Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/01/097

Address :
South Rock Dwellings off Newcastle Road Newcastle Portaferry Co Down BT22 1QQ

Townland:
Newcastle

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
07/09/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Partially

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OS Map No:
207/2

IG Ref:
J6467 5326

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Owner Category

Private Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Formal single and two storey grouping of c.1825 containing four former lighthouse keeper’s houses set on the rocky SE coastline of the Ards peninsula, c.4 miles NW of Portaferry. The grouping is almost square in plan form with a ‘double pile’ terrace of (originally) three single storey houses facing eastwards towards the sea with a larger two storey dwelling facing in the opposite direction, with the rears/yards of the entire grouping enclosed with a high wall. The first of the single storey seaward facing houses has an almost central gabled porch, with a sliding sash window, with horizontal and vertical astragals, to the gable front, a plain timber sheeted stable door with three pane sidelight to the left side and a four pane roundel window to the right side. ‘Double’ sliding sash and case window to left of porch, with horizontal and vertical astragals. Two sets of windows to right of porch as before. Second window to right of porch used to belong to middle house in terrace, but this house is now divided with each of its neighbours having a portion. Former middle house has central timber panel double door with rectangular fanlight with arch frame within. Doorway has smooth cement surround. Window as before to right of door (now in fact belonging to house to right). House to right has similar arrangement to former house in middle. The S elevation is double gabled. The valley between the pitched roofs is almost obscured due to the high parapet wall. To the right is a 10 over 15 sash window and to the centre is a double sash each of which is 6 over 9. To the left side the gable merges with a side wall which has three door openings and encloses a side yard. The N elevation is double gabled. The valley between the pitched roofs is almost obscured due to the high parapet wall. The gable is abutted by a single storey lean-to pitched roof (with asbestos slate) which has two unevenly spaced sash windows with horizontal astragals. To the right side the gable merges with a side wall in which is a large opening (for vehicles) with relatively crude pilasters and entablature with keystone, to the high wall at the right.. Each terrace house has second gable off shoot/return (i.e. ‘double’ gable) at rear. All of the terrace houses have gabled pitched roofs with Bangor blue slates and stones parapets, to both their front and rear sections with a rendered chimney stack to each section (i.e. two to each house). Cast iron gutters and down spouts. The two storey dwelling on the opposite side of the grouping (with its back to the terrace) is gutted and merely a shell (in preparation for renovation), and has a central opening for a door with a window opening to each side, with two slightly shorter window openings above. The gables to N and S are blank. This house also has a pitched roof with stone parapets and two rendered chimney stacks, but has asbestos slates and extruded aluminium ogee gutter. To the left and right of this house are high walls, flush with the front of the house, which enclose the area at both sides of the house and join (at right angles) similar high walls stretching from both north and south gables of the terrace, thus enclosing the backs of all buildings in the grouping. Merging with the north gable is a yard wall with a large low outer boundary wall encloses additional shared garden area to south and east of grouping. Entire terrace finished in rough cast render. Low garden wall around all of terrace with dividing wall between first house and former middle house now removed.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The lighthouse, to which these houses owe their existance, was that built on the South Rock in 1797, largely at the behest of Lord Kilwarlin, 2nd Marquis of Downshire. In prompting the Commissioners of Irish Lights to sanction construction on the rock, the Marquis was acknowledging the long standing concerns of many, including writer Walter Harris who warned sailors in 1744 to ‘beware of the South Rock on which so many brave ships have perished’, and the merchants of Belfast, who had been petitioning the Irish parliament for a light to be put on the rock, since the 1760s. The light itself was designed, and building supervised, by Thomas Rogers, the foremost lighthouse engineer of the day. At first, a single keeper and his family lived within on the lighthouse, however, this arrangement was later deemed unsatisfactory and during the later 1820s the present houses were built ashore for the families of the three keepers now thought neccessary for the effective manning of the rock. The OS Memoirs record the existance of the houses in 1834, as does the OS Map of the same year. The lighthouse ceased operation in 1877, replaced by a lightship, mainly because the light itself was not far enough out to sea to give adequate warning of all the hazards of the area. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 OS maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32 2 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p. 121 3 PRONI VAL/1B/3 1st valuation, Parish of Slanes, 1838 4 PRONI OS/6/3/32/2 OS maps, 1st rev., 1860, Down sheet 5 PRONI Second ('Griffith's') valuation, Parish of Slanes, 1861 [In print.] 6 PRONI OS/6/3/32/3 OS maps, 2nd ed., 1899-1900, Down sheet Secondary sources 1. Daniel Gallagher, "History of the South Rock Lighthouse" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society, No. 2' (1978), pp.6-7

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form J. Setting

Historic Interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity V. Authorship

Evaluation

Very fine and rare example of a formal single and two storey grouping of c.1825 former lighthouse keeper’s houses. The grouping is almost square in plan form with a ‘double pile’ terrace of (originally) three single storey houses facing eastwards towards the sea, a larger two storey dwelling facing in the opposite direction, with the rears/yards of the entire grouping enclosed with a high wall.

General Comments

Date of Survey

12 August 1997