Rossclare House, Rossclare, Killadeas, Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, BT94

Rossclare House is a middling-sized two storey country house with hipped roof, built between 1862 and 1867. It features single storey side pavilions, a long three storey rear return, and typical mid-Victorian Italianate detailing including bracketed oversailing eaves, decorative window surrounds and cast iron balustrading. The building, which was converted to a sanatorium, then a hotel and later a hospital, stands on an isolated rise overlooking Lower Lough Erne at the end of a long drive west of the main Enniskillen-Castle Archdale road, roughly four miles southwest of Irvinestown. Though the building actually faces southwest, for clarity this description treats southwest as west.

The property is basically L-shaped in plan with the main two storey front section and its flanking single storey pavilions set on a north-south axis to the west, and the long part three storey, part two storey rear return set on an east-west axis on lower ground to the east. The latter has a large relatively recent single storey Portacabin-like extension to the south. The building bears traces of its previous life as a special care school, most notably a prominent fire escape stair to the front and to the return, and a tarmac-covered parking area to the front. The property has been abandoned since around 1998 and is now in poor condition.

The façade is finished in painted lined render with moulded quoins and window surrounds to the front wing; the return is also rendered but devoid of decoration save for some simple window surrounds to the north side. The windows are flat arched and largely filled with sash frames, though a significant number are presently boarded over, with their frames remaining underneath. The roof of the main two storey section of the front wing and the return is hipped and slated, with very shallow triple hipped roofs to the front pavilions.

The front elevation is generally symmetrical, consisting of the main two storey section flanked by the large single storey pavilions. At the centre of the ground floor of the main section is a relatively large flat-roofed porch. The south face of the porch contains the main entrance, which consists of a relatively modest panelled timber door with plain surround. Above the doorway, stretching the full width of this face of the porch, is a large recent corrugated metal hood so large it could almost be called a roof. This side of the porch has plain pilasters to each edge. The west face of the porch has a pair of windows, presently boarded, set in a shallow recess and sharing a sill. The north face of the porch is cut across by a relatively recent fire escape stair which leads to the porch's flat roof or balcony. This roof has a decorative cast iron balustrade.

To either side of the porch is a relatively shallow single storey flat-roofed canted bay with rendered base and sash windows to all faces. These have a mixture of vertical and horizontal glazing bars (2/2, 4/4, 2/2) separated by timber mullions. The windows are partly boarded. To the right of the right hand bay there is a plain sash window, probably not original.

At first floor level there are three windows, with that to the centre extended downwards to form a doorway and now boarded. Each opening has a moulded surround with decorative scrolled brackets supporting a hood-like cornice. A sill band runs under the windows, now cut through by the doorway.

The large single storey pavilions each have two tall window openings with moulded surrounds, brackets and other details much as those to the first floor, but with a frieze under the cornice. The roof of each pavilion has a decorative cast iron balustrade, as does the porch.

The long north elevation consists of the large return with the short north façade of the front wing and pavilion to the far right. To the far left, the return is two storey. At ground floor level of this two storey section there are three windows of various sizes and a doorway, all boarded up. At first floor level is a small plain sash window and a timber-sheeted door with boarding over its glazed panel. This doorway gives access to a fire escape stair.

The main three storey section of the return has a long lean-to projection covering almost all of the ground floor level. This has four widely and unevenly spaced windows of various sizes and shapes, with a doorway between the second and third window. All these openings are boarded. The doorway is set slightly below actual ground level and several sunken steps with side walls lead to it. To the far right (west) the lean-to abuts a two storey flat-roofed projection set into the intersection of the return and the main front wing. This projection has a boarded-up doorway at ground floor level on its north face and a plain sash window at first floor level.

The first floor of the return has four symmetrically arranged window openings, all boarded. At second floor level there are four more symmetrically arranged openings, with that to the far left made into a doorway giving access to the fire escape; the three windows to the right of this have sash frames with Georgian panes (3/3).

The north face of the north pavilion has three very small windows to the left (two boarded, the other with a modern frame), with a doorway, also boarded, to the right of these. All these openings are probably not original. To the right is a canted flat-roofed bay with a window to each of its faces—the outer windows boarded, that to the centre with the remains of a sash frame (2/2 with vertical glazing bars).

