Walled garden, Lissan House Demesne, Drumgrass Road, Cookstown, BT80 9SW

Walled Garden at Lissan House Demesne

This is a walled garden of irregular layout comprising high walls of field stone and rubble enclosing approximately five acres of sloping ground, situated within the demesne of Lissan House in a very rural setting. The enclosing and intermediate walls date in part, and possibly entirely, from the late 17th century. The garden contains a derelict gardener's cottage, the remains of a ruined conservatory, and various intermediate walls. Each element has individual significance, but their collective value is enhanced by their forming part of an integrated group of structures representing the development of this important and long-standing country house estate.

The main entrance is positioned centrally in the east wall and comprises a Tudor arched opening in a brick surround containing an ironwork gate with spear-head railings. A wider vehicular gateway with a simple ironwork gate is located in the north wall. An intermediate wall running north to south within the northern section contains two semi-circular arched openings. The northern part of the eastern wall is formed by the rear wall of the "large barne" mentioned in a survey of 1703. Parts of the walls, particularly along the western boundary, have been damaged by fallen trees. The grounds are grassed and contain a number of mature trees.

Within the garden stand the remains of an extensive greenhouse or conservatory in the northern part. This had rear walls of brick and rubble stonework, lean-to timber-framed glazing to the front, round-arched timber-panelled doors, and semi-circular brick-arched sheds to the rear. It probably dates from the early to mid-19th century.

The Gardener's House is a two-storey building of rubble-stone walls incorporating some field stones, with a red brick chimney and some red brick dressings to openings. Part of the west gable is rendered. The roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with overhanging eaves and timber bargeboards. The building comprises two portions: a two-storey cottage to the west end and a completely derelict and open-roofed enclosure to the east end. The enclosure to the east contains a semi-circular arched brick-dressed opening.

The cottage to the west is of two bays. The entrance comprises a rectangular timber-sheeted door set in a glazed screen with an arched fanlight and a pair of arched two-pane sidelights with built-up brick walls below them, all set within a semi-circular arch, positioned to the left of a rectangular window. The window to the right is missing its glazing bars. In the front pitch of the roof above is a gabled dormer containing a later plate glass window.

The west gable contains one unglazed window to the ground floor and two windows to the first floor, one on each side of a red brick chimney, of sashed form with 1 over 1 glazing, now derelict. The south or rear elevation contains one window missing its glazing and has a later lean-to single-storey extension in poor condition. The east end of the building on the rear elevation has suffered disruption to most elements, and the original form and layout is uncertain.

The precise date of the walled garden is unknown, but both it and the gardener's cottage appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833. It is possible that at least part of the walls date from the late 17th century, as a survey of the estate in 1703 referred to "two handsome courts at the entrance to Sir Robert's house which are enclosed with good stone walls", and these may be those standing at the northern end of the present walled garden. The entire enclosure may date from that time, although it could be later. The gardener's house is of uncertain date. It may have its origins in a structure of the 18th century or earlier, but presumably achieved its present overall form in the late 19th century, judging by its brickwork chimney, staircase, and doorscreen arrangement.

The walled garden is approached by a path from the east which connects with paths to the front of Lissan House and its yard, and also by a track from the north off the rear driveway to Lissan House which passes through the upper yard. The garden is surrounded by fields.