Templegowran House, 39 Hilltown Road, Newry, Co Down, BT34 2HJ

Templegowran House is a symmetrical late 18th-century single-storey, three-bay gentleman's residence set in mature grounds on the south side of Hilltown Road. The property has a U-shaped plan, with the base of the U facing east. The rear wings advance westward, enclosing a small house yard between them. The south wing rises to two storeys at its western end. Beyond the house to the west, aligned with the wings, is a farmyard.

Main House

The main house has a hipped natural slate roof which bows over the front pitch above the bowed left and right bays. The rear pitch and wings have been recovered in artificial slates. Two tall concrete-coped chimneys stand at either end of the ridge on the front block. Each wing has a pair of similar chimneys on its ridge. The west end of the north wing has an irregular dashed chimney. An advanced eaves course carries half-round rainwater goods, which bow with the left and right bays.

Principal (East) Elevation

The walls are lined, rendered, and painted, with stepped V-channelled quoins at either end. A chamfered base course steps up to the central doorcase, flanked by 19th-century wall-mounted lights with wrought-iron bases. The main entrance has three bow-fronted granite steps, half-round in plan, with a tiled threshold. The doorway contains a pair of narrow six-panelled doors (the top and bottom panels are horizontal) with an iron door pull. These are flanked by three-quarter-height three-paned sidelights with granite cills, and above is a semi-circular fanlight with two vertical divisions. The architrave has granite base blocks and is otherwise plain.

The left and right bays bow forward. Each contains a pair of tripartite windows comprising a 6/6 exposed-box sliding sash flanked by 2/2 sashes, all sharing a common granite cill. All sash boxes have an applied moulding at the reveal. Unless otherwise stated, all windows throughout the house are sliding sashes with granite cills.

Left (South) Elevation of Main House

This elevation comprises two parts: the main house (single storey) at the right and servants' accommodation (two storey) at the left. Beyond this, further left, is the south wall of the farmyard.

The right bay of the main house is three bays wide. The central and right bays are slate-hung; the left bay is harled. The left and central bays each have a pair of 6/6 windows within a common opening. The right bay is blank. The extreme right sash window has had its cill dropped to ground level, and a small timber door has been inserted to permit its use as a French window. At ground level, the central and right bays each have a fixed linear three-paned basement window.

The two-storey servants' accommodation is four bays wide, with a pitched natural slate roof. Two rendered and painted chimneys stand between the central and outer bays on each side. The walls are coursed granite and harled. The right wall, where it rises above the house roof, is blank. At ground floor from left: the first bay has an 8/8 sliding sash; the second bay has a semi-elliptical headed doorway containing a tongue-and-groove sheeted door and a 6/6 window; the remaining two bays each have a pair of 6/6 windows. At first floor, there is a single window in each bay: the left is a 9/3 sash, and the others are 6/3.

Right (North) Elevation of Main House

This elevation is four bays wide. All but the fourth bay have tripartite windows like those on the façade but not bowed. The fourth bay has a pair of smaller reproduction 6/6 sashes with horns; this bay once contained a garage doorway that has been infilled. To the right (west), the wall continues as the north wall of a farmyard outbuilding.

The walls are unrendered. At the left end is a single 6/6 sash, and to its right is a low, broad tongue-and-groove sheeted door into the house yard. The exposed gable has a 2/2 vertically divided sash window set to the right of the attic.

Rear Elevation of Main House

The rear elevation of the front block is abutted left and right by the wings; only a small central portion remains, which is cement-rendered with a 4×2-paned fixed modern window. Each wing encloses a very narrow house yard. The roof of each wing cat-slides to a much lower eaves level than that of the external elevations. The south wing has a single skylight on its yard-facing pitch, and the north wing has two similar skylights. The yard-facing wall of each wing is harled random rubble.

North Wing

The north wing has a hipped roof at its left end and is five openings wide. The left two and the fifth opening contain a 6/3 sash; the third has a pair of 6/3 sashes; and the fourth opening is an original broad tongue-and-groove sheeted door.

