Favor Royal, Favour Royal Road, Augher, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, BT77 OEW

Favor Royal is a medium-sized Tudor Manorial style country house built in 1825, designed by architect John Hargrave for Captain John Corry Moutray, and set within an extensive earlier demesne on the south side of Favor Royal Road. The demesne is bounded to the north by the River Blackwater, to the east by the Derrymeen Road, to the south by the border with County Monaghan, to the west by the Church of St Mary's Portclare, and to the northwest by the Favour Royal Road.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The land was granted by James I to Sir Thomas Ridgeway in 1613. Sir James Erskine later purchased the Augher estates from Ridgeway, and Charles II confirmed the Manor of Portclare — under the name of Favor Royal — to the Erskine family in 1665. The estate was eventually divided between Erskine's two granddaughters: one half became Spur Royal (Augher Castle) and the other Favor Royal. One of the granddaughters married John Moutray; together they built the first house and created the demesne in 1670. This house remained the family home until it was destroyed by accidental fire in 1823, after which Captain John Corry Moutray commissioned John Hargrave to design the replacement. The house was constructed during 1824–25 and carries an 1825 datestone on its left elevation. An earlier datestone of 1670, presumably salvaged from the first house, is also built into the left elevation. Surviving Hargrave drawings in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland show plans and elevations; the plans indicate the proposed new house walls in brown, while the kitchen walls are shown in black, possibly implying they had survived the 1823 fire. The house yards and farmyards are not shown in Hargrave's drawings, suggesting they too may already have been in place. The drawings show some differences from what was actually built: all windows on the drawings have plain masonry transoms and mullions with lattice glazing rather than the timber ogee-headed sashes installed; the gables lack pinnacles (though some are sketched on in pencil); the servants' hall windows are not shown symmetrically; the porch spandrels are shown inscribed with a welcome motto that was never executed; and the main entrance is shown as a pair of Gothic doors in masonry architraves, whereas only one Tudor-headed door was installed. The fireproof vaulted brick floor construction to the upper floor landings and the stone staircases are presumed to be precautionary measures against the risk of fire repeated. Hargrave was one of several architects with thriving practices in the northwest during the early 19th century; he is also responsible for courthouses at Omagh, Dungannon, Letterkenny and Strabane, and private houses including Balleygawley Park, Ballymacool near Letterkenny, Loughveagh House, and Rockhill House near Letterkenny. Captain John Corry Moutray also built the parish church of St Mary's Portclare in 1830 as a private chapel at a cost of £1,000; its designer may also be Hargrave, who had died in a yachting accident only the previous year. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map shows the demesne and most of its features as they exist today, though the drive to the north of the house, its bridge over the River Blackwater, and the later 1856 elements of the outer farmyard are not shown; these appear on the 1854 map. The 1903 map shows a boathouse, now gone, on the north side of the lake. The house was occupied in 1858 by Mr Whitney Moutray, in 1870 by the Reverend John James Moutray, and during the first half of the 20th century by Major Anketell Gerald Moutray. The house and its contents were sold in 1976 and by 1979 the occupier was a Mr Craig. The Moutrays were the largest landowners in the valley, holding the rental of 36 townlands and employing a staff of 80 at one time. Among the family photographs held at PRONI are various exterior views showing the house without decorative planting, a view from across the lake, an interior photograph of Mr and Mrs Anketell Gerald Moutray in the book room from the 1930s, and a photograph with text on the reverse recording an extract from the Daily Mail dated February 1922 describing an attack on Major Moutray: he was overpowered, wounded, and carried off in a motor car in the direction of County Monaghan. A circa 1932 photograph shows the front of the house with an ornamental cannon. Sundials — one to the front and one to the right of the house, marked on the 1977 Ordnance Survey map — and a large collection of medieval carved stones from the rockery opposite the front porch were sold with the house contents in September 1976 and were presumably removed at that time. Following the contents sale the house remained occupied until the early 1990s.

