Outbuilding complex to rear of Alexander House, Main Street, Caledon, Co Tyrone, BT68 4TZ

Large U-shaped outbuilding complex to the rear of Alexander House, dated by its stone datestone to 1830. Built in limestone rubble with scabbled dressings to openings and as quoins, the complex is two storeys high throughout, broadly U-shaped in plan but with two minor projections on the east side. The roofs are gabled and slated, with stone parapets, and there is a rendered chimneystack to the south of centre on the ridge of the eastern portion. There are no rainwater goods. The whole complex lies to the rear of the service section of Alexander House, near the south end of Caledon Main Street, County Tyrone.

The east elevation of the east wing is the most prominent façade. At far left and far right are single-storey projecting sections, both with steep mono-pitched roofs. The left-hand (southern) projection has a small window to its east face and a corrugated metal roof; the right-hand projection has a door and window opening and is roofless. To the centre and left of the main elevation are two large vehicle archways with very shallow, almost segmental heads and stone dressings. Both arches are open, and the central one passes entirely through this section of the building into the courtyard beyond. Above this central arch is a red sandstone date panel inscribed '1830'. To the right of the centre arch is a timber-sheeted door alongside a Georgian-paned sash window with a six-over-six arrangement. At first-floor level there are three square windows: the left-hand one has a multi-pane frame, while the remaining two have more recent double-glazed frames. A tall rubble wall extends from the left-hand edge of this elevation, with a doorway at its east end. To the south gable of this section there is a slit window at ground-floor level; to the north gable a former ground-floor doorway has been blocked up in brick.

On the west elevation of this eastern section, the rear of the archway described above is visible to the right. At first-floor level there are two slit windows, with a larger six-over-six sash window at the far right. A tall rubble-built wall extends from the left-hand edge of this elevation; it appears originally to have had a large gateway at its west end, but this has been filled in with rubble, enclosing this side of the courtyard, though a defunct gate pier remains.

The south portion of the building has four doorways filled with various timber-sheeted doors, one of which is a stable door. At the far right is a slit window. At first-floor level there are two roughly square window openings with frames, with a timber-sheeted loft door between them. The rear, south-facing elevation of this portion has two slit windows to the right at ground-floor level.

The west portion of the building has three timber-sheeted stable doors to the ground floor of its east elevation, with a plain sash window and a slit window between the second and third doors. At first-floor level there are two roughly square windows — the left-hand one louvred, the right-hand one completely open — with an unenclosed loft doorway between them. The south gable of this portion is blank. To the north gable there is a single-storey stone gabled building, now converted to a garage, which belongs to the neighbouring property to the north. The west elevation could not be seen in its entirety, but internal evidence suggests it is blank.

The stonework throughout is in grey to light-brown limestone rubble with smoother stone dressings in and out to all openings. Stone cills are present throughout. Some small sections of the façade are covered in plant growth, much of which appears to be dead.

To the south and west of the outbuilding complex is a large garden, enclosed to the south by a tall rubble-built wall.

The outbuilding complex is directly associated with Alexander House, a large gentleman's village residence of possible mid to later 18th century construction. The earliest known reference to the house appears on Robert Barns's 1813 map of Caledon, which depicts a large two-storey house on this site with what appears to be a flight of steps leading to the door. The property is clearly identifiable on the valuation map of 1838, though the accompanying valuation book gives no indication of its age. The house is thought to have been built by the Pringle family, who held leases of much property within Caledon from at least 1737. A lease of that year specifically stipulates that an earlier John Pringle was to 'build six dwelling houses each 35ft long, 20ft wide and 10ft high and office houses comfortable'. The dimensions given in such stipulations were typically minimum requirements, and the building as constructed likely exceeded them. Successive members of the Pringle family acted as agents for the owners of the Caledon estate from at least 1776, and as agents generally occupied relatively high-status residences it is reasonable to suggest the house was standing at that date. Certain elements of the interior detailing — most notably the staircase and the architraves — appear consistent with an early to mid 18th century date. It is therefore probable that Alexander House was built by the Pringle family, served as the agent's residence from the outset, and may date from around the mid 18th century.

The last Pringle owner of the house appears to have been the John Pringle noted on the 1813 map, who died around 1815. He was followed as resident and as agent by Henry Leslie Prentice, listed as such in the 1838 valuation, whose family remained there until the 1870s. The Prentice family were in turn succeeded in the later 19th and early 20th century by various members of the Alexander family, relations of the Earls of Caledon.

The outbuilding complex, which mainly contained stables, is shown on both the 1838 valuation map and confirmed by its 1830 datestone. The service section of Alexander House also appears on Barns's 1813 map. By 1860, when the second valuation map was produced, a porch had been added to the front of the house. In the later 19th century, significant alterations were made to the property: a large return was added to the rear of the service section, some front windows were enlarged, and a square bay was added to the rear of the house. The style of these changes — including mullioned and transomed window frames and fretted gables to the service section — together with evidence from the annual valuation revision books, suggests they were carried out in 1898. The large return, however, has the appearance of being slightly earlier, being constructed entirely in rubble, though there is no documentary evidence to confirm this. The 1898 works are thought to have included the heightening of the service section, as its front windows sit awkwardly close to the eaves, the roofline cuts across an attic window of the main house, and the uppermost sections of the walls are in brick rather than stone. Subsequent changes to the property appear to have been largely internal, including the insertion of a large opening in the living room wall linking it with the kitchen at some point in the mid 20th century, and the removal of most of the fireplaces. In recent years the service section has been used mainly as a store.