Delamont House, 88 Killyleagh Road, Mullagh, Killyleagh, Co Down, BT30 9NB

Delamont House is a large, two-and-a-half-storey country house standing on the Killyleagh Road in the townland of Mullagh, approximately one and a half miles southwest of Killyleagh, County Down. The building is set within its own substantial estate, with the principal front façade facing east. In its present form it presents an eclectic and somewhat untidy mixture of mildly Tudoresque half dormers, an octagonal entrance tower, and elements of Neo-Georgian simplicity — an architectural character that reflects a long and complicated building history. The property is now used as an outdoor education centre.

Origins and Historical Development

The site itself appears to have been occupied for a very long time. The present house stands next to a rath, suggesting habitation as far back as early Christian or even prehistoric times. A substantial residence is shown on or close to this rath on Thomas Raven's map of around 1625, when the townland of Mullagh formed part of the estate of James Hamilton, Viscount Clandeboye.

In 1733 the estate was purchased by Thomas Delahaye from Viscount Limerick, a descendant of James Hamilton. It was apparently as a play on his own name that Delahaye renamed the estate "Delamont". His residence — probably built shortly after 1733 — appears on Taylor and Skinner's map of 1777, where it is erroneously marked "Dallymount". In 1793 the Delamont estate was sold by Thomas Delahaye's daughter to David Gordon, a member of a Belfast merchant family whose brother Robert had acquired Florida Manor through marriage some years earlier; on Robert's death, Florida Manor also passed to David. It is not certain whether David Gordon rebuilt Delamont from scratch or merely enlarged the existing Delahaye dwelling. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map shows a large, roughly L-shaped building with a further block to the immediate north. The accompanying valuation returns confirm that the house was already two-and-a-half storeys at that date, with a full-height projecting porch — presumably to the front — which may have been the forerunner of the present entrance tower. The block to the north appears to have been a physically separate, single-storey outbuilding. The valuers, grading the house "A", considered it to have been fairly recently built, suggesting that if the original Delahaye house was not demolished outright it was at the very least completely renovated and possibly extended by Gordon.

The 1859–60 Ordnance Survey map shows a plan broadly similar to that of 1834, but with small projections to the front and south now indicated. The projection to the front is likely to be a mainly glazed single-storey outer porch visible in a photograph of around 1900, while the projection to the south was probably a large conservatory also shown in that photograph. It is possible that the Tudoresque remodelling of the façade had already been carried out by this date — the heyday of the Tudor Revival being the 1840s — and a clue may lie in the slightly Tudoresque south gate lodge, which appears on the 1859–60 map and is believed to have been constructed in 1841. However, Gordon family history suggests the Tudoresque embellishments may in fact have been executed by Robert Gordon in around 1875. Photographs of around 1900 show the full extent of the Tudor restyling: a profusion of gables, tall brick chimney stacks, a central ogee-capped bell tower, and the unusual octagonal entrance tower were all in place by that time. The entrance tower may represent a heightening and remodelling of the full-height porch recorded in the 1830s, though the complete absence of any Tudoresque detailing on the tower suggests its remodelling took place in the late 19th century rather than in the mid-Victorian period.

In around 1938 the glazed outer porch to the front was removed and internal alterations were apparently made to the servants' rooms, presumably at attic level. The house retained this form until the 1960s, when a fire destroyed much of the western half of the building. The surviving front portion was subsequently refashioned in 1967–68 to designs by architect Arthur Jury. It is this post-fire rebuilding that gives the house its present slightly schizophrenic character. In the later 1970s the last of the Gordon family residents ran a restaurant from the house. In 1985 the entire Delamont estate was sold to Down District Council and the Belfast Education and Library Board; two years later the house reopened as an outdoor education centre, with the estate grounds serving as a country park.

