76 Ballylesson Road, Ballycowan, Belfast, County Antrim, BT8 8JT

Former Parochial School and Master's House, Ballycowan

A Grade B1 listed building dated circa 1840, this former parochial school with adjoining master's house is constructed in Gothic revival style and situated directly off Ballylesson Road, east of the ancient monument Giants Ring and north of Drumbo Parish Church.

The building is single-storey with a rectangular plan, comprising four bays in the original Gothic revival structure. A central canted two-storey bay breaks the eaves and contains the entrance. Adjacent to this, a double-height former school hall was added circa 1890, designed by WJ Watson, an architect from Newry. The building is set within small grounds with mature trees obscuring it from the road, a lawn to the front, and a small yard to the rear.

Externally, the walling is ruled-and-lined cement rendered. The former master's house has a natural slate pitched roof with various ridge details comprising part crested red clay and part plain clay tiles with leaded sections. Galvanised steel rainwater goods are fixed to paired timber eaves brackets, which support stone soffits. Timber barge boards finish the gable end. The school hall has a natural slated roof with crested red clay ridge tiles and exposed timber rafters at eaves level, with matching galvanised rainwater goods. The front gable and entrance porch feature highly decorated fretted barge boards with quatrefoil and cusped detailing, while the rear gable has a clipped verge. Chimney stacks are cement rendered with a natural finish, painted black, and topped with paired large octagonal pots. They are positioned over the ridge, with smaller stacks to either side.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged as single-storey, with the double-storey hipped canted entrance bay positioned off-centre to the right. A large date stone inscribed "Drumbo Parochial School AD 1840" is located over the front door. Windows throughout are 2/2 timber sliding sash with horns of varying sizes. Additional fenestration comprises timber paired and triplicate Gothic segmental pointed arches with timber lattice fixed lights, stone head and label moulding over, and stone cills throughout. The original front doors have been removed and replaced with a new opening on either side to create a portico, flanked by narrow triangulated openings with fixed lights. Modern timber doors with glazing now serve the building.

The left elevation is single-storey and gable-ended with no openings. The rear elevation is principally single-storey, with double storey forming the rear of the entrance bay and the gable end school hall to the left. Various window sizes are present, with additional rear access through double doors into the kitchen area and a single door to a living area. A single modern roof light is located above the kitchen access. The right elevation is abutted by the double-height gable-ended former hall with its east-facing principal elevation; a single-storey pitched porch is centrally located. The south elevation is asymmetrically arranged with a double projecting chimney stack rising above eaves level, left of centre, flanked by two large sliding sash windows. Projecting single-storey piers are located to the right, with two smaller sliding sash windows adjacent. The west gable of the school hall features a double-height projecting canted window centrally located, timber-framed with sliding sash openings, a modern concrete cill and lead covering. Multiple service ducts are present.

Interior features of interest remain, with the exposed roof truss of the school hall being of particular note.

Historical Development

The building is first captioned on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map, shown without the two-storey block on the right-hand side. Griffiths Valuation recorded it as a teachers apartment valued at £6 5s. The double-height school room was added in 1889 by WJ Watson, architect from Newry, which resulted in the valuation rising to £8 15s in the Annual Revisions of 1890. The 1901 Ordnance Survey edition shows the building as it appears today, though it is captioned as Ballylesson School. The building functioned as the Parochial School and later as Ballylesson Primary School until 1950, when it was transferred from the Ministry of Education to the parish and converted into the parish hall at a cost of £1300. Following the construction of a new parish hall in 1991, the old school buildings were sold and subsequently converted into a single residence. A watercolour painting dated circa 1980 documents the previous appearance before conversion.

The building is of considerable social interest to the local community, having served multiple generations as a school before its transition to parish use.