East Tyrone College of Further Education, Circular Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, BT71 6BQ

East Tyrone College of Further Education, Circular Road, Dungannon — Evaluation Record

This site on the east side of Circular Road, to the north of Dungannon town centre, was originally developed in 1879 as a Church of Ireland rectory. The first incumbent was the Reverend Lewis Richards. The rectory continued in that use until the early 1960s, when the house and its associated grounds and farmland to the east were acquired by the local technical institute as the basis for a new further education college. The main college complex was largely built around 1965 and extended further around 1975. The whole ensemble occupied sloping ground, with the rectory house incorporated into the college and used as office accommodation.

As assessed in December 2001, the site comprised a large, sprawling collection of modern buildings in three, two, and single storey sections, built mainly in the mid-1960s and 1970s, grouped around the original 1879 rectory at the north-west corner of the site. The entire complex was set on ground that slopes downward towards the east. For descriptive purposes, the front elevation facing Circular Road — which in fact faces north-west — was treated as the west-facing elevation.

The plan of the complex was exceptionally irregular. From the north-west corner where the original rectory stood, a small single-storey flat-roofed modern entrance section extended southward, linking in turn to a taller single-storey gymnasium with a shallow-pitched gabled roof, which merged with a slightly lower flat-roofed portion to the south-east and south-west. To the east, the entrance section connected to a large three-storey flat-roofed classroom block. Beyond its eastern end, a north-south range of linked buildings included a single-storey block with northlights to the north and a long flat-roofed single-storey block to the south. Further east still, a small flat-roofed single-storey section adjoined a longer flat-roofed single-storey section in a north-south orientation. To the south-east, where the ground drops significantly, stood a large free-standing two-storey flat-roofed block of irregular plan, dating from 1975 but consistent in style with the rest of the complex. Scattered around the north and south sides of this ensemble were various single-storey buildings, mainly large prefabricated structures containing further classrooms. In the north-east corner of the site stood a small single-storey house of approximately 1920s to 1930s date, with a roughcast façade and a half-hipped asbestos tile roof.

The original rectory house was roughly square in plan, brick-built, with stone — likely sandstone — in-and-out quoins, string courses, and window dressings. The roof was a slated mansard of French character, with curved half-dormers. The flat-arched windows had uniform mullion and transom frames, which were 20th-century replacements. Four centrally positioned chimneystacks were constructed in stone and render.

The rectory appears originally to have been entered from the south, but the ground floor of the south elevation was largely obscured by the 1960s entrance section. A small exposed section at the lower left of this elevation was plain rendered, unlike the rest of the building, and contained one window with the standard frame but no stone dressings. The first floor of the south elevation had three evenly spaced, slightly larger windows with dressings and frames as described, all resting on a stone sill course, with a similar string course close to window header level.

The west elevation repeated the first-floor fenestration arrangement of the south elevation at both floor levels, with a string course between the two floors but not continuing to ground floor level.

The north elevation featured a relatively shallow, almost full-width two-level flat-roofed projection. At the right-hand (west) edge of this projection, a tall sandstone wall extended northward to some outbuildings, incorporating a large segmental-headed vehicle arch flanked by square piers and topped by a gable; the wall and gateway were stone-coped throughout. The ground floor of the north face of the projection contained three small sash windows with security bars, and a doorway with a modern glazed-panel door positioned between the second and third windows. The first floor of the projection had three undressed windows with recent casement frames, the central one being larger and cutting through a broad string course. The ground floor of this face was rendered. The short west face of the projection contained a window similar to those on the main west elevation but considerably smaller; to the first floor on this face was a small datestone inscribed 1879. The east face of the projection repeated the arrangement of the west face, with a window at ground floor and a smaller window above. The projection was finished with a stone cornice and parapet.

The east elevation matched the west. On the south side of the roof there were three evenly spaced dormers, all with casement windows; the central one had a gabled roof, while the others had the curved form used elsewhere. Each of the east and west roof slopes carried two dormers. The roof had a slight overhang with a dentilled eaves course.

The component parts of the complex beyond the rectory were plain modern mid-1960s buildings, mainly in brownish brick with rows and banks of large windows. One of the single-storey sections to the south had a timber-clad façade. The large irregular free-standing block to the far east was slightly later, dating from 1975, but was consistent in style with the rest.

The two-storey gabled outbuilding to the north of the former rectory was constructed in snecked sandstone rubble and had a lean-to section against its west gable. The south elevation of this outbuilding contained three large vehicle doorways — two with segmental arch heads and one with a flat arch — all with timber-sheeted doors or boarding, along with a small sash window at first floor to the left and a loft door at first floor centre. On the north elevation, all ground-floor openings had been blocked using a mixture of concrete block and stone; the first floor retained a loft doorway and four slit openings. The road surface on the north side of this building sloped from west to east, suggesting that the ground on that side was originally considerably lower than it is today. The gabled roof of the outbuilding was slated.

The rectory was considered of some architectural interest, but its original layout, detailing, and setting had been significantly compromised by its conversion and incorporation into the college buildings. By the time of a further evaluation in January 2007, the former rectory and the mid-20th-century school buildings had been demolished, approximately 2002, and replaced with a new school on the same site.