Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/01/054

Address :
Cluntirriff House 1 Clontarriff Road Ballinderry Upper Lisburn County Antrim BT28 2JD

Townland:
Cluntirriff

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
14/08/1989 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
164/02

IG Ref:
J1554 6662

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical three-bay two storey late Georgian farmhouse, built c.1830 and located south of Clontarriff Road southwest of Upper Ballinderry. L-shaped on plan with conservatory to rear and rubble-stone outbuildings to north. Pitched natural slate roof with replacement brick chimneystacks and raised stone verges. Cast iron half-round rainwater goods. Walling is painted roughcast render with smooth render plinth and quoins; rear wing is black rubble stone with Flemish bonded red-brick dressings; re-pointed in ribbon pointing. Windows are 4/8 timber framed sliding sash to first floor, 8/8 to ground floor; 6/3 to rear; all with projecting painted masonry sills and some exposed sash boxes; all windows to return are brick dressed. The principal elevation faces east, is symmetrically arranged and is three openings wide. Entrance to centre at ground floor comprises four-panelled timber door with brass lion-head knocker and door knob, surmounted by segmental- headed fanlight with side-lights; smooth render reveal and aprons to sidelights. The south elevation has a single 6/6 sash window to left at ground floor. The west (rear) elevation is abutted by the return to left with modern timber conservatory to the re-entrant angle. Window to first floor of main block; return has two windows to gable to centre of first floor, single window to centre at ground floor. To right, right cheek has three windows to first floor and a single window to left of the conservatory; left cheek has two 6/3 windows to ground and first floor, with central half-panelled timber door. The north elevation has a single window to right at ground and first floor. Setting: Set in a slightly elevated position amongst farmland, in large mature grounds with garden to front and south. Gravelled driveway to northwest accessed via round rubble stone gate piers with rendered caps and original cast-iron farm gate; leading to laned access to northeast with cast-iron gates on masonry piers overgrown with vegetation. To north is vegetable garden enclosed by pebble-stone wall with saddleback coping stones and round gate piers and water pump to lane side of wall; stable yard with rubble stone outbuildings having Flemish bonded red-brick dressings to north east, including a large hay-barn and stables complete with original timber half-doors. Roof: Natural slate Walling: Roughcast render and rubble stone Windows: Timber framed sliding sash RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

'Clontarriff' House appears on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1832 which depicts a small square house with a large and a smaller out office to its north. The Townland Valuation of 1837 lists the occupant as John Taylor, but records that in the same year a Ms. Sarah Jane Taylor took over as resident of the house. The dimensions measured 43 ft by 23 ft and 16 ft high. The house was classed 1b+ and valued at £6. 17s. including an office and a stable; the stable was the larger of the two northern offices and still stands today. There was no discernable change to the house or its out offices on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1857, however by 1859 the value of the house was raised to £10 in Griffith’s Valuation where the valuer recorded the dwelling as ‘House office and land’ but commented that the ‘offices [were] not good.’ Sarah Jane Taylor possessed the house until 1874 when it was temporarily occupied by an Alexander Taylor, and then by James Smith in the same year. In 1889 Thomas Fleming came into possession of the property, changing its use to a caretaker’s house. The value of the house was reduced to £5 the valuer noting that in 1889 the ‘house [was] in bad repair. Some offices down.’ Fleming bought the house from the Marquis of Hertford in 1893, and owned it until the end of the Annual Revisions for Legatirriff in 1930. The third and fourth editions of the Ordnance Survey maps (1900 – 1921) show some alteration to the property; a two-storey return was added to the house at this time and an additional out office was built next to the stables. The 1901 Census records two buildings in Cluntirriff that were owned by Thomas Fleming, however, Fleming did not occupy either at that time. It is likely that Clontarriff House was the uninhabited building of the two which he perhaps used as a store for the caretaker. The Census return records this as a second class dwelling, which included a cow house and a store. The house was listed in 1989 and renovations were carried out in 1990. Brett describes the house as ‘a very decent’ late-Georgian farmhouse (NIEA File). At the time he was writing in 1996, Brett stated that the house had been recently restored after falling into neglect over many years (Brett, p. 169). The current owners came into possession of the house after the restoration work, living there for ten years to present. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/63 – Field Map c.1830 2. PRONI VAL/1/B/167 – Townland Valuation 3. PRONI OS/6/1/63/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832 4. PRONI OS/6/1/63/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1857 5. PRONI OS/6/1/63/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-1901 6. PRONI OS/6/1/63/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1921 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/55 – Griffith’s Valuation 1859 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/8 A – Annual Revisions 1862-1863 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/8 B – Annual Revisions 1869-1881 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/8 C – Annual Revisions 1881-1894 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/8 D – Annual Revisions 1894-1912 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/8 D – Annual Revisions 1912-1930 Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of County Antrim’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1996. NIEA File – HB19/01/054.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Clontarriff House is a well proportioned symmetrically arranged three-bay two storey late Georgian farmhouse; built c.1830, located in an unspoilt rural setting southwest of Upper Ballinderry. The house has been sympathetically restored in recent years, retaining the original floor-plan. Despite some loss of historic detailing through refurbishment of the interior it is a good, and increasingly rare, example of its type, with its fine rubble-stone outbuildings and stable yard, vegetable garden, original boundary walls and gate piers, and cast-iron water pump. Clontarriff House illustrates a more formal style of vernacular, designed as a move away from the more typical asymmetric vernacular tradition toward s a planned formal style typical of the more well off farmers.

General Comments

Date of Survey

24 August 2010