Exterior Description

The front (east) façade is roughly symmetrical and is generally arranged in three bays. The central feature is a three-storey octagonal entrance tower, flanked on each side by two-and-a-half-storey gabled bays. At ground-floor level the tower contains the original main entrance: a panelled and glazed door with a small segmental fanlight set within a simple moulded surround. The doorway sits within a large porch recess cut into the base of the tower, flanked by plain pilaster-like piers and a plain entablature. The relative plainness of this porch surround may reflect the fact that the entrance was formerly covered by a conservatory-like glazed outer porch in the late 19th or early 20th century. To the first floor of the tower is a semicircular-headed sash window with Georgian panes; to the second floor is a roundel window with spoke tracery. The tower is topped by an unusual balustraded parapet set on a slightly projecting base.

To the left of the tower is a projecting gabled bay with bevelled outer edges, broader at ground-floor level, where there is a large tripartite sash window. There is a similar window at first-floor level, with a similar but significantly squatter window set within the gabled half dormer above. The right-hand bay largely repeats the left, but with a canted bay window at ground-floor level, sash windows to each face of the cant.

The south elevation is asymmetrical. To the left is a large, two-and-a-half-storey projecting gabled bay with bevelled edges. At ground-floor level this bay has a large glazed screen with Georgian-like panes and a doorway. At first-floor level there is a large tripartite sash window with Georgian panes, and in the half dormer above is a much smaller single sash window with Georgian panes (3 over 3). Attached to the right of this bay is a much narrower and shallower bay with a bevelled edge to the right and a short lean-to roof merging with the main roof. At ground-floor level this bay has a sash window with vertical glazing bars (2 over 2); at first-floor level is a slightly taller sash window with Georgian panes (6 over 6). To the right-hand edge of the south elevation is a bay similar in form to the far-left bay but narrower, with French doors at ground-floor level, a double sash window at first-floor level, and a similar but much squatter window in the half dormer. To the far left of this elevation, to the left of the first bay, there are narrow sash windows at both ground and first-floor levels.

The north elevation is asymmetrical and has a complex, functional appearance. To the right is a partly glazed door, with a sash window with Georgian panes (6 over 6) directly above at first-floor level. Further right is a large part-two-storey, part-single-storey flat-roofed projection. The two-storey section has a modern spiral stair fire escape to its south face. The single-storey section has a large modern doorway to the south, with a large oil tank placed against its north face.

What is now the rear (west) façade was originally an internal wall, refashioned after the fire destroyed much of the western half of the building. It now has an informal Georgian character. To the right of centre at ground-floor level is an elliptical-arched entrance with a panelled door, sidelights, and fanlight. To the far left the façade is single-storey, with an elliptical-arched opening leading into an enclosed yard and a glazed door to its right. To the right of this, on the ground floor of the main two-storey section left of the entrance, are three sash windows of varying sizes with Georgian panes (6 over 6, 6 over 6, and 4 over 4). To the left of the entrance is a full-height projecting pier, which is all that remains of a former internal wall. To the right of this pier is a double sash window with vertical glazing bars (2 over 2 each). At first-floor level there are five sash windows with Georgian panes — mainly 6 over 6, except the smaller third window which is 4 over 4. The façade is rendered and painted.

Roof and Chimneys

The roof is partly gabled, partly hipped (to the south and east), and partly flat (to the north and west). The pitched sections are covered in natural slate. To the west there is a small gabled dormer that now appears to look out onto an area of flat roof. Three very tall Tudor-style brick chimney stacks have survived. There is a modern rendered stack to the north. The rainwater goods appear to be mainly metal.

Outbuildings

To the southwest of the house is a large two-storey outbuildings complex arranged around a courtyard. This complex has been much altered in recent years. The block to the north was in the process of being converted to offices at the time of recording; the block to the south had already been converted, apparently to recreational facilities. The south block has large, modern-looking elliptical arches at ground-floor level to its north façade, with slate cladding and modern oriel windows. The north block is rendered and has modern multi-pane timber window frames and timber-sheeted doors. The east block is single-storey and appears to have been greatly modernised. The west block is a lean-to structure with a dilapidated east façade, apparently used as a store.