THE MAIN HOUSE

For the purposes of this description, the front elevation is taken as the one containing the main entrance, which faces northwest. The right (southwest) and rear (southeast) elevations both front open parkland, and the left (northeast) elevation fronts the house yard, with the farmyard beyond.

The house is two storeys high with gabled attics and a partial basement, and is three bays wide. It has a three-pile pitched natural slate roof with ridges running parallel to the façade, plus an additional roof running parallel to the right elevation, giving the overall roof an E-shaped profile. Decorative gables with pinnacles and numerous chimneystacks give the roofline considerable definition. Ridge tiles are of dressed stone. The chimneys are typically three tall square-section stacks angled on a common base, with crested metal pots. Walls are of stugged sandstone blockwork with an advanced base course carrying a cavetto moulding to sill level. At the wall head is a moulded Gothic stringcourse that follows the line of the numerous decorative gables. Above the cornice is a blocking course with saddle coping. Each gable is topped by a slightly tapering barley-sugar finial resting on a bulbous corbel.

To the front, right and rear elevations, a parapet gutter drains to four main downpipes on the right (southwest) elevation. These are very finely dressed, with conical moulded hopper heads and quarter-attached cylindrical downpipes with clasping bands and a two-stage base course. These elements give this elevation strong vertical emphasis and depth. To the left elevation and part of the rear, there is no parapet and the roof drains via lead downpipes with similar hoppers.

Front (northwest) elevation

This elevation is three bays wide. The central bay has a single-storey open castellated porch. The left and right bays have decorative gables. The porch has a flat roof with an embattled parapet and is constructed in sandstone matching the main block, with a two-stage base course. Each face of the porch has a large Tudor opening with a moulded chamfered reveal. The front corners have angled buttresses terminating in gabled pinnacles. A moulded eaves cornice sits below a saddled coped parapet in which each merlon has a chamfered head. The porch ceiling has been lost, but conical corbels in the corners indicate it once had a ribbed and vaulted plaster ceiling.

The main entrance is recessed within the house and approached by five slightly bow-fronted steps, each formed from a single piece of stone, rising to a four-panel door with a brass knob and a pole-moulded Gothic-style architrave. The door has Gothic-headed sidelights and overlights, all multi-glazed with heavy glazing bars in a simple Gothic manner. The door and sidelights are set within a plain deeply chamfered Tudor-headed opening, its reveal and the walls of the porch recess finished in painted lined plaster.

Each of the remaining bays on the ground and first floors has a rectangular window opening containing four narrow 2/2 sliding sash windows with chamfered timber mullions. Each top sash has a delicate ogee head, and above, filling the spandrels, are matching inverted single-paned transoms with mullions rising around to frame everything. All openings have chamfered reveals and sills and a drip mould over. The first-floor windows are slightly diminished in height and their ogee heads are more depressed than those at ground floor. In the attic gables to the left and right bays are smaller window openings each containing three 4/4 sliding sashes without horns or drip moulds. In the central bay at attic level, just below eaves height, are two small narrow three-paned arrow-loop windows.

Right (southwest) elevation

This elevation is three bays wide, with a central bay wider than the flanking bays, which have decorative gables. The left and right bays match those on the front elevation and are framed by the stone rainwater goods described above. The central bay has a canted bay window at ground floor, with a two-stage base course and castellated coping matching the front porch. The bay window's front face has a tall window — similar to the other ground-floor windows but taller — with Gothic-headed sashes rather than ogee ones, and transoms that align directly over each sash to create small fixed spandrel panes between (unlike the other windows). Each cheek has a matching single-sash sidelight. On the main wall to the left and right of the canted bay window are single narrow openings each containing a pair of ogee-headed 2/2 sash windows. At first-floor level, aligned above, are similar windows (slightly diminished in height) set slightly higher than those to the extreme left and right bays. Between them, over the canted bay window, is a matching three-sash-wide ogee-headed window. Above at attic level are two narrow three-paned arrow-loop windows. The first-floor window of the left bay and the ground-floor window of the right bay are dummies: their internal reveals are infilled, the ground-floor one plastered and painted black, and the first-floor one left as exposed brickwork, with no trace of either visible internally.

