Survey Data
Reg No
40902132
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
Claremount
Original Use
House
Date
1860 - 1900
Coordinates
256815, 436194
Date Recorded
21/11/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey over basement house, built c. 1870, with single-storey return to rear. Pitched natural slate roof with clayware ridge tiles, smooth rendered decorative gable ended chimneystacks with moulded cornice coping over smooth rendered plinths; moulded stringcourse below paired decorative timber brackets supporting extending timber fascia and soffit boards, cast-iron rainwater goods. Smooth rendered walls with smooth rendered articulated banded channelled quoins, cornice stringcourse to first floor, and smooth rendered plinth course. Segmental-arch headed window openings to first floor with horned timber sash windows to end bays and tripartite window with one-over-one horned timber sash windows of equal proportions to central bay; stone sills, with smooth rendered sill course and smooth rendered continuous hoodmoulding with keystone motif. Square-headed window openings to ground floor with lugged flush smooth rendered surrounds and smooth rendered continuous hoodmoulding with keystone motif, two-over-one horned timber sash windows and stone sills. Segmental-arch headed door opening with stucco moulded architrave surround with key stone motif, decorative double-leaf timber panelled doors addressed via flight of stone steps flanked by smooth rendered walls topped with ashlar stone coping. Set within own grounds with courtyard of contemporaneous multi-bay single-storey outbuildings with pitched slate roofs with clayware ridge tiles, roughcast rendered walls and square-headed openings with matchboard timber doors. Located to the south-west of Moville, close to the Lough Foyle coastline.
Appraisal
This fine and well-proportioned late Victorian House, dating to the second half of the nineteenth century, retains its original form and character despite being now out of use. Its visual expression and integrity is enhanced by the retention of salient fabric such as the natural slate roof, original timber double doors, and the timber sliding sash windows. The front elevation is enlivened by the extensive render detailing, particularly the surrounds to the openings, stringcourses and sill courses, and by the block quoins to the corners. The doorway with surround with tripartite window opening over provides a strong central focus to this appealing house. This house replaced an earlier house on the same site that was extant c. 1837 (Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch map). This house was the residence of a Thomas Holdon or Holton Esq in 1881 (Slater’s Directory). The Holdon or Holton family were in residence here in 1860 when a William Holton of Claremont passed away, aged 80 years. This may have been at the earlier house to site. This building is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area, and is a feature of some appeal in the landscape to the south-west of Moville overlooking Lough Foyle to the south. Sensitively restored, this would make a fine residence. The simple rubble stone outbuilding to site adds significantly to the setting and context, and completes this composition. One of these outbuildings may be an earlier house to site, converted to an outbuilding following the construction of the new house.