Moygannon House, Rostrevor Road, Warrenpoint, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3RU

Moygannon House is an attractive single-storey early 19th-century house with a semi-basement, set within extensive mature grounds facing the sea on the north side of Rostrevor Road. According to the 1835 First Valuation book, the house was built approximately 25 years prior to that date — placing its construction around 1810 — by a Mr Moore of Arno's Vale. It was originally recorded as 'Moygannon Cottage' on the 1834 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, which also shows the farmyard and a cruciform gate lodge. The 1835 valuation records it as occupied by Joseph McCormack and describes the main block as measuring 60 feet by 27 feet 6 inches by 12 feet 6 inches, with two wings each measuring 32 feet 6 inches by 20 feet by 12 feet 6 inches, all with basements. The 1861 Valuation described it as the match of the adjacent Cooleavin and as "a very pretty cottage residence with splendid view of woods." The house is almost identical to its neighbour Cooleavin, and the U-shaped plan form shared by the two is believed to be unique to this area; a very similar property built at around the same time is Templegowran, located to the north-east of Newry. The interior retains much of its original character, and the walled garden and farmyard are little altered. Together, this group of structures provides a good example of an early 19th-century micro-demesne.

The house is U-shaped in plan and is roofed with hipped natural slate, including curved pitched slate roofs over the bowed bay projections, with half-round metal rainwater goods on advanced eaves. All chimneys are rendered and fitted with chimney pots. The east roof carries two chimneys, one to either side of its central bay; the west roof carries four chimneys, one on the north gable and one between each of the bays. Walls throughout are cement-dashed and painted, with a smooth rendered base course to the façade only.

The south-facing front elevation is three bays wide, with only the ground floor exposed at this level. The central bay contains the main entrance, approached by two granite steps with moulded nosings leading to a pair of narrow four-panelled doors. Each panel is horizontal, raised and fielded, with the second and fourth panels from the bottom being smaller than the others. The doors are flanked by full-height two-over-two horizontally divided sliding sash sidelights with painted granite cills. Above the doorway and sidelights is a shallow segmental fanlight with sunburst leaded glazing, set within a smooth rendered architrave. To either side of the entrance, set into the left and right bays of the façade, are modern coach arches. Each of the left and right bays is almost entirely filled by a bowed bay, detailed to match the main walls and with similar eaves, each roofed with a pitched natural slate roof that curves with the wall below. Each bowed bay has a tripartite front window consisting of a central six-over-six sash flanked by narrower two-over-two sashes, under a segmentally headed smooth rendered architrave with a plain masonry tympanum above a painted granite cill. Each bowed bay also has single six-over-six sash windows to each side, with similar cills and flat-headed architraves.

The left (east) elevation is four bays wide, with the basement fully exposed. The leftmost bay appears to be a later addition and has two one-over-one sash windows to each floor. The second bay from the left has two six-over-three sashes to the basement — the left one with an exposed box and the right one larger with a higher cill level — and at ground floor a tripartite window consisting of a six-over-six sash flanked by two-over-two sashes. The third bay from the left has a glazed timber door to the left and a six-over-three sash to the right at basement level; at ground floor it has a pair of narrow glazed four-paned doors, each with a transom over, served by a flight of concrete steps rising from ground level and enclosed by a plain metal balustrade. The rightmost bay has a six-over-three sash at basement left and a six-over-six sash at ground floor centre. All basement windows on this elevation have painted granite cills and security bars to the front.

The north gable of the west wing is abutted to its centre and right by a slightly lower single-bay extension with a pitched natural slate roof and walls matching the main block. Its west elevation is flush with the west elevation of the main block and has two small one-over-one sash windows at ground floor level; the basement on this elevation is blank. The basement gable is abutted by a higher ground level, and its first floor has a modern uPVC window. The east-facing elevation of this extension is exposed at basement level and has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door; the ground floor on this side is blank. The exposed left portion of the north gable and the left part of this elevation are abutted by a plain narrow structure, open to the basement, with walls matching the main block and a flat roof, which possibly contains a water tank. The east-facing wall of the west wing is exposed at its right (north) end and has a two-over-two sash window to each floor.

