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

Templegowran House is an attractive late 18th century gentleman's residence, attributed by the Archaeological Survey to the late 1700s and shown in its present form on the first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1834. It stands in mature landscaped grounds on the south side of Hilltown Road, Newry, and is associated in group value with its former lodge and Derryleckagh Mills. The house is a symmetrical single-storey, three-bay structure arranged on a U-plan, with the base of the U facing east and two rear wings advancing westward to enclose 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.

The main house has a hipped natural slate roof whose front pitch bows outward over the bowed left and right bays. The rear pitch and wings have been recovered in artificial slates. Two tall concrete-coped chimneys sit on the main ridge, one at either end, and a pair of similar chimneys sits on the ridge of each wing. The western end of the north wing has an irregularly dashed chimney. An advanced eaves course carries half-round rainwater goods, which bow outward 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, which is flanked by 19th century wall-mounted lights with wrought iron bases. The main entrance is approached by 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 horizontal — fitted with an iron door pull. The doorway is 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 plain granite base blocks. The left and right bays bow forward, each containing a pair of tripartite windows. These consist of a six-over-six exposed box sliding sash flanked by two-over-two sashes, all sharing a common granite cill. All sash boxes carry an applied moulding at the reveal. Unless otherwise noted, all windows throughout the building are sliding sashes with granite cills.

South elevation of the main house

This elevation divides into two sections: the main single-storey house to the right and two-storey servants' accommodation to the left, beyond which is the south wall of the farmyard. The right bay of the main house section is three bays wide. The central and right bays are slate-hung and the left bay is harled. The left and central bays each contain a pair of six-over-six windows within a common opening, while the right bay is blank. The extreme right sash window has had its cill dropped to ground level with a small timber door inserted to allow 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. There are two rendered and painted chimneys, one between the central and outer bays on each side. 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 eight-over-eight sliding sash; the second bay has a semi-elliptical headed doorway containing a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door alongside a six-over-six window; the remaining two bays each have a pair of six-over-six windows. At first floor there is a single window to each bay: the leftmost is nine-over-three and the others are six-over-three.

North elevation of the main house

This elevation is four bays wide. All bays except the fourth have tripartite windows matching those on the principal facade, but without the bow. The fourth bay has a pair of smaller reproduction six-over-six sashes with horns, infilling what was formerly a garage doorway. To the right, the wall continues as the north wall of a farmyard outbuilding. The walls here are unrendered. At the left end is a single six-over-six sash, and to its right a low, broad tongued-and-grooved sheeted door leads into the house yard. The exposed gable has a two-over-two vertically divided sash window positioned to the right in the attic.

Rear elevation of the main house

The wings abut the rear of the front block to left and right, leaving only a small central portion visible. This central section is cement rendered and contains a fixed modern four-by-two-paned window. The roof of each wing cat-slides down to a much lower eaves level than the external elevations. The south wing has a single skylight on its yard-facing pitch and the north wing has two similar skylights on its yard-facing pitch. 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 first two openings from the left and the fifth contain six-over-three sashes; the third has a pair of six-over-three sashes; and the fourth is an original broad tongued-and-grooved sheeted door. The west end gable is dashed and painted and is completely abutted at ground floor level. To its centre is an abutting chimney breast rising to terminate in a single pot, with a small two-over-two vertically divided exposed-box sliding sash window to its right. 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 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. The house-yard-facing elevation of this outbuilding is open to the left, with a broad sheeted door to the right. Its mono-pitched corrugated cement roof slopes into the yard.

South wing

The south wing is five openings wide. The first two openings from the left each contain a pair of six-over-three sashes; the third and fifth openings have single six-over-three sashes; and the fourth is an original broad tongued-and-grooved sheeted door. The two-storey servants' accommodation is three windows wide at first floor — all six-over-three sashes, equally spaced. Three-quarters of the ground floor is abutted by the cat-slide roof continuing from the south wing. The remaining right-hand wall has a semi-elliptical archway leading to a passage into the south garden. The passage walls are lined, rendered, and painted, and on the right cheek inside is a four-panelled bolection-moulded door. The west gable of the two-storey block is abutted by a block of two-storey accommodation that partially encloses the west end of the house yard; this was formerly a separate apartment.

