Survey Data
Reg No
13314001
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical
Original Use
Outbuilding
Historical Use
Stables
In Use As
House
Date
1810 - 1830
Coordinates
217242, 261272
Date Recorded
16/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Complex of single and two-storey stables and outbuildings associated with Doory Hall (13314005), built c. 1820 and possibly containing the fabric of earlier buildings. Arranged around a courtyard to the north of the main house. Detached multiple-bay two-storey outbuilding range to southwest side of stableyard having central single-bay three-storey pedimented breakfront with integral elliptical-headed carriage arch and with projecting end bays. Section to the north end now in use to as a private house with single-bay single-storey entrance porch to the southwest elevation having hipped slate roof over. Hipped natural slate roof with rendered chimneystacks and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Pitched slate roof with cast-iron weather vane and cut stone coping to central pedimented section. Roughcast rendered walls with cut limestone eaves course, cut limestone string course and with cast-iron clock face to pediment. Square-headed window openings to northwest end of façade with tooled cut limestone sills and one-over-one timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed window openings to rear façade having paired four-over-four timber sliding sash and replacement windows. Square-headed openings to pedimented breakfront having timber louvered fittings. Square-headed door openings to rear (northeast) with timber doors. Square-headed doorway to porch having timber panelled door, and with glazed surround and overlight. Detached three-bay two-storey coach house to the northeast side of courtyard, having hipped slate roof. Roughcast rendered over rubble limestone construction with cut limestone quoins to the corners. Square-headed window openings to upper storey with cut limestone sills and red brick dressings. Round-headed archway/carriage arch to ground floor, central bay, with cut limestone surround and red brick voussoirs, having corresponding infilled arch to rear elevation (northeast). Segmental-headed carriage arch openings flanking central archway having red brick dressings. Detached multiple-bay single-storey outbuilding ranges to the northwest and southeast sides of yard, having pitched slate roofs and brick chimneystacks. Roughcast rendered random rubble limestone walls. Square-headed openings with red brick dressings having remains of timber battened doors and cast-iron multi-paned and timber framed windows. Segmental-headed carriage arches to the single-storey building to the southeast side of yard having red brick dressings and voussoirs. Located in extensive mature grounds to the northeast of Barry. Walled garden (13314003) adjacent to the south. Main house (13314005) to the south.
Appraisal
A substantial outbuilding and stableyard complex of classical proportions, retaining its elegant early nineteenth-century character and form. The design of this outbuilding complex was conceived as an integral part of the overall layout of the Doory Hall (13314005) estate. It retains much of its early fabric, including timber sash and cast-iron multi-paned windows. The imposing design of the main facade, incorporating a pedimented breakfront flanked by lower wings, echoes the façade of Doory Hall itself. It may have been built to designs by John Hargrave (1788 – 1833), the architect responsible for the designs of the ‘new’ Doory Hall, c. 1820, which replaced an earlier house(s) to site. Its scale provides an indication of the former wealth of the Doory Hall estate and gives an interesting historical insight into the extensive resources required to run and maintain a large country estate in Ireland during the nineteenth century. The presence of chimneystacks in the ranges of outbuildings suggests that these structures had an additional domestic function/workshop function, possibly accommodating labourers and stable hands. Lewis (1837) mentions ‘a school at Doory Hall, supported by Mrs. Jessop’ and, perhaps, one of these buildings formerly had that function. The building to the northwest end of the main block may have been used for this purpose. This range of outbuildings is one of the surviving demesne structures on the Doory Hall estate and forms an integral part of an interesting group in the landscape. It is an important element of the architectural heritage of County Longford in its own right. The Doory Hall estate has historical connections with the Jessop family, originally from Derbyshire, who were granted extensive lands here by King Charles II in the late seventeenth century on lands previously owned by the O’Farrell family. A Doory Hall was in existence in 1714 when a marriage between a Robert Fetherston of Ardagh House (13312039) and an Elizabeth Jessop of Doory Hall is recorded. There is a ‘Dury Hall’, in the ownership of Jessop Esq., indicated on the Taylor and Skinner map of 1777 – 1783. The Darby family of Leap Castle (14939007), County Offaly, lived at Doory Hall in 1923 following the burning of their home.