The central courtyard is separated from the rear by a link block joining the two wings, aligned west to east with a flat roof and walls matching the main block. Its south face fronts the inner yard, and its north face is abutted to the right by a two-storey lean-to and to the left by a single-storey porch. The exposed portion of the link block at ground floor left has a small modern timber window. The two-storey lean-to to the right has a shallow roof and a two-over-two window to each floor of its north wall; its left (east) cheek is blank and its right (west) cheek abuts the west wing. The porch has a pitched natural slate roof with a plain bargeboard and a tongue-and-groove sheeted door; its west cheek abuts the two-storey lean-to and its left cheek abuts the garage. The north end wall of the east wing is blank and is abutted at basement level by a lean-to garage block with a natural slated lean-to roof. The roof overhangs, and the front wall has large garage doors two cars wide. The east-facing cheek of the garage is dashed to match the house, and the basement level has a pair of two-by-three-paned casement windows in a common opening.

The east elevation of the house is three bays wide with the basement exposed. The left bay is blank but carries marks in the render suggesting it once had a first-floor window. The central and right bays each have a single window: both ground-floor windows are six-over-six sashes, and all basement windows are six-over-three sashes with painted granite cills and bars, not aligned with the windows above.

The inner yard has an open basement. On its south side (the front block) there is a six-over-six sash at ground floor and a glazed timber door with a transom over it at basement level. On the north side (the link block) there are three one-over-one sashes in a single opening and a pair of four-over-two sashes in a single opening at basement level. The west and east sides of the inner yard are each abutted by lean-to extensions under cat-slide roofs off the main roofs. The lean-to on the west side of the yard does not abut the basement wall at its right end, and in that recess there is a pair of four-over-four sashes. The lean-to itself has a segmentally headed archway to the left with a tiny one-over-one window and a six-panelled door (with horizontal top and bottom panels), and at ground floor a six-over-three sash to the left with a tiny one-over-one sash to its left. The lean-to on the east side of the yard does not abut the basement wall at its left end; in that recess there is a pair of four-over-two sashes and a tongue-and-groove sheeted door on the left cheek leading into the front block. The lean-to on the east side has a modern timber casement window at ground floor left, a tongue-and-groove sheeted door at basement right, and a pair of four-over-two sashes at ground floor right.

The grounds are extensive, planted with mature trees and shrubs, with a large lawned area to the south of the house enclosed to the front by modern gates and rendered walling. To the north-east of the house is the former farmyard, and to the north-west is the walled garden.

The farmyard to the north-east is surrounded by a high rubble stone wall, with the east wall forming the party wall with the yard of the adjacent Cooleavin. It is entered through a pair of large flat iron gates in its south elevation. Immediately to the left on entry is a one-and-a-half-storey outbuilding aligned north to south, with a pitched natural slate roof that is half-hipped to the north end. Its north wall has a semi-elliptical doorway at ground floor fitted with a pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors, and above in the gable a six-over-three sliding sash window, which is partially collapsed. The rear south gable is blank; the left and right elevations were not inspected. The yard is partially enclosed to its east and west sides by similar outbuildings, all with rendered random rubble walls and tongue-and-groove sheeted doors. The east outbuilding has a hipped roof, part natural slate and part artificial, with advanced eaves supporting half-round cast-iron rainwater goods. Its end gables are covered in dense foliage. The west-facing wall carries the openings; most windows are gone but their frames suggest they were sliding sashes, and there are louvred vents at loft level. Its east wall ties into the east boundary wall. The west outbuilding has a lean-to natural slate roof sloping into the yard. The west elevation forms the boundary wall, with ground level embanking up to attic floor where there are three small window openings. The south gable has a doorway; the north gable and yard-facing elevation were not inspected.

The walled garden to the north-west of the house is enclosed by high rubble stone walls. A number of small lean-to outbuildings are attached to the external north elevation; these are constructed in rubble stone with shallow masonry roofs.