The north face of the main two storey front section has three windows of differing sizes: that to the left with a modern frame, that to the centre with what appears to be a Georgian-paned sash frame, possibly 6/6, and that to the right with a plain sash frame.

The long south elevation consists of the short south face of the front wing to the far left, with the return to the right of this. The south face of the south pavilion has a flat-roofed canted bay to the left, whose windows are largely boarded, with a doorway and a window to the right, also boarded.

On the south façade of the main two storey section of the front wing there is a plain sash window to the left, a Georgian-paned sash window to centre-right (6/6), and two much smaller windows with modern frames to the right of this.

The ground floor of the south façade of the three storey section of the return has a projecting flat-roofed corridor to the left which links to a large, relatively recently built single storey extension that looks like a large Portacabin. To the right of this is a boarded-up doorway, then a single storey lean-to with a large boarded-up window to its south face. To the right of the lean-to are three windows of varying sizes, all boarded.

At first floor level of the three storey section there are six similar symmetrically arranged window openings: three boarded, three with sash frames (two 6/6 with Georgian panes, one 6/1 with Georgian panes to the top sash only). At second floor level there are what appear to be six original symmetrically arranged window openings, with a much narrower and probably much later window, now boarded, set between the fifth and sixth of these. The original windows all have sash frames with Georgian panes (3/3). The original first and second windows have much dilapidated moulded surrounds.

On the two storey section of the return there are four unevenly spaced boarded-up window openings of various sizes, with five uniform but unevenly spaced windows at first floor level, all with Georgian panes (3/3).

The ground floor of the short east façade of this two storey section is largely covered by a single storey hipped roof projection with a boarded-up doorway to its north face and three very small boarded-up windows to the south face. At first floor level of the return there is a small window, as on the first floor south façade.

The rear elevation of the main section of the front wing has a large boarded-up window to the left on the ground floor, whose double sash Georgian-paned frame is still largely intact behind the boarding. At first floor level above this are two sash windows, both originally 8/8 Georgian panes, but with the lower sash of that to the left boarded and the lower sash of that to the right largely broken. To the right of these is a small narrow window with modern frame.

To the right again there is a two storey bay with a large metal water tank on its flat roof. At ground floor level of the east face of this bay there is a boarded-up window opening, with a sash window at first floor level (six panes to the top sash with the lower one boarded). To the immediate right of the bay, and attached to it, there is a single storey bay with shallow lean-to roof, which appears to be a boiler house. This bay has a large doorway to its east face with timber-sheeted double door.

To the right of this there is a very large window opening, now boarded, whilst at first floor level there are three windows: that to the left smaller and with a modern frame, the two to the right identical, both having 8/8 Georgian-paned sash frames.

The rear face of the south pavilion has two windows, now boarded. The rear face of the north pavilion has a boarded-up doorway to the left, then three unevenly spaced same-sized windows: two boarded up, the other with a sash window with only the upper sash surviving (six Georgian panes). From this east view one can see the pavilion's shallow hipped roof.

As mentioned above, the front wing is in painted lined render with in-out quoins and a bevelled base, with the return in similar render but without the quoins. A small part of the render has fallen away from the north façade of the three storey portion of the return revealing what appears to be, from a distance, granite in-out quoins with squared limestone to the main portion of the wall.

The roof of the main two storey front section of the house is hipped and slated with a large overhang with paired brackets and two centrally located limestone chimneystacks with tall bases and cornice course. There is a tall brick stack to the rear of this roof, rising from a projecting painted brick chimney breast which rises from the single storey lean-to projection. Also to the rear of the roof there is a large centrally located skylight.

The return has a hipped slated roof with a less pronounced overhang with exposed rafter ends and three large brick-built chimneystacks. The rainwater goods are largely cast iron.

To the immediate west front and north of the building there is a tarmac-covered car parking area, with a relatively steep grass slope to the west and north of this and the curving drive to the west again. To the rear (east) of the building there is a relatively large single storey gabled outbuilding with rendered façade and various, mainly large, window openings.

Set on sloping ground to the northwest side of the main drive to the house is a very long, low, single storey gabled building in timber, constructed in 1913 as a pavilion for patients suffering from tuberculosis. Rossclare House was a female sanatorium between around 1912 or 1913 and 1925 or 1960.

To the west of the house, beyond the drive, the ground slopes down to the lough where there are the remains of a small jetty along with several small single storey sheds.