Many Mansions
A corrugated roof colour coordinating with a crinkly hedge. Driving out of Cookstown, vernacular soon gives way to splendour.
The evolution of country house styles over three centuries could be told through one estate on the outskirts of Cookstown in County Tyrone. Businessman Thomas Greer commissioned Thomas Jackson to design Tullylagan Manor. Born in 1807 in Waterford City to a Quaker family, Thomas moved to Belfast aged 22 and eventually became a partner in Thomas Duff’s office (Parkanaur in County Tyrone is one of the practice’s many projects). Belfast is still a benefiter of the diverse talent of Thomas Jackson, from the 1830s Greek Revival Old Museum Building (now home to Ulster Architectural Heritage) to the 1840s Tudor Revival St Malachy’s Catholic Church.
Built in 1828, Tullylagan Manor is a restrained Greek Revival house relying on the Doric order for detailing. It consists of a three bay (entrance front) and four bay (garden front) two storey over exposed basement villa and long lower two storey wing, faced in coursed ashlar sandstone, roofed in Bangor blue slates. The entrance is in a full height pilastered porch. Or rather consisted of a two storey over exposed basement. Montalto in County Down and Tullylagan Manor are rare examples of basements being excavated to form ground floors. In 1904, Thomas MacGregor Greer commissioned this structural work as well as exterior steps up to what became a first floor entrance.
Thomas MacGregor Greer (so many Thomases!) originally appointed London architects Alfred Henry Hart and Percy Leslie Waterhouse to design a replacement building. His grandfather’s neoclassical house must have looked positively old fashioned. The unexecuted design is very modern and very English. The layout includes state of the art bathrooms and a basement heating chamber. A proliferation of oriels, chamfered bays and gables along with transom and mullion windows creates a straight out of the Cotswolds look. The closest Alfred and Percy’s plans came to fruition was to be exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1904.
Four unsigned unexecuted schemes are in the Public Records Office Northern Ireland. One plan is for two extensions to the existing house, both projecting from the entrance front. Another plan for “Proposed Alterations to House” is much more radical. The extant drawings are of the basement, ground and first floorplans. The main reception rooms are laid out behind a two bay setback flanked by chamfered bay windows. A three storey return wing extends to the rear. Some rooms are named after colours (Blue, Crimson, Green, Pink, White and Yellow), others after outlook (East, West and South) and one after wood (Walnut). This proposal would have doubled the size of the house and created a symmetrical entrance front.
The largest proposal is for a replacement house. There are three layout variations: one with a central staircase hall; one with a central stadium shaped (rectangle with semicircle ends) hall with the staircase to the side; and another with a central polygonal hall with the staircase to the side. The fourth unexecuted scheme is of a symmetrical ground floorplan with a large semicircular porch. Accompanying sketches illustrate it was to be a two storey plus attic house. Elaborate details include Dutch gables with finials. Digging to expose the basement was clearly the least ambitious and most economic option. Perhaps Thomas MacGregor Greer decided Greek Revival wasn’t so bad after all.
A newbuild wouldn’t happen at Tullylagan until the end of the 20th century. Rather than replace Tullylagan Manor, owners Raymond and Hilary Turkington decided to build a 16 bedroom hotel in the ample grounds. Tullylagan Country House Hotel soon became one of the most popular destinations in the County. Turkingtons, their eponymous store in Cookstown remains one of the best interiors shops in the Province. Hilary’s brother designed the long two storey hotel in a neo Palladian form with a seven bay main block flanked by three bay setbacks terminated by gable fronted two bay wings. A square porch with a tripartite window to the front and entrance door to the side with 1930s style stained glass as well as a lush covering of ivy draping over the exterior add to its charm. Outbuildings of Tullylagan Manor were converted to further hotel accommodation. Tullylagan Country House Hotel closed in 2021: a new operator is sought to take it over.
