Milltown House is a historic building in

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The two-storey gabled cottage-style house and gate lodge was constructed in ''c.'' 1836 for

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

John Humphreys (father of

Cecil Frances Alexander Cecil Frances Alexander (April 1818 – 12 October 1895) was an Anglo-Irish hymnwriter and poet. Amongst other works, she wrote "All Things Bright and Beautiful", " There is a green hill far away" and the Christmas carol "Once in Royal David's Ci ...

), agent to the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn (later created, in 1868, the 1st

Duke of Abercorn The title Duke of Abercorn () is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1868 and bestowed upon James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. Although the Dukedom is in the Peerage of Ireland, it refers to Abercorn, West Lothian, and t ...

), and was designed by

William Vitruvius Morrison William Vitruvius Morrison (1794 – 16 October 1838) was an Irish architect, son and collaborator of Sir Richard Morrison. Life He was born at Clonmel, County Tipperary, second son of Sir Richard Morrison (1767–1849) and Elizabeth Ould, a gra ...

. At the age of fifteen, Irish hymn-writer and poet,

, moved into Milltown House, with her family. While living there she wrote and had published a number of books, verses and hymns.''an English rendering of the ancient Gaelic hymn...Alexander did not read Gaelic but worked from several literal and unmusical English translations sent to her by H.H. Dickinson, dean of the Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle.'' The building was the former site of Strabane Grammar School, and during the transition to Strabane Academy at their new building on the High School site, functioned as the Sixth Form College. It has been vacant since January 2020. In July that year it was subject to an arson attack and suffered substantial damage.

Preservation campaign

In 2022 the

Education Authority The Education Authority () is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. It was established under the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 12) which was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly. The ...

resolved to sell the site, including Milltown House. A public campaign is building to preserve the building and repurpose the site for community use. The

Derry City and Strabane District Council Derry City and Strabane District Council (; Ulster-Scots: ''Derry Cittie & Stràbane Destrìck Cooncil'') is the local authority for Derry and Strabane district in Northern Ireland. It was created as part of the 2014 Northern Ireland local go ...

has resolved to request the Authority preserve the historic building and examine the possibility of transferring it as a community asset.

References

{{reflist Houses completed in 1836 1836 establishments in Ireland Houses in Northern Ireland Unused buildings in the United Kingdom Strabane