Former separate apartment block

This two-storey building, once a self-contained apartment, has a pitched natural slate roof that ties into the yard-facing pitch of the servants' accommodation. Walls are lined, rendered, and painted. The east yard-facing elevation has two doors at ground floor: a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door to the left and a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door with a glazed upper section to the right, the latter leading into a WC. A small fixed window with a concrete cill is set to the upper left. The ground-floor right corner is chamfered and a bell hangs from it. The north end gable has a modern casement window to the first-floor centre. At ground floor the level ramps up from left to right into the farmyard to the west. The rear west elevation faces into the farmyard, where the ground level rises to meet what is effectively first-floor height on the west side. The roof cat-slides at the left over a small store. To the centre is an entrance with concrete steps and a granite-flagged threshold. The reproduction door is six-panelled, with the top and bottom panels horizontal, flanked by three-quarter-height three-paned sidelights with granite cills.

Farmyard

The farmyard sits raised behind the house yard. It is enclosed to the 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 containing a semi-elliptical headed coachway. A second similar coachway on the north wall gives access to the main drive; both coachways are said to have been brought from elsewhere. The south range contains a coach house and a barn. The coach house has a pitched natural slate roof, rubble stone walls with some brick dressings, a six-over-six sliding sash window to the left of its yard-facing wall, and four open segmental-headed archways large enough to accommodate cars. The barn, set slightly back from the coach house, has a pitched natural slate roof, a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door to the centre flanked by a small narrow opening on either side, and a loading door to the upper left. Its left, right, and rear walls are blank, the right and rear walls also forming the outer boundary of the farmyard.

The north edge of the farmyard is enclosed by mostly modern outbuildings with an earlier dovecote structure between them. The newer buildings are in random rubble with slate roofs and are well built, all with pitched natural slate roofs. At the left end are two open segmental-headed archways. The central dovecote has a small wall-head gablet with openings for the birds; its tongued-and-grooved sheeted door is reached by six roughly dressed granite steps rising up its right side. To the right end are stables, all with tongued-and-grooved half doors. The outer gables of the outbuildings are blank. The rear north wall forms the south boundary of the walled garden and contains a doorway to the dovecote.

Interior

The house has two impressive principal rooms, each with bowed front and rear walls, fine chimney pieces, and delicate decorative detailing. The remainder of the house, while plainer, retains much of its original character.

Setting

The house is approached by a straight drive running south from Hilltown Road. The entrance gates and lodge are listed separately. On the west side of the drive is dense woodland, which thins into a maintained beech copse towards the southern end nearest the house. To the west of 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 contains modern landscaping and a pony paddock. To the east of the house, on entry from the main road, is a modern yard of no architectural interest containing a number of Second World War Nissen-type huts, many of which have been removed from the walled garden and grounds. Immediately to the north of the house is a small raised area of very flat lawn accessed by a flight of steps on its east side. Directly opposite the principal front, to the east, is a field — probably once the front lawn — containing a massive and aged oak tree, beyond which lies Derryleckagh Mill. To the south of the property is a small informal garden with lawn and a granite-paved path running along the edge of the house.

Historical note

The house is attributed to the late 1700s. In 1797 it was the residence of Mr and Mrs John Gordon, owner of the adjoining spinning mill. Mr Gordon, a man of some prominence in the Newry Volunteer Movement, was arrested for seditious practices on 28 May 1797 and, along with other Newry men, was sent to Belfast under guard. Upon his arrest, Mrs Gordon mounted her horse and urgently pursued the escort from Newry to Belfast, where she took steps to secure her husband's release. On returning to her horse the following morning, she found it had died of exhaustion. Mrs Gordon succeeded in proving her husband's innocence, and the couple returned to Templegowran House accompanied by a reminder of the gallant horse — its tail, mounted in a glass box. Mr Gordon died on 22 March 1833 aged 84, and his wife died in 1840 aged 80. In 1898, the horse's tail was presented by the Cooper family, then in residence at Templegowran, to the people of Newry to mark the centenary of the 1798 rebellion; it now hangs in Newry Town Hall. The house was used by American troops during the Second World War and has had a number of occupants since, with the present owners in residence from the early 1980s.