Fathom House, 45 Fathom Line, Fathom Park, Newry, Co Armagh, BT35 8QN

Fathom House

A well-proportioned early 18th-century symmetrical house of considerable architectural merit, built by the Needhams, Earls of Kilmorey, with title deeds suggesting a date of 1732. The building occupies a magnificent site within the maturely planted Fathom Park, overlooking the Newry River and Canal. Together with its ruinous stable block and belvedere, it forms an important architectural group.

The house is a two-storey structure with basement, aligned north-west to south-east on the west side of Fathom Line. A steeply pitched natural slate roof carries two cement-rendered chimneys with stepped copings and square-section pots, one to each gable. An advanced rendered eaves course supports the remains of half-round metal gutters, though downpipes are missing. A skylight serves the rear pitch. All walls are cement-rendered.

The principal elevation faces north-east and features a centrally located entrance accessed by an impressive flight of nine semi-circular granite steps that sweep sharply outwards. Dwarf walls flank the steps, once supporting wrought-iron railings which survive only at threshold level. The steps have a brick soffit, beneath which is a small opening. The entrance itself is marked by a painted stone doorcase with a pair of moulded pilasters bearing foliated console brackets supporting a plain entablature. The timber door has six panels with bolection moulding (the top two panels being smaller) and carries a decorative cast-iron lion's-head knocker, with a narrow transom above.

At basement level, to either side of the steps, are metal-framed top-hung casements with granite cills. At ground floor, aligned above, are exposed box 1/1 sliding sash windows with horns. The first floor carries three windows in line with the ground floor openings, but diminished in height and similarly 1/1 sliding sashes. The left gable displays a 1/3 metal-framed casement window to the basement. The ground floor has four further windows, all 6/6 sliding sashes without horns except that to the extreme right, which now leads to a modern conservatory raised on a cement-rendered plinth. The first floor has two 1/1 sliding sashes with larger top panes at the left end; to the right end, at a higher level, is a timber casement. All windows are fitted with granite cills.

The rear elevation is built into the hillside and accessed via a narrow passage. At the centre of the basement level is a glazed timber door. To either side is a boarded window with granite cill. Above the door is a 6/6 sliding sash retaining original crown glass with bullseye. A large modern metal flue is positioned to the left end. The right gable has three basement openings: at centre a tongue-and-groove sheeted door accessed by granite steps and enclosed by a granite wall with saddle coping; to either side are windows with cills at ground level, the right window being covered with sacking. Ground floor and first floor each carry four equally spaced windows, those to the first floor being diminished in height.

The interior is believed to be little altered, retaining most original features. The house was noted in the first Valuation book of circa 1835 as measuring 44 feet 6 inches by 43 feet by 18 feet in height, with a 7-foot-6-inch-high cellar and a return measuring 10 feet 6 inches by 21 feet by 16 feet. These dimensions recur in the 1862 Valuation.

The building was originally known as "Fathom Lodge" from at least 1776, when Richard Vincent appears to have been in residence. The property is marked as belonging to "Ogle Esq." on Taylor and Skinner's road map of 1777. Vincent was confirmed as occupant in August 1781 but had been succeeded by John Ogle Jnr. by 1784. Vincent returned before June 1787, followed by William Lane in late 1790 and John Ogle again in 1810. Richard Benson is mentioned in relation to the site in 1814, though John Ogle had returned by 1817. Benson appears to have established permanent residence from at least 1826, by which time the property had become known as "Fathom Park". In 1862, the house was occupied by Isaac Glenny, a Newry merchant and miller. The Glenny family vacated in 1878 and were succeeded by the Bensons. Thompson Cooke took over in 1880. By 1888, the Valuation revision book noted the house as occupied by a farmer, with the comment that valuation was excessive as "the house being too large for the farm". The rateable valuation was accordingly reduced from £18 to £16 15 shillings in 1888, to £14 15 shillings in 1894, and to £8 in 1895 when the building was noted as "very much out of repair". The roof was altered at some point, probably in the late 19th or early 20th century, the original double-pile profile being replaced with the present single-gabled structure. Following a local district council decision to allocate the name to a new housing estate, the building's name was changed to Fathom House.

The setting comprises elevated gardens to the rear and right of the house, accessed by a set of twelve S-shaped granite steps enclosed within a rubble stone wall. To the right of the house stands a lime-rendered brick well, now almost completely covered in vegetation. The house is approached via a pair of wrought-iron gates with scrolled heads, supported on one-piece granite piers with chamfered corners, though the right pier has collapsed.