Pomeroy House, County Tyrone – demolished
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. 233. “(Lowry/IFR; Alexander/IFR) A house built during second half of C18 by Robert Lowry.
It consisted of three storeys over a concealed basement, the top storey treated as an attic, above the cornice.
The entrance front had a central, three-sided bow, one bay on either side of it.
Later there was a projecting porch added to the bow, with Ionic corner-pilasters.
Three bay side, The garden front was of five bays, prolonged by a single-storey dining-room wing of 1815, with Wyatt windows in a three-sided bow and a polygonal lantern on the roof.
The main reception rooms were at the garden front.
Following Major Alexander’s death, Pomeroy House was sold in 1959 to the Northern Ireland Forest Service, which demolished it.
see https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/01/lowry-of-pomeroy.html
THE LOWRYS OWNED 2,929 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE
This is a junior branch of the Earls of Belmore.
STEPHEN LAURIE or LOWRY purchased the Maxwelton estate, Dumfriesshire, during the reign of JAMES VI, King of Scotland, from the Earl of Glencairn.
He had issue, three sons,
John, whose son was created a baronet in 1685, designated of Maxwelton;
Robert, who settled in Cumberland;
JAMES, of whom hereafter.
The youngest son,
JAMES LOWRY or LAURIE, settled at Ballymagorry, County Tyrone, before 1641.
The Lowry coat-of-arms contains a garland of laurel branches.
Ballymagorry lies several miles north of Strabane, County Tyrone, and has been a settlement since Plantation times, being founded in the early 17th century by Sir George Hamilton, of Greenlaw, brother to James, 1st Earl of Abercorn.
He died in 1665, and 1682-1723)
JOHN LOWRY (1609-89), who settled at Aghenis, County Tyrone, and married firstly, Jane, daughter of William Hamilton, of Ballyfallow, by whom he had issue,
William, died unmarried;
Elizabeth; Margaret; Mary.
He wedded secondly, Miss Mary Buchanan, a Scottish lady, and had further issue,
John, died unmarried;
ROBERT, succeeded his brother;
Catherine; Rebecca; Anne; Jane.
Mr Lowry died at the celebrated siege of Londonderry, and was succeeded by his surviving son,
ROBERT LOWRY (c1660-1729), of Aghenis, who espoused Anne, daughter of the Rev James Sinclair, of Hollyhill, County Tyrone, Rector of Clogherny, and afterwards of Desertcreat, County Tyrone (second son of Sir James Sinclair, of Caithness), and had issue,
Robert, of Melbury, dsp;
Galbraith, ancestor of THE EARLS OF BELMORE;
JAMES, of whom we treat.
Mr Lowry was succeeded in his principal estates by his elder surviving son, while the younger,
THE REV JAMES LOWRY (1707-87), of Tullyhogue, County Tyrone, founded the branch seated at Pomeroy House.
He married Hester, daughter of William Richardson, of Richhill, MP for Armagh, and sister of Mary, Viscountess Gosford, and had issue,
ROBERT, of Pomeroy;
John (Rev);
James, from whom the ROCKDALE branch;
Hester.
The eldest son,
ROBERT LOWRY (1748-1802), of Pomeroy, wedded, in 1777, Elizabeth, daughter of Major William Tighe, of Ballyshannon, and had issue,
James, died unmarried;
ROBERT WILLIAM, of Pomeroy;
John;
Armar;
William, of Drumreagh, Commander RN;
Everina; Hester; Elizabeth; Maria.
The eldest surviving son,
ROBERT WILLIAM LOWRY JP DL (1787-1869), of Pomeroy, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1812, espoused, in 1815, Anna, eldest daughter of Admiral Samuel Graves, the elder brother of of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Graves KB, and had issue,
ROBERT WILLIAM, of Pomeroy;
John Fetherstonhaugh;
Anna Jane.