Rear (southeast) elevation

This elevation is two bays wide, the left bay slightly wider than the right, and detailed to match the main house, while the right bay is more plainly detailed, as on the yard-facing left elevation. The left bay has a decorative gable to its centre. It has two windows, each four sashes wide, to each floor: those at ground floor are taller than the ground-floor windows to the front and right elevations but are similarly detailed, while those at first floor match the other first-floor windows. In the gable is an attic window as elsewhere. The right bay is set slightly back from the left and has a different floor arrangement, being four storeys high but with a similar eaves height. Its chamfered base course is lower than that of the main block. There are three windows to each floor, all sliding sashes without horns set in chamfered reveals, varying in height from floor to floor. The left window on each floor is a 2/4 sash; the remaining sashes are all 4/4 with timber mullions, except those at second-floor level, which are taller and contain 6/6 sashes without mullions. Ground-floor windows have external grilles.

Left (northeast) elevation

This elevation fronts the house yard and is three bays wide, each bay gabled, with the left and right bays slightly advanced. The central bay is wider than the other two. All bays have slightly advanced ashlar copings and moulded kneelers. The walls are slightly more roughly dressed than those elsewhere on the house. The central bay is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey lean-to return with basement below. The central gable has two chimneystacks centred on the gable. The lean-to return has a monopitched natural slate roof. Its central porch has a pitched natural slate roof with a stone kneeler. There is a tongue-and-groove sheeted entrance door on the front face with a seven-paned mouth-organ transom over; the left and right cheeks of the porch are blank. On the lean-to wall to the left and right of the porch are single 8/8 sliding sashes with external bars. At basement level the porch is supported on a barrel vault over a basement passage. The basement wall to the left has a large multi-paned segmental-headed sash window; a similar opening at the right end of the basement contains a pair of low tongue-and-groove sheeted doors with a large multi-paned transom over.

Above, in the central gable and spanning the half-landing and first-floor levels, is a large gallery window lighting the stairwell. It has a depressed Gothic head with stone voussoirs and chamfered reveals. Timber mullions divide the window into two outer lancets and a central flat-headed pane, all sliding sashes, all with timber Gothic margin panes; the central pane has a rose window in its head. A small stone above carries the raised date '1825'. To the left of this window is an 8/8 sash window and to the right, set slightly higher to serve the servants' staircase, is a 12/12 sash. At first-floor level, to the left is an 8/12 sash window and to the right, set higher again to serve the servants' staircase, is a 12/16 sash. At second-floor level, set to the left, is a wide 12/12 sash, and set to the right of centre is an 8/8 sash.

The left bay (slightly advanced) is abutted at ground floor by a range of outbuildings enclosing the rear of the yard. Its main gable has three chimneystacks on a common base set to the right of centre, and moulded eaves to its right (yard-facing) cheek. At second-floor level to the right is a 2/2 sash window. The yard-facing cheek is abutted at ground floor by the lean-to of the central gable, and above it is a small two-paned casement window.

The right bay (slightly advanced) is abutted at ground floor on the left and centre by a range of outbuildings enclosing the front of the yard. Its attic gable has four chimneystacks on a common base set to the left of centre. The gable has moulded eaves to its left (yard-facing) cheek, which is blank and abutted at ground floor by the lean-to on the central gable. The gable has a 2/2 sash window at second-floor level to the left. Its exposed section at ground floor on the right is narrow and carries a large carved stone plaque whose bottom edge is moulded, possibly as a door lintel. In raised letters it reads: "WELCOM TO COM IN A / ND AS WECOM TO GO BY." Between these two lines are two carved flowers flanking the date '1670'. This plaque was taken from the earlier house on this site that burned down in 1823; it appears to be of similar stone to the current house.

