Lisnamallard House, Omagh, County Tyrone

Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978) Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London. 

p. 187. “(Buchanan, sub Hammond-Smith/IFR; Scott/IFR) A Georgian house believed to have been built in front of an earlier house in 1724, which subsequently became part of the stable yeard. Two storey; three bay front with canted ends. Formerly belonged to the Buchanan family, of which James Buchanan, 15^th president of the U.S. was a cadet. Bought by Charles Scott ca 1880, after which various alterations were carried out; notably the addition of a glass porch, and overhanging windows with side elevations.”

www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Register_of_Parks_Gardens_Demesnes-NOV20.pdf 

LISNAMALLARD (MILLBANK) HOUSE, County Tyrone (AP OMAGH AND FERMANAGH O7) T/012 
REGISTERED GRADE A 
Once on the outskirts of Omagh the house and grounds (32.5 acres/13.2ha) are now part of the 
town, located 0.6 miles (0.9km) north-east of the Court House on High-street, south of the Old 
Mountfield Road on the north bank of the Camowen River. The south-facing house (Listed HB 
11/12/002) is a relatively small three-bay two-storey over basement late Georgian residence with 
additions of c.1900 including a large rear return making it effectively a double-pile house, with a 
large glazed entrance porch and, to the sides, several oriel windows of Edwardian date. A 
datestone inscribed ‘E.P. 1724’ is preserved in a wall to the north of the house, but no house is 
shown here on Taylor’s & Skinners 1777 map, nor recorded in Ambose Leet’s Directory of 1814, so 
if there was a house here it must have been modest. The house, originally called Millbank, is 
essentially a Regency building, probably built between 1815-20 for Joseph Orr who lived here 
until his death in 1847. In 1881 the property, by then called Lisnamallard after the townland, was 
acquired from the Orr family by Charles Scott, owner of the nearby Excelsior Mills. There has 
been continuous planting on the site since it was built, both along the avenue from the north and 
around the park to the west and south of the house. Today, mature trees surround the house and 
gardens and there is an avenue of mostly beech. The original kitchen garden (1.1 acres/0.42ha), 
formerly an orchard, lay immediately to the east of the house, but was removed in the 1890s and 
replaced with ornamental gardens. At about the same time (1896) a large long (86ft) greenhouse 
was erected into the garden extending from the east side of the house; this backed onto an 
existing wall which still stands and contains the above mentioned stone, plus beeboles. The 
glasshouse was demolished around 1980 and the space created made into a planted terrace. The 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
rockery was made from stones removed from the workhouse in Omagh in the 1960s. Borders, an 
orchard and arboretum are maintained amidst lawns, including newly cultivated areas begun 
since 1892. A Victorian summer house has been restored. The house was requisitioned for 
military use during the Second World War, during which time it fell into disrepair; as a result the 
post-war years witnessed extensive refurbishment works. In 1964 the property was divided in 
two to be re-united in 1981, refurbished 1982-85 and sold to Omagh District Council in 1994, who 
had already (1965-67) acquired the southern part for a Leisure Centre and land to the west for 
leisure purposes. The house now functions as offices for the Council’s Environmental Health Unit. 
Public access.