Hall, 21 Hillhead Road, Stewartstown, Dungannon, BT71 5HY

McNeese Memorial Hall is an attached, three-bay single-storey memorial hall built around 1902, unusually integrated with a small former National School dating from the late 18th century. The combined complex sits on the west side of Hillhead Road in Stewartstown, immediately south of The Square at Parkers Farm, and shares some group value with the adjacent First Presbyterian Church on the opposite side of the road and the former manse nearby. Although the buildings have been degraded by inappropriate alterations and extensions, they remain an interesting example of their type. The hall is Presbyterian in ownership and connection, and both the hall and the schools associated with it were built in connection with that church.

The complex comprises two principal historic elements — the McNeese Memorial Hall of 1902 and the Stewartstown Infant National School of 1871 — along with several later extensions.

McNeese Memorial Hall

The hall is roughly rectangular in plan. Its front east elevation is three bays wide, with a projecting single-storey entrance porch to the centre. The porch has a shallow pointed-arched door with a timber double door and an overlight. Square-headed windows flank the porch, and further square-headed windows occupy the left and right bays. All windows are replacement uPVC, set on painted cut-stone sills. Painted moulded drip mouldings with label stops surmount the windows and door. The drip mould over the main door steps up at the centre to incorporate the inscribed date "1902", and below this, above the door, the words "THE MCNEESE MEMORIAL HALL" are inscribed in shallow painted relief. The entrance porch is gable-ended with a pitched natural slate roof; the fascias are decorative timber with a fireclay finial to the apex.

The south elevation is gable-ended and partially obscured by returns and later additions. It features a blind roundel to the gable, with four carved stone keystones arranged in a cross-like formation around the surround. The north elevation is also gable-ended and fronts onto the adjacent property. It has three shallow pointed-arched lancet windows with obscured coloured glazing, set on cut-stone sills, and a plain recessed blind roundel to the gable. The rear west elevation is fully obscured by a lean-to return. External walls are painted render, with a projecting timber dentilled course at eaves level. The main roof is pitched with natural slate and carries two ventilators equally spaced along the ridgeline. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

Stewartstown Infant National School

This attached single-storey former infant school, built around 1871, is rectangular in plan and sits to the southeast of the memorial hall, to which it is directly attached at its front right corner. It is now used as part of the hall complex. It is set perpendicular to the main hall, facing onto Hillhead Road, and its date of construction is confirmed by a cut-stone datestone inscribed "STEWARTSTOWN INFANT NATIONAL SCHOOL 1871".

The front east elevation is gable-ended and faces directly onto the road. It has a square-headed tripartite window in which the central light is taller than the flanking lights. The window has a timber casement frame with carved stone and red brick dressings, set on a cut-stone sill, with a carved drip moulding and label stops above. The datestone is positioned above the window. The gable end has projecting carved stone kneelers and skews, with a carved stone finial to the apex.

The north elevation is three windows wide. The windows are square-headed with red brick dressed surrounds and voussoirs, and all have been replaced with uPVC. There is a decorative carved finial to the apex of the north ridge. The south elevation is obscured by a single-storey lean-to, and the rear west elevation is obscured by a two-storey lean-to. External walls are snecked and coursed rubble stone. The roof is pitched and slated, with replacement aluminium rainwater goods.

Later Extensions and Returns

Several later additions, mostly dating from around 1990, have been made to the complex. On the south side of the Infant School there is a single-storey lean-to extension with brick to the front east elevation and dry-dash render to the remaining elevations. It has square-headed timber casement windows on concrete sills, a square-headed door to the front, an artificial slate roof, and aluminium rainwater goods.

On the south side of the Memorial Hall there is a two-storey lean-to addition, also built around 1990, with dry-dash render external walls, square-headed timber casement windows on concrete sills, an artificial slate roof, and aluminium rainwater goods. Its south end abuts the Infant School. To the rear west of this return is a small single-storey lean-to with metal doors, an artificial slate roof, and a stainless steel flue, possibly used as a fuel store. There is a further single-storey lean-to return to the rear west of the hall, also a later addition, finished in dry-dash render with openings matching those of the other extensions.

Setting and Historical Context

The hall is set on the west side of Hillhead Road, immediately south of The Square at Parkers Farm. The memorial hall and former infant school form an L-shape to the front, enclosing a small yard. This yard is bounded on the roadside by decorative painted metal railings set on a cut-stone plinth, with squared cut-stone pillars to the north and south carrying pyramidal cut-stone cappings. Two slender two-storey wrought-iron pillars with decorative finials support a double wrought-iron gate.

Historical records show that a further school wing to the north of the hall — also built in connection with the First Presbyterian Church and dating from around 1859 — was depicted on the Ordnance Survey town plan of 1906 alongside the hall and the infant school. This northern wing was demolished sometime in the mid-20th century. The southern infant school wing appears to have remained in use as a school until the 1970s, according to valuation records.