Glebe House, Buskhill Road, Donaghmore, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1SD

Glebe House

A two and a half storey former 18th-century rectory with a semi-basement, positioned on the east side of Buskhill Road at Donaghmore. The house faces south and sits in a mature garden with a yard and outbuildings to the rear.

The main block is three bays wide. The walls are of smooth cement-rendered construction. The roof is pitched with 20th-century artificial slate covering and timber bargeboards and eaves. Red brick chimneys rise from each end gable.

The south-facing front elevation features a small porch at ground floor centre, constructed with five dressed granite steps enclosed by dwarf walls with stout cylindrical piers. The porch rests on an arched vault spanning the basement passage and has a shallow hipped natural slate roof with overhanging eaves and exposed decorative rafter tails, with dashed walls. The porch front has a pair of Georgian three-panelled storm doors with a plain transom above. Below the porch at basement level is a mid-20th-century glazed door. The remaining bays on each floor contain 1/1 sliding sash windows, with smaller basement windows and progressively taller ground floor windows compared to first floor ones. All windows are small in relation to wall area. The left gable has a 1/1 window at ground floor and two small attic window openings.

The rear elevation is smooth cement-rendered. At basement centre it is abutted by a small single-storey bathroom return, and at basement right by a derelict laundry. Small metal-framed basement windows are positioned to the left and right bays, with a narrow window at centre (formerly 2×3 paned) to the left of the bathroom return. Single boarded-up windows occupy the left and right bays at ground floor. A 6/6 sash window sits on the central bay between ground and first floors. At first floor, 4/2 sash windows are in the left and right bays. A 6/3 sash window occupies the central bay between first floor and attic levels. The right gable has two small attic window openings.

The right gable is abutted at ground floor right by a small single-storey study return with pitched natural slate roof and harled rubble stone walls. Its end gable has a doorway on the right side, its rear wall is blank and abutted by a derelict lean-to shed, and its front wall contains a single window opening.

The outbuildings enclose the rear yard. To the south the yard is enclosed by the house; to the southwest by a single-storey, one-bay outbuilding; and to the west by a linear single-storey block. The north side is enclosed by a pair of two-storey outbuildings with a yard access gate between them. The east side has a linear block and two sheds in the southeast corner.

The southwest block is aligned west-east with pitched natural slate roof and rubble stone walls. Its south elevation facing the front garden is blank, as is its west external gable. Its east yard-facing gable partially abuts the house's west gable and has a doorway. Its north elevation is abutted by the east block.

The east block is single storey and linear with a mono-pitched modern corrugated roof aligned north-south. Its west external elevation is rubble stone and blank. Its east yard-facing wall is cement-dashed with modern openings. Its north gable is abutted by the northwest two-storey block.

The two-storey northwest block has pitched natural slate roof aligned west-east and harled rubble stone walls, roughly three bays wide. Its south yard-facing elevation is abutted to the left by the east block. The remaining elevations have tongue-and-groove sheeted loading doors on each floor (the first-floor one diminished in height). Its west external gable is blank. Its north external elevation is blank to the left, with a window opening and external stair at centre and a window opening to the right. A door leads to the first floor centre at the stair head. Its east gable has been rebuilt in concrete blockwork with a doorway on each floor, facing the yard gateway and the west gable of the northeast outbuilding.

The northeast outbuilding is two storey with pitched natural slate roof aligned west-east and harled rubble stone walls. Its west gable has a ground-floor doorway facing the yard gateway. Its south yard-facing elevation has a wide corrugated iron door at ground floor right and two window openings at first floor. Its east gable has an external stair and loading door at first floor. Its north external elevation is blank and abutted to the left by a lower two-storey return with pitched natural slate roof and harled rubble stone walls. This return's north gable has an external stair and first-floor door. Its right (west) cheek has a central tongue-and-groove sheeted door flanked by 6/6 sashes at ground floor and two 6/3 sashes at first floor. Modern lean-to sheds abut the return's left cheek.

The outbuilding enclosing the east side of the yard is single storey and linear with modern corrugated mono-pitched roof. Its north gable and east external wall are both corrugated. Its west and south elevations are rubble stone, the west yard-facing wall having three small windows at eaves level. Its southwest corner has a cylindrical gate pier built into it.

Two sheds in the southeast corner have corrugated metal roofs.

The small front garden contains mature trees and shrubs. An early 20th-century dashed gate screen and wrought metal pedestrian gate are located at the entrance.