Summerhill House, Summerhill, Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh, BT92 6LZ

Summerhill House is an early 19th-century house of elegant proportions, despite various inappropriate external alterations. Although modified over time, it retains some internal features of interest, including bowed internal walls and doors, as well as an example of turf-constructed walls. The building occupies a well-concealed site within extensive heavily wooded grounds.

The house is a symmetrical two-storey, three-bay structure with a bowed central bay aligned north-west to south-east, positioned at the east side of Summerhill Townland. It has a pitched artificial slate roof with central valley and large cement-rendered chimneys to each gable. The walls are wet-dashed over a cement-rendered base course with stepped quoins, and all dressings are painted cement render. Windows are uPVC top-hung casements with concrete cills, mostly 1/1 except those to the facade.

The principal elevation faces south-west. The central bay is bowed and contains the entrance, which comprises a modern double-leaf three-panelled timber door with semi-circular transom set in a large pole-moulded stepped reveal with hood-mould. The entrance is accessed by one bowed stone step. To either side of the door are semi-circular headed 1/1 sliding sash windows with horns in pole-moulded reveals. The left and right bays each contain large 4x2 windows. Above these are three 3x2 windows, with the central one bowed, all having lugged reveals. The left gable has a first-floor window and a small square opening at the apex.

The rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey return with a double-pile profile, each pitch having a chimney. A lower extension projects from the north-east elevation of the return. The extension has a pitched artificial slate roof with windows to each floor on its north-east face. A later entrance porch with a hipped artificial slate roof is positioned at the right gable.

The setting includes a semi-circular asphalt forecourt enclosed by a moulded stone balustrade with ball-topped finials. Three stone steps with similarly detailed balusters lead down to a large sloping lawn circumvented by a sweeping driveway. To the rear is a farmyard containing several modern farm structures and an interesting original outbuilding. The group is accessed by a driveway with a one-and-a-half storey lodge placed just inside the boundary wall. The lodge is largely ruinous, consisting of two bays in hearth-lobby plan, with harled walls, margin-paned 1/1 sliding sash windows, and tongue-and-groove sheeted doors.

The house is cited on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map as 'Summer Hill'. It was occupied in 1839 by Reverend John Richardson, tenant of the Earl of Erne. The valuation book of 1839 records dimensions of 45 feet by 28 feet by 21 feet, with a return measuring 43 feet 6 inches by 19 feet by 22 feet 6 inches. The house is probably of late 18th or early 19th-century date.