CASTLEDERG
8-14 Castlefinn Road, Castlederg, Co Tyrone
1988, after bomb damage
The Chapel behind has also
now been restored
The original purpose of this building is shrouded in mystery:
it appears to have been built shortly after 1860 as a factory
- the section of road in front was known for many years as Factory
Row - but it has been suggested variously that it was for manufacturing
nails, rope, lace or embroidery. Since the original windows were
quite small, it seems more likely that it was a warehouse, perhaps
for storing goods produced in local cottage industries. Almost
certainly, the house at the right-hand end was occupied by the
owner or manager, since it had more sophisticated stonework, and
larger windows. The remainder of the building was a large open
space, the chimneys, party walls and larger windows all being
added when the terrace was converted to houses about 1890. This
conversion itself followed an unusual plan, with each front door
leading to a common staircase shared by a pair of houses each
with only two ground floor rooms and two small bedrooms.
In the early 1980s the terrace was condemned as unfit, and plans
were made to demolish it and redevelop the site, but the terrace
was recommended for listing in 1986, and Hearth was able to negotiate
its purchase late in 1989. A few months later, in March 1990,
a 1000lb van bomb left outside the RUC station across the road
wrecked windows, doors and roofs; two of the houses were still
occupied, but fortunately the tenants avoided serious injury.
For once, Hearth had acquired a building in reasonably sound condition
requiring only modernisation, but it became a full restoration
as usual!
Under the contract the pairs of houses were combined so that each
front door led to only one house; and no.12 was adapted to accomodate
the returning family, who had brought up ten children in what,
even with the addition of an extra bedroom over the carriageway
from no.14, is only a three-bedroom house. The first floor joists
had been exposed below, and as much as possible of the joists
has been left showing below the plaster - some joists retaining
nails where items had been hung from the ceiling. The original
cast-iron windows, with pivoted top-lights, were almost all damaged
in the bomb, and new ones were cast; but many of the staircases
and doors were salvaged and reused after extensive repairs. Each
house has a stone-walled yard, with a vegetable garden to the
rear. Following the restoration of St Patrick's Church in 1997,
much of the latter was sold to the church as a garden .
Client: Hearth Housing
Association
Architect: Hearth
Main Contractor: Leonard McGrath, Ederney, Co Fermanagh
Restored: 1991-92
Funded by Housing Association Grant
Accommodation: One three-bedroom house, three two-bedroom
houses