THE HOUSE YARD

The house yard abuts the northeast elevation of the house. It is enclosed to the rear (southwest) by a long two-storey block incorporating the original kitchens at its junction with the house and extending beyond the house yard into the farmyard to the left. Two separate blocks enclose the front of the house yard: the first, at the junction with the main house, is the servants' hall; the other is a slightly narrower and lower outbuilding. The end of the yard is enclosed by a single-storey brick lean-to against a masonry wall, with a coachway to its left side (as viewed from the house yard) topped by a bellcote.

Servants' hall

The servants' hall has a pitched natural slate roof with stone ridge tiles, ashlar copings, eaves and kneelers, and metal rainwater goods. Its exposed gable end to the southeast is abutted slightly to the right of centre by a much narrower single-storey outbuilding. On the exposed wall to the left is a small six-paned casement in a chamfered opening, with a similar blind opening at the gable apex. The yard-facing elevation of the servants' hall is blank at ground floor and has two windows at basement level, both 12/12 semicircular-headed sashes with bars over.

The front-facing (northwest) elevation of the servants' hall is set slightly back from the front elevation of the main house. It has a similar base course and is three windows wide, each a narrow 4/4 sliding sash without horns in a chamfered opening. Its eaves course is formed by a moulded cast-iron gutter with a lead downpipe at the right end. At ground level to the right is a large basement shaft with a passage running parallel to this elevation (under a vault) and a further passage leading out towards the front drive; this opening is covered with a large iron grille.

Outbuilding enclosing front of house yard

This derelict building is narrow and formerly had a pitched natural slate roof, the ghost of which can be seen against the servants' hall gable. Its front-facing (northwest) wall is divided into six identical bays, each separated by a buttress with a decorative gable just above eaves level. Each bay has a chamfered window opening with bars over; the rightmost retains its original 12/12 sash window. The lintel of the fourth opening from the left has been lost and many of the buttress gables have toppled. This elevation has been detailed to complement the main entrance of the house, which lies to its right. The yard-facing elevation is more plainly detailed with four openings: to the left is a window with a plainly dressed stone surround and sill, and the other openings are similarly dressed doorways. Two applied buttresses flank the central door. Immediately to the right of the fourth opening is a small window created within the infilling of a larger opening. The right gable end is completely abutted by a similar end block. This end block shares the same roof profile, which terminates in a hip. Its natural slate roof is intact. The yard-facing wall has a similar eaves course and masonry construction to the front outbuilding but of lesser quality. Its end gable has a doorway with a transom over and faces into the farmyard. Its front (driveway-facing) elevation is partially abutted by an irregularly constructed lean-to of no architectural interest.

Outbuilding enclosing rear of house yard

This block is two storeys high and long, enclosing both the house yard and part of the farmyard. Its pitched natural slate roof is partially collapsed. An advanced ashlar eaves course carries metal rainwater goods. There are two brick chimneys, the largest serving the former kitchen range. The walls match those of the left (yard-facing) elevation of the main house. All window openings have dressed stone sills and brick reveals and heads.

The outbuilding has three bays to the yard, the central one wider than the other two. The right bay (at the junction with the main house) has two tall 9/9 sliding sash windows with bars over serving the former kitchen, their heads rising to first-floor level. At the extreme right at first-floor level is a small four-paned casement window.

The central bay is symmetrical. At ground-floor centre is a semicircular-headed niche with dressed stone voussoirs. Immediately to its left and right are single tongue-and-groove sheeted doors with stone lintels and masonry jack arches over, and beyond each door to left and right is a 6/6 sliding sash window with bars over. Above the central arch and above each of the ground-floor windows are single 3/3 sash windows.

The left bay is symmetrical with a door at centre matching the previous doors. To its left and right are window openings: that to the left has been bricked up and that to the right contains a 6/6 sliding sash with bars, its meeting rail aligned with the door lintel. At first-floor level, in line with each ground-floor opening, is a 3/3 sliding sash window.

