A blog of sketches of historic buildings

536

21/12/2017

Closer to main street is Walworth House. This early eighteenth century house is at the end of the original settlement and built into the wall of its seventeenth century defensive ‘bawn’ (a fortified house with a stone wall enclosing a courtyard). This was built by the Fishmonger’s Company as part of their requirements in the Plantation of Ulster, Three flankers (short circular towers with conical roofs) survive at the remaining corners of the wall. The great age of the site is not very aparent in ths view from the nearby road, but the bueatiful charater of the site is. Behind the house is a very well cared for garden which has been opened to visitors at various times in the past.

0 Comments

December 21st, 2017

21/12/2017

0 Comments

Tamlaght Finlagan Parish Church is situated beside Clooney Road at the northern end of Ballykelly Village. It was finished in 1795 and replaced the former chuch at the end of the Plantation settlement. It was funded by the Earl Bishop- Fredrick Agustus Hervey, and by the local undertaker of the Fishmongers Company lands in the area -John Beresford. The architect is thought to have been Michael Shanahan. He was a Cork architect who had entered the service of the Bishop when he had been Bishop of Cork and who had accompained him on his second ‘Grand Tour’ of the Continent recording classical architecture between 1770 and 1772. The building is a deliberate set piece, set back and parallel to the road with crisp detailing and an elegant form

0 Comments

535.

11/12/2017

0 Comments

On to the village of Ballykelly. This is also an Ulster Plantation settlement. This was created as the principal settlement of the Fishmongers Company’s ‘proportion’. The original 1610 settlement was closer to Lough Foyle than the present main street of the village (which is part of Clooney Road) and located perpendicular. It stretched south on either side of the river from this church which is now beyond the edge of the village. Most Church of Ireland Churches in the Plantation reused the medieval church building but this was a new construction. It was destroyed two times in the wars of the seventeenth century and abandoned in 1795 when a new church was built closer to the present village. This building has always been known as ‘the Garrison Church’ and was dedicated to St Peter. Its main architectural feature is its curved chancel arch which is thought to date from the time of its earliest construction.

0 Comments

December 06th, 2017

6/12/2017

0 Comments

Carrickhugh Flour Mill sits below Clooney Road with fine views accross Lough Foyle. Today it is a big empty shed used for farm machinery but at one time it was a thriving mill located at the base of a stream to get water power. However, the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1830-35 explained that ‘As the supply of water is not good in dry weather, the deficiency has been remedied by a steam engine of 12 horse-power which commenced working a few days since.’ This explains the chimney. The mill continued in operation for various uses until after the Second World War, (when it was used for corn grinding). It was converted to farm use after 1948. Today it is an important and visible reminder of the many former mills in this area, which were once a significant source of employment.

0 Comments

536

December 21st, 2017

535.

December 06th, 2017

Marks of Time

Categories

Archives