A blog of sketches of historic buildings

February 09th, 2020

9/2/2020

The Second Glendermott Presbyterian Congregation formed in 1744 when a disagreement on doctrinal matters occurred between the Minister of the First Congregation and his elders. According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1834 'the Minister could not in all conscience with the Church of Scotland, comply with some change that the elders attempted to force upon him' . He left an set up a new congregation. His church is still standing at the bottom of Church Brae. Over the door is a small slate plaque 'W Hare 1744'. The building is now used as a carpet showroom as the congregation reunited at the beginning of the twentieth century. The church has a T plan similar to the First Congregation church. Unusually it has an external ramp at the rear which formerly gave access to the first floor balcony.

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February 08th, 2020

8/2/2020

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Another house nearby is understood to date from around the same period. This is Millbrook House. It exterior has been much altered with the addition of 'half timbered' decoration outside and a 1990's porch/ conservatory at the front, but inside its very thick dividing walls betray its age and some eighteenth century detail survives. The building is thought to have been a Presbyterian manse at one stage but its name also indicates a probable association with nearby mills. Two mills on the nearby river are described in the 1830 Ordnance Survey Memoirs one described as having a wheel '18 feet in diameter'. The building has a very interesting garden to the rear enclosed by tall old beech trees. Local tradition has that thirteen of these were planted to commemorate the thirteen apprentice boys of Derry. There are now only 10 trees and it is understood that three at the end were removed as part of the extension of nearby Glenshane Road in the 1960's.

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February 02nd, 2020

2/2/2020

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The next date of note in the area is 1729 when the Goldsmiths Company sold their lands to the Earl of Shelbourne. By 1740 he had sold this on to the Earl of Bessborough. The company did retain some involvement in the area donating funds to the new Church of Ireland Church when constructed in 1753 and funding other projects to the end of the nineteenth century.

The mid eighteenth century was a busy time for construction throughout all of Ireland as things settled down after the upheavals of the previous century. One house in this area reflects the type of settled landlord houses being built throughout this period. Brookhill House is a relatively small example of the type and was constructed in 1795 for the landlord of what were described as 'church lands' at the time of the Plantation. Situated with its back to Ardlough Road, the building looks out to fine views across the Faughan Valley. The central entrance porch is Victorian and more ornate than the original Georgian door with fanlight behind but it harmonises with the earlier house.

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February 09th, 2020

February 08th, 2020

February 02nd, 2020

Marks of Time

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