Manor House, 26 Middle Tollymore Road, Tollymore, Newcastle, BT33 0JJ

The Manor House is a substantial two-storey gabled house probably dating from the early 1700s, possibly originally the residence of the local landlord, James Hamilton. The property is situated gable end on to the south side of Middle Tollymore Road, roughly a mile northwest of Newcastle town centre. It is accompanied by two walled gardens (one dated 1726) and two large outbuildings of probable mid-nineteenth century origin.

The house was completely renovated around 1950, when a large single-storey extension was added to the rear. The front façade faces roughly east and is symmetrical. At the centre of the ground floor is a panelled timber door with semicircular fanlight with tracery, set within a granite surround with keystone. Either side of the doorway, but not connected to it, are narrow sidelights with lead tracery. To the left of this doorway ensemble are two sash windows with Georgian panes (6 over 6), with two more to the right. The first floor has five similar windows. The front façade is finished in pebble and sea shell dash with smooth cement cill courses and in and out surrounds to the windows—render added around 1930 which is unsuitable to the building.

To the left of the south elevation is the south façade of a two-storey hipped-roof portion added around the 1840s. This has two windows to the first floor matching those of the front, while a modern flat-roofed conservatory extension has been added at ground floor level. To the right of this is the gable of the original house, with a ground-floor window to the right (a mid-twentieth century insertion) and a narrower window to the first floor as before. The north face, which directly abuts the roadside, is blank. To the right, the gable merges with a high rendered wall which encloses the yard to the rear of the house.

The rear of the building presents a complex appearance due to large extensions added in the mid-twentieth century. The twentieth-century extensions to the left consist of a large single-storey flat-roofed section, roughly L-shaped, with five modern windows of various sizes including two large picture windows. This section may incorporate the fabric of a much older rear portion of the house. To the right, the twentieth-century section abuts a much larger two-storey return of probable pre-1834 construction. This return section is gabled but to the south has a hipped-roofed section apparently dating from around the 1840s. To its west face a small single-storey flat-roofed extension with modern windows and door has been added, L-shaped in plan, abutting a large two-storey outbuilding to the southwest. On the main west face of the return is a window with modern frame to the ground floor and a larger window with modern frame to the first floor. To the small exposed section of the north face is a sash window matching those at the front. To the left of this the face is abutted by a relatively small flat-roofed projection with modern window to the west and tall chimney stack to the north, appearing to be twentieth century in origin. The north gable and the entire south and west façades are finished in roughcast. The gabled roof of the main house has rendered parapets and two rendered chimney stacks to the main gables. To the front the roof is covered in roughly hewn local slate, with the size of the slates diminishing as they climb higher; these slates were relaid recently using traditional timber pegs. To the rear and return are regular Bangor Blue slates. The return has a rendered chimney stack to its gable. Cast iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

To the rear of the house is the yard. To the north this is enclosed by a tall rendered wall with large vehicle entrance (which may have been widened in the mid-twentieth century) and accompanying pedestrian entrance. To the south is a large two-storey gabled outbuilding of mid-nineteenth century origin. The structure is rubble-built with a slated roof. To the north are two large elliptical archways to the ground floor, with an arched pedestrian doorway to the left of these. To the first floor left is a window with recently installed multi-pane frame, with a timber-sheeted loft doorway to the right. This façade is whitewashed. To the east gable the building is abutted by the small modern-looking single-storey extension attached to the return. The west gable has an upper-level doorway with stone steps sandwiched between the gable and the east façade of another outbuilding to the west. To the south, the ground level rises slightly and a large lean-to glasshouse has been attached, covering most of the façade. To the very right where still exposed is a ground-floor doorway with timber-sheeted door. The slightly higher ground to the south of this outbuilding once supported a horse walk which drove milling machinery on the first floor of the outbuilding; all evidence of the horse walk was removed in the mid-twentieth century.

To the west side of the rear yard is bounded by another two-storey outbuilding, also of probable mid-nineteenth century construction, rubble-built with hipped roof. The openings to the east front façade of this building appear to have been altered over the years, with a modern-looking window opening to the left on the ground floor, two pedestrian doorways, and a large elliptical arched vehicle entrance now filled with a modern up-and-over garage door. To the first floor are two loft doorways and a large roundel window. To the far right-hand side the building is abutted by a small single-storey shed with mono-pitched roof. The other façades of the outbuilding appear to be blank.

To the east side of the house the roadside is fringed by a low rendered wall with wrought iron pedestrian gate close to the house itself, and a curved gate screen further to the east with wrought iron gates of perhaps around 1900. To the east of this is a large walled garden with high rubble wall and substantial tree growth within, the garden appearing to have remained unattended for many years. Directly north of the house, on the other side of Middle Tollymore Road, is another large walled garden laid out in geometric fashion. This has an arched gateway in the wall to the south, which apparently once had a date stone of 1726, though this could not be found.