Mr Lowry was succeeded by his eldest son,
ROBERT WILLIAM LOWRY JP DL (1816-99), of Pomeroy House, Barrister, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1849, who married, in 1852, Frances Elizabeth, youngest daughter and co-heir of Benjamin Humphrey Geale Brady, of Mount Geale, County Kilkenny, and had issue,
Robert Geale, died in infancy;
ROBERT THOMAS GRAVES, of whom hereafter;
Mary Anna Catherine; Letitia Maria Isabella.
He wedded secondly, in 1880, Dorothea Elizabeth, second daughter of George Folliott, of Vicar’s Cross, Cheshire.
The surviving son,
ROBERT THOMAS GRAVES LOWRY JP DL (1857-1947), of Pomeroy House, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1896, Major, 1st Dragoon Guards, was succeeded by his sister,
MISS MARY ANNA CATHERINE LOWRY (d 1951), who wedded Colonel Charles Murray Alexander, and had issue, a son and heir,
MAJOR CHARLES ADAM MURRAY ALEXANDER MC JP DL (1889-1958), Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1936.
Major Lowry fought in 1st World War, was wounded and mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917.
He was a director of the Ulster Bank; on the board of the Pigs Marketing Board, Northern Ireland, the Great Northern Railway, and the Electricity Board, Northern Ireland; Ferguson Ltd, Dublin; Bessbrook Spinning Company Ltd; Harry Ferguson Motors Ltd; J N Richardson Sons & Owden Ltd.
Former estates ~ The Manor of Chichester and Leggin, including Pomeroy; and property at Baskine, County Westmeath, acquired by marriage.
POMEROY HOUSE, near Pomeroy, County Tyrone, was built ca 1780 by Robert Lowry.
It consisted of three storeys over a basement, the top storey treated as an attic, above the cornice.
The entrance front had a central, three-sided bow, one bay on either side of it.
Later there was a projecting porch added to the bow, with Ionic corner-pilasters.
The garden front (above) was of five bays, prolonged by a single-storey dining-room wing of 1815, with Wyatt windows in a three-sided bow and a polygonal lantern on the roof.
The main reception rooms were at the garden front.
*****
Following Major Alexander’s death, Pomeroy House was sold in 1959 to the Northern Ireland Forest Service, which demolished it.
The site is now largely a forest.
There is, however, a very fine stand of Scots pine within the forest.
There are other old demesne trees and the management is replacing hard-woods.
The walled garden remains and the offices are extant.
Pomeroy Forest School is in modern buildings.
Shoots and Christmas trees add to the commercial use.
On land not owned by the forestry service, now outside the demesne on the south side of the road, is the Alexander Vault, which is listed, with the last few specimens of a monkey puzzle avenue to the vault.
One gate lodge remains.
First published in January, 2012.
www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Register_of_Parks_Gardens_Demesnes-NOV20.pdf
POMEROY HOUSE, County Tyrone (AP MID ULSTER 10) T/031
REGISTERED GRADE B
Demesne parkland of largely Regency date (410 acres/166 ha), flanking the east side of the village
of the planned 18th-century (c.1770) hill-top village Pomeroy, about 9 miles (14km) from
Dungannon. The park was enlarged on its west perimeter in the 1850s but otherwise remained
fundamentally unaltered from the early 19th century until 1960s, when the Forest Service
(DAERA) started to plant extensive coniferous plantations here. The house, demolished c.1970,
was a plain classical five-bay house of three-stories over a basement with hipped roof, built 1789-
92 for Robert Lowry (1748-1802); a single-storey extension c.1850 was added on its east side by
his son Robert William Lowry (1787-1869), possibly in celebration of the marriage of his son,
Robert William Lowry (1816-99) to an heiress in 1852. Unusually, the house was orientated
north-west facing the rectangular late 18th century stable yard a mere 80 feet (25m) distant from
the front door; the south side of this yard still survives. Later in the 19th century a second
rectangular yard was added on its north side, some ranges of which also still survive; further north
of this a kennel building c.1860 survives. Also to the north, on alignment with the house and
yards is a straight avenue of length 385m (0.24 miles) defined by a ditch on one side and by
substantial banks on both sides; mature oak trees and younger beech have been planted atop
these banks. This formal avenue may indicate that an earlier house had been originally planned
on the site of the 1789-92 house by the Rev. James Lowry of Tullyhogue (1707-87) who inherited
this property from his father in 1729 (he in turn had bought the property from Speaker Conolly in
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020
1719); however, there is no documentary or cartographic evidence for such an early house and it
is very likely that the house of 1789-92 was de novo. A rectangular walled kitchen garden for
fruit, vegetables and flowers (1.8 acres/0.8ha), also of late 18th century date, was built 530ft
(160m) directly east of the house on lower ground; it has stone walls with no brick lining; those on
the south and east sides survive intact, while those of the north and west have been partly
demolished; an impressive beech tree has grown into the south-east corner of the garden wall.
