrone, along with several other former RIC officers, is said to have formed the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the house during the partition period. The building served as RUC headquarters for a number of weeks before the group relocated to the more secure Seskinore House (demolished 1952), owned by Colonel J. F. McClintock, which had boundary walls and a walled garden.

The current owner believes the house was built in stages, with the oldest section likely being the kitchen. Evidence for this includes the kitchen's north-south alignment, which differs from the east-west alignment of the double-pile section. The thickness of several internal walls — particularly those between the kitchen and the snooker room, between the stair hall and adjacent rooms, and between the dining room and library — suggests these were originally load-bearing exterior walls. Analysis of wall thicknesses indicates that the kitchen (room G09), boiler room (G12), outdoor toilet (G14), and servants' quarters (G13) represent an initial vernacular house plan. This rectangular vernacular structure appears to have been extended westward with the addition of the stair hall (G02) and the snooker room (G07). The owner suggests that the court-facing entrance and the series of rooms G03-G04 and G10-G11 were added as the entrance to this extended house, and that the present front pile was added last, probably corresponding to the creation of the present Old Mountfield Road. These successive building phases would explain the asymmetrical nature of the façade, which relates the pre-existing narrow kitchen and the wider snooker room to the front pile's elongated bay of the dining room — which has near-identical dimensions to the snooker room — and to the square-in-plan library positioned in front of the kitchen.

The bipartite round-headed sash windows with intersecting glazing above are externally similar to those of a house in nearby Parkanure, Dungannon. At ground floor, the pale square tiles in the kitchen and room G03, each one-and-a-half inches thick, are Victorian and replaced earlier sandstone slabs that were found scattered throughout the property, reused as mounting steps for dismounting from horseback. The tripartite window in the kitchen dates from around 1990 and replaced a 1960s picture casement window; previously the kitchen was lit by two loop windows.