The rear (southwest) elevation of this outbuilding has a flight of cantilevered stone stairs at the left end (at its junction with the main house) leading to a modern glazed sheeted door with a ten-paned transom over, just at eaves level. At first-floor level to the right is a 6/6 sliding sash with bars over. The central bay has two windows to each floor: at ground floor left is a 6/6 sash, and to its right is a four-paned casement; at first floor is a 3/6 sash. The right bay has a 6/6 sash set into a former doorway with brick dressings; above to the left is a wide 3/3 sash with a stone sill and lintel.

The northeast end of the house yard is enclosed by a high masonry wall separating it from the farmyard. This wall ties into the end gable of the front range of outbuildings. Where it meets the front range it has a segmental-headed carriageway with stepped coping, on which rests a flat-topped bellcote with the bell missing. The remainder of the wall has a single doorway leading into a single-storey brick outbuilding that abuts its house-yard face. This has three windows, all three-paned casements with brick jack arches and stone sills.

THE FARMYARD

The farmyard adjoining the house yard is L-shaped. It continues along the same alignment as the house yard in a northeast direction and then turns southeast. It is enclosed by three two-storey outbuildings: a continuation of the rear range from the house yard; a barn to the front; and a block enclosing the northwest end, aligned northeast–southwest. The southeast boundary is enclosed by a high wall with a doorway on the right side leading towards the garden cottage. The wall has a bellcote at the top with its bell intact.

Continuation of the rear outbuilding from the house yard

This range appears earlier in character, with softer stone construction and raised one-piece ashlar reveals to the openings. It may belong to the 1670 house that burned down in 1823. Its farmyard-facing elevation is three narrow bays wide. Each bay contains a tongue-and-groove sheeted door at ground floor flanked by half-sized sidelights that once contained fixed eight-paned windows. The doors and sidelights are dressed in ashlar with raised base blocks; above each door a decorative keystone is carved into the lintel, with a masonry relieving arch over each door and its sidelights. At ground-floor right the opening has been enlarged and the doorway and sidelights removed, leaving only the arch, and it is abutted by a brick lean-to of no architectural interest. To each bay at first-floor level is a 6/6 sliding sash with bars over; that to the left end has been blocked with masonry. The left end of this elevation is terminated by a buttress that steps out and is irregularly dressed to first-floor level, suggesting a neighbouring building has been demolished.

The left gable is in two stages, with the first floor stepped back slightly. At first-floor level is a 6/6 sliding sash with brick dressings and a similar jack arch. The rear elevation of this block (enclosing the rear of the farmyard) has a rear return at the right end. The remaining rear wall has a doorway at ground-floor left (door gone) and a small six-paned casement at ground-floor right. At first-floor left is a 3/3 sash window with brick reveals, a stone sill and bars over.

The rear return has a slightly lower eaves level and its pitched roof has been stripped of slate. Its rear gable is blank. The left cheek is in red brick with a small casement window at either end and two dressed quoins to its rear left corner salvaged from elsewhere. The right cheek is in stone and fronts the rest of the farmyard. At centre is a doorway with an ashlar architrave and an advanced decorative keystone (door gone). To the left and right are single 3×5-paned centre-pivoted Georgian glazed timber windows with ashlar architraves. Above the central door is a tongue-and-groove loading door with a similar architrave.

Barn enclosing the front of the farmyard

This derelict building is two storeys high. The pitched natural slate roof is stripped and collapsed. Stone walls match the other buildings, with a dressed eaves course. The front (northwest) elevation is symmetrical with three segmental stone archways: the left is open, the others infilled with masonry. At the left corner at first-floor level is the spring of an arch of a former coachway, retaining only two voussoirs, with a corresponding spring on the rear wall though no trace of the coachway remains. The left gable of the barn is blank. The farmyard-facing (southeast) elevation is symmetrical, consisting of two semi-elliptical stone archways with stepped stone voussoirs; between them at first-floor level are two small ashlar stone openings with bars over. The left end of this elevation is partially abutted by the end outbuilding of the front range of the house yard.