The end (west) gable of this wing is dashed and painted and completely abutted at ground floor. At the centre is an abutting chimney breast which rises and terminates in a single pot. To its right is a small 2/2 vertically divided exposed-box sliding sash window. At ground floor right, the corridor roof advances beyond the line of the gable and ends in a hip, its end wall being rubble stone and blank. At ground floor left, an outbuilding abuts. Its walls are rubble stone. Its north wall is flush with the north wall of the wing and has a broad sheeted door with a window opening immediately to its left. Its end gable abuts the level change of the farmyard. Its house-yard-facing elevation is open to the left, and at right there is a broad sheeted door. It has a mono-pitched corrugated cement roof sloping into the yard.

South Wing

The south wing is five openings wide. The left two each contain a pair of 6/3 sashes; the third and fifth have single 6/3 sashes; and the fourth opening is an original broad tongue-and-groove sheeted door. At first floor, the two-storey servants' accommodation is three windows wide, all 6/3 sashes, equally spaced. Three-quarters of the ground floor are abutted by the cat-slide roof from the south wing roof, which continues along here. The remaining right wall has a semi-elliptical archway leading to a passage into the south garden. The passage walls are lined, rendered, and painted. Inside, on the right cheek, is a four-panelled bolection-moulded door.

The west gable of the two-storey block is abutted by a block of two-storey accommodation (a former separate apartment) which partially encloses the west end of the house yard.

Two-Storey Former Apartment Block

This building was once a separate apartment. It has a pitched natural slate roof which ties into the yard-facing pitch of the servants' accommodation. The walls are lined, rendered, and painted.

Its (east) yard-facing elevation has two doors at ground floor: the left is a tongue-and-groove sheeted door, and the right is a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with a glazed upper section (leading into a WC). A small fixed window with a concrete cill is set at first floor left. The corner at ground floor right is chamfered (to ground floor only), and a bell hangs from it.

The end (north) gable has a modern casement window at first floor centre. At ground floor, the level changes and ramps up from left to right into the farmyard at the west.

Its rear (west) elevation faces into the farmyard, and the level changes so that ground level aligns with the first floor on the west elevation. The roof cat-slides at the left over a small store. At the centre is the entrance with concrete steps and a granite-flagged threshold. The reproduction door is six-panelled (the top and bottom panels horizontal) with three-quarter-height three-paned sidelights and granite cills.

Farmyard

The farmyard is raised to the rear of the house yard. It is enclosed to north and south by ranges of outbuildings, to the east by the former apartment block attached to the house, and to the west by a rubble stone wall with a semi-elliptical headed coachway. There is a second similar coachway on the north wall, accessing the main drive; both have been brought from elsewhere.

South Range

The south range contains a coach house and a barn. The coach house has a pitched natural slate roof. The walls are rubble stone with some brick dressings. Its yard-facing wall has a 6/6 sliding sash window at the left, and the remainder is filled with four open segmental-headed archways large enough to park cars in.

The barn has a pitched natural slate roof and is slightly set back from the coach house. It has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door at the centre flanked by a small narrow opening on either side. At first floor, set to the left, is a loading door. Its left, right, and rear walls are blank, with those to the right and rear forming the outer boundary of the farmyard.

North Range

The north edge of the farmyard is enclosed by mostly modern outbuildings, with an earlier dovecote structure between them. The new buildings are in random rubble with slate roofs and are well built. All have pitched natural slate roofs. At the left are two open segmental-headed archways. At the centre is the dovecote, which has a little wall-head gablet to its roof with openings for the birds. Its tongue-and-groove sheeted door is accessed by six roughly dressed granite steps rising up its right side. At the right end are stables, all with tongue-and-groove half doors. The right and left gables of the outbuildings are blank. The rear (north) wall forms the south boundary of the walled garden and has a doorway to the dovecote.

Setting

The house is accessed by a straight drive running south from Hilltown Road. The gates and lodge are listed separately. On the west side of the drive is dense woodland, which thins out as a maintained beech copse at the south end nearest the house. To the west beyond the copse is a walled garden enclosed by high rubble stone walls; its south boundary is the north wall of the farmyard. The walled garden has modern landscaping and a pony paddock.

To the east of the house, on entry from the main road, is a modern yard (of no interest) containing a number of World War II Nissen-type huts, many more of which have been removed from the walled garden and grounds. To the immediate north of the house is a small raised area of lawn, very flat and accessed by a flight of steps on its east side. To the east, immediately opposite the house, is a field (probably once the front lawn) containing a massive and aged oak tree. Beyond is Derryleckagh Mill, also listed. There is a small informal garden with lawn to the south of the property, with a granite-paved path along the edge of the house.