Clanabogan House, 85 Clanabogan Road, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78 1SL

Clanabogan House is a rendered, three-bay, two-storey house built around 1750, located on the north side of Clanabogan Road, Omagh. Originally known as 'New Grove', it is a mid-18th-century gentleman's residence with Georgian detailing that was developed through the 19th century and substantially remodelled in the early 20th century. The house is well preserved across all its phases and retains a strong early character, though its setting has been somewhat compromised by later development to the south. It has notable cultural links to the local area.

Form and Layout

The main body of the house is a two-storey double-pile block aligned north to south, with two-storey porches flanking it at both the north and south ends. The rear pile is broken at its centre by a slightly lower two-storey projection that pushes into a narrow internal courtyard. This courtyard is enclosed on either side by an original one-and-a-half-storey return range — the southern one extended to full height with a later gabled addition — and by a slightly later one-and-a-half-storey service range closing the west side.

Roof and Rainwater Goods

The roof is a double-pile pitched design covered in natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles, stone verges, and roughcast rendered chimneystacks with crown pots to the gables and party walls. Half-round cast-iron rainwater goods are fixed on drive-in brackets over eaves corbels, and valley drainage runs into cast-iron hopper heads.

Exterior Walling and Windows

The walling is roughcast rendered, with contrasting painted masonry quoins — straight-edged on the principal elevation and stepped on the side elevations. The majority of windows are replacement 6-over-6 timber sashes (most without horns), set in painted stone architraves with projecting stone sills. A variety of mullioned 2-over-2 timber casements and sashes appear elsewhere across the building.

Principal (East) Elevation

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrical, with four openings on each floor, the central pair grouped slightly closer together. The entrance consists of a double-leaf door with original brass furniture, each leaf carrying three decorative Gothick-style panels set within a contrasting rendered surround. Above the door is a diminished-height 6-over-6 sash with horns. The south cheek of the south porch has a window at each floor level. The south porch itself has a naively castellated parapet with a contrasting platband at eaves level.

Side Elevations

Both side elevations are abutted at their west ends by lower two-storey porches, with parapet screening concealing the central valley. The south elevation has a single window at ground floor and two at first floor. The north elevation has two windows at each floor, with the first floor set slightly back behind a stone stringcourse.

North Porch

The north porch is gabled with ruled-and-lined rendered walling and contains a plainly detailed four-panelled timber door with brass knob, surmounted by a single window. The windows on the north cheek have been enlarged: the first floor now has an early 20th-century tripartite 2-over-2 window divided by timber mullions with a label moulding over, while the ground floor has a double side-hung casement with fixed side and top panes and a painted rubble stone apron. Evidence of the original stone jambs of a former doorway remains at ground floor, and there are ghost marks of a pitched roof rising above the window head to the sill level of the first floor window.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation is almost entirely enclosed by the lower return ranges and the central projection, with the exception of a first floor window on either side of the central projection, each sitting above a lean-to entrance porch — the right-hand one further extended by a modern lean-to garden room. The central projection has windows at each floor, all with painted reveals, including a later casement insertion.

South Return

The south return is detailed to match the main house and has a projecting gabled bay with concrete kneelers, lit by windows on each face. The south-facing windows have been enlarged and include a mixture of triple sashes divided by masonry mullions and 6-over-6 sashes with horns; at first floor, window heads reach eaves level, with the right-hand one being a tripartite 6-over-6 flanked by 2-over-2 sashes with timber mullions. The left cheek has a similar window at each floor. The right cheek is abutted by the south porch. The courtyard-facing elevation has a lean-to garden room at ground floor and two windows at the half-storey level, one of which is a 6-over-6 horizontal sliding sash.

North Return

Due to the natural fall of the ground, the north return is single storey at its west end. The north elevation has a raised wall-head dormer with kneelers left of centre; to its left are two 6-over-6 sashes at ground floor, each surmounted by a 4-over-4 sash. Mid-20th-century casement windows have been inserted to light the kitchen. The remaining window openings are horizontal and infilled, though their rendered architraves survive. The left gable is abutted by the north porch. The blank right gable has exposed rubble stonework and is crow-stepped. The courtyard-facing elevation has round-headed window insertions dating from around 1980 at ground floor and a single horizontal sliding sash at first floor.

Service Range

Running parallel to the main block and enclosing the internal courtyard to the west, the service range is a three-bay, two-storey rendered block with a hipped natural slate roof. The roughcast rendered walling has square-headed window openings; the west elevation has some 12-pane timber casement windows, and the internal east elevation has 3-over-6 and 6-over-6 timber sash windows. A flight of concrete steps on the west elevation abuts the north return.

Setting

The house sits within five acres of mature gardens and is reached by a winding avenue from both north and south. Close to the house stands a pair of wrought-iron entrance gates on cast-iron piers, with a further single stone pier nearby topped by a pyramidal cap. A modern sports field encroaches on the setting to the south. Also to the south is a small group of single-storey outbuildings, cranked on plan, with pitched natural slate roofs and generally painted rendered walling. The northernmost outbuilding has been restored and features exposed rubble stone walling with brick quoins. It is defined by three elliptical-headed arches formed in brick with brick voussoirs, all of which have been infilled and fitted with modern hardwood windows.

Historical Background

The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, captioned as 'New Grove', though without the section connecting the two wings, which is shown on the second edition of 1854, by which time the house is captioned 'Clanabogan'. Griffith's Valuation of 1858 records the occupier as Samuel Galbraith, with the lessor listed as 'in fee'. The property is described in that valuation as a 'house, offices, gate lodge and land', with a building valuation of £43 15s. The Valuation Revisions book records the occupier changing to John Galbraith in 1865, then to an individual whose name is unclear in 1911, and to Captain S. H. Galbraith also in 1911.

Architectural historian Alistair Rowan, writing in his 1979 volume North West Ulster (Buildings of Ireland series), describes Clanabogan as 'a typical gentleman's estate in mid-Victorian Ulster, created by Samuel Galbraith Esquire, with house, family church for a specially created curacy, and a modern rectory'. He characterises it as 'a large, plain double pile house' dating from the mid-18th century, inherited by Samuel Galbraith from his uncle in 1819.

The thick internal wall construction and overall proportions of the main double-pile block confirm a mid-18th-century date. There is evidence of at least two distinct phases of remodelling: an early 19th-century phase, characterised by the Gothick insertions to the main block and possibly connected with Samuel Galbraith's inheritance of the property in 1819; and a more extensive early 20th-century remodelling, suggested by the painted concrete detailing, the window treatments and fenestration throughout, and the fact that the south return extension is carried on a steel beam. The plasterwork in the parlour has a Victorian character, while the oak staircase appears to be of early 20th-century date. Although the return ranges are shown as original on historic maps, much of their current detailing reflects this later remodelling campaign.

The current owner purchased the house in 1994 and believes it was partially occupied by evacuated families during the Second World War, at which time the block was divided with separate stairwells inserted to serve the first floor. The house was converted to use as a bed and breakfast in 2002.