Mullaghmore House

 THE STACKS OWNED 3,134 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE

THE RT REV CHARLES MAURICE STACK (1825-1914), Lord Bishop of Clogher, of Nedsherry, County Fermanagh, son of the Rev Edward Stack by his wife, Tempe, daughter of the Rev Walter Bagot, Rector of Monasterevin, County Kildare, wedded, in 1859, Margaret Jane Auchinleck, of Crevenagh, County Tyrone, and had issue,

Edward Churchill, of Ardess, Kesh;
CHARLES MAURICE, of whom hereafter;
Walter Auchinleck (Rev);
William Bagot (Rev);
Elizabeth Mary.

The second son,

THE REV CHARLES MAURICE STACK (1865-c1939), Vicar of Magheracloone, Kells, County Monaghan, married, in 1901, Anna Kathleen, daughter of the Rev Thomas Lindsay FitzGeorge Stack, of Mullaghmore, County Tyrone, and had issue,

Marcia Elizabeth Margaret, b 1902;
Kathleen Tempe, b 1904;
Mary, b 1907;
Meta Dorothea, b 1910.

MULLAGHMORE HOUSE, near Omagh, County Tyrone, is a detached three-bay, two-storey, Georgian house, built ca 1750.

There is a two-storey return to the rear, with an extended lower two-storey addition; single-bay two-storey annex to east of return; lean-to two-storey addition to west of return, lean-to single-storey porch to north of extension.

The late-Georgian front pile may have been built ca 1800, but the rear is possibly older.

The Stack family owned Mullaghmore during the Victorian era.

According to the present owner, the orangery was re-built in 2002 on the site of an early 19th century predecessor that collapsed in the 1940s.

The interior was renovated in 1952, when many historic features were altered.

The house was restored between 2000-02 by the present owner.

Upon the removal of render during the most recent renovation, the front pile was discovered to be built of random rubble stone with very large quoins that likely came from a more substantial structure.

The owner believes that the re-used, tooled quoins may be late medieval.

The temporary removal of render also revealed several blocked low doors and diminished windows with deeply splayed embrasures.

Additionally, two low brick tunnels originating from the kitchen were discovered, one leading outside to east of the kitchen and the other running under the boiler room.

During that renovation, a toppled twelve-foot standing stone was discovered buried in front of the house.

The stone weighs several tons, is tooled and not indigenous to this area.

The present building, as it appears today, was in all probability built by the Stack family, who had connections to several properties in the area, and in England, and who also constructed the nearby Knock-na-moe Castle (1875), which was demolished ca 1990.

The Stack family donated stained-glass windows in St Columba's parish church, where one member, the Rev William Stack, had been curate.

Another family member, the Rev Richard Stack, was rector of Cappagh, 1807-12.

Mullaghmore House was later owned by the Scott family, who had many military connections and frequently rented out the house.

In 1922, Major-General Patrick Scott rented the house to the Gorman family.

The late Sir John Gorman was born here in 1923.

Sir John's father had been a Royal Irish Constabulary district inspector for County Tyrone, and during the partition, he along with several other former RIC members formed the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the house. The house served as the RUC headquarters for a number of weeks before the group moved to the more secure Seskinore House.

According to the owner, the present house was built in stages and the oldest section is likely to be the kitchen.

First published in August, 2014.