The garden had a free standing glasshouse in its east sector (there was another conservatory
adjacent ot the house); the whole garden area is now covered with mature deciduous trees, while
the ‘garden wood’ on its north side has been replaced with coniferous trees. The area between
the house and the walled garden was formerly a pleasure ground with ornamental trees and
shrubs set in extensive mowed lawns; this area is now densely covered with undergrowth, but
and it would appear some exotics have survived here. The parkland, which has been overplanted
over much of its former extent, save for the area south of the house site, was typical of the
Picturesque-style. The central element of this parkland was a large open meadow (‘The Lawn’)
south of the house,; this partly remains but unfortunately a house has been erected within it,
c.1980. This meadow was flanked on its west perimeter by a curving approach avenue leading to
the house from the main entrance on the Slate Quarry Road, where there was a gate lodge (The
East Lodge, demolished c.1960); a wide sweeping gate screen with rendered quadrant walls,
remains in place at this entrance (not listed). Another avenue, joining the latter on its on its west
side, led to a second entrance on the Tanderagee Road; this had a gate lodge on the opposite side
of the road (The West Lodge, rebuilt 1878 and still present albeit much altered). The park,
originally created from what had been bog land on heavy clays, had extensive woodland
plantations, evidently mostly beech, but also some oak, covering around 180 acres (70ha) laid out
in blocks both along the road perimeter to the south and west and within the demesne (Town
Plantation, Doctor Plantation, Lake Wood, McCrory’s Plantation, Lock’s Plantation, Parkmanany
Wood, Garden Wood and others), interspersed with open meadows, the latter being dotted with
isolated trees and small clumps. In the south-west section of the park, flanking the west avenue,
were a series of three inter-linked artificial lakes, which was fed from water from the north-east.
According to Samuel Lewis in 1837 the main lake was made in the shape of Ireland at a scale of 1-
inch to 1-mile and stated by him to lie adjacent to ‘an abundant’ spring; this lake remains as a
shallow boggy area enclosed in what is now coniferous woodland. Indeed, most of the former
parkland, both its historic woodland and open parkland, have been planted up with conifers since
1958 (when the property was acquired by Forest Service, DAERA; the only deciduous woodland
areas now surviving are around the house (mainly beech) and Traynor’s Wood lying on the south-
east section of the park. Some clumps of old Scots pine also survive in the demesne. The site of
the 1789-92 mansion is now a car park (disused), while the area immediately to its south, was
used in the 1970s to build a rather dull complex of buildings, which served as a Forestry School; it
was used for training FS staff members and various outside organisations and it is now
abandoned. In the vicinity of the house the FS in 1966 planned to plant an arboretum covering
about 3h to be laid out in a grid system, but this was never undertaken. North of the house the FS
laid out the ‘Grace Drennan Woodland Trail’ in memory of Grace Drennan (died 1974), a lecturer
in biology in Stranmillis College, Belfast, as a tribute to her interest in the use of State Forests for
education. On land not owned by DAERA, now outside the demesne on the south side of the
road, is the Alexander Vault (Listed HB 09/02/010), built in a Classical-style with flat roof c.1870
enclosed by a low wall with decorative cast-iron railings; now stranded in the middle of a field,
this was originally approached by an avenue (800ft (245m) long of Monkey Puzzles (Araucaria
araucana), of which only one now survives. SMR: TYR 37:3 and 37:4 both enclosures.
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020
Irish Historic Houses 