Outbuilding enclosing the northwest end of the farmyard

This outbuilding is two storey and three bays wide, its pitched roof stripped of slates. The central bay is narrower than the other two. There are three chimneys: one in stone to each gable and a brick one to the central bay. Walls are of squared rubble stone brought to courses. All openings have advanced finely dressed architraves. Ground-floor window heads are higher than those to the doors, and the first-floor window heads reach eaves level.

The left bay has a tongue-and-groove door set to ground-floor centre with a keystone to its lintel. There are infilled window openings to its left and right, each with a masonry jack arch over. Above the door at first-floor level is a lower loading doorway (door gone); and above the ground-floor windows are smaller window openings (frames gone). The central bay has a door to the left matching the previous doors, and to its right is a 9/9 sash window with a jack arch over. Above the door is a small nine-paned centre-pivoted timber window. The right bay has two segmental-headed archways with tongue-and-groove doors. Aligned above each arch is a window as that to the central bay.

The left gable of this outbuilding is lower, as the ground falls away. It has a doorway to the right. At a higher ground-floor level is a small four-paned fixed window. At first-floor level are two small narrow ventilation openings. The rear elevation is abutted to the left of centre by a single-storey return. The remaining rear wall to the right has a small six-paned sash window at the left end and a larger 8/8 sash window to the right. At first-floor level there are four ventilation openings. The remaining rear wall to the left has a six-paned window set to the right at first-floor level. The return has a pitched natural slate roof that has collapsed. Its right cheek has two small four-paned windows with stone sills. Its end gable has a tongue-and-groove sheeted loading door at first-floor level. The left cheek has two door openings to the centre with a small narrow window at either end.

INTERIOR

The house interiors are virtually complete, though the upper floors are in poor repair. The fireproof vaulted brick floor construction to the upper floor landings and the stone staircases are presumed to be a precautionary measure against the risk of a repeat fire. The painted transom in the book room depicting a cavalry officer with a white charger may be a portrait of Captain John Corry Moutray.

SETTING

The demesne contains numerous features of interest. The main entrance on Favor Royal Road has an attractive single-storey Tudor-style gate lodge on the northwest side of Favour Royal Road. On the southeast side, the main gates are wrought iron on large masonry piers with ogee caps that probably once carried heavy ball finials. The entrance is set within a concave wall quadrant with rubble battlemented coping and matching piers at either end.

The serpentine main driveway runs southeast through mixed woodland, then turns east across open parkland, crossing a small single-span bridge with rubble battlemented coping over a stream that flows from the River Blackwater to the north down to the now-drained lake to the south. The driveway continues east to the main house, passing to the north of it, and continues beyond the house yard and farmyard to a pigsty and weigh house, a second and later farmyard, and a walled garden with gardener's house. A branch from the main driveway turns north just to the east of the main house and is carried by a single-span bridge with rubble battlemented copings over the River Blackwater, returning to Favor Royal Road.

Immediately to the southeast of the main house, on a terraced east-facing hillside, is a small derelict garden cottage. Much of the parkland has been heavily planted by the Forestry Commission, though the areas close to the house retain their original planting. To the southwest of the main house is a meadow valley with informal deciduous planting and a now-drained lake. When standing at the south corner of the main house looking west, the Church of St Mary's Portclare — built by the Moutrays in the 1830s — can clearly be seen through the groups of trees. Given that its location forms an integral feature of the designed landscape, the church is likely to have been sited deliberately as an eye-catcher.

Immediately opposite the house porch are the remains of an ornamental rockery, and beyond it, falling downhill to the immediate north, is a meadow running to the River Blackwater. To the immediate south of the main house is a group of mature yews on a raised bed, forming a belt of over-mature planting along the south side of the house and yards leading towards the walled garden. To the immediate south of the house is a small meadow and to the southeast is the terraced hillside in front of the garden cottage.