Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/07/051

Address :
81 Castlewellan Road Banbridge Co Down BT32 4JD

Townland:
Tullyear

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

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:
221-5 SW

IG Ref:
J1344 4553

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey five-bay house predating 1833 largely altered c.1870. Rectangular plan form with porch, double-height canted bays, rear return and side extension. Located to the south side of Castlewellan Road to the east of Banbridge town centre; west of the A1. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; extruded metal ogee moulded rainwater goods; smooth rendered chimneystacks with heavy moulded cornicing; tall moulded octagonal clay pots. Smooth rendered walling with raised long-and-short quoins. 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal glazing bars; horns; masonry cills. Modern timber framed door with three glazed upper panels. The principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged. Centrally positioned single-storey flat-roof porch with decorative metal parapet; door to the left cheek; tripartite window to the front; window to the right cheek. The porch is flanked either side by a single window with three first floor windows directly over. The far left and right bays comprise two-storey canted bays with moulded apron panels; hipped roofs terminated with clay finials. The left gable is blank. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged around a central two-storey return. uPVC replacement windows throughout. Left of the return is a single ground floor and two first floor windows. Three first floor windows right of the return with a single ground floor window adjacent to lean-to extension. (view obscured.) The gable-ended return comprises two ground floor gable windows; the left cheek comprises door left with single ground floor window to the right, two first floor windows. The right cheek has two first floor windows, ground floor abutted by lean-to roof extension (view obscured.) The right gable is abutted by a subservient two-storey gabled extension; the south elevation comprises a wall-headed dormer over an abutting single-storey modern timber framed conservatory; the gable has a single window adjacent to an abutting single-storey pitched roof store set perpendicular to extension which adjoins an outbuilding; the north elevation comprises a door and single window. Setting The house is prominently located when viewed from the A1, partially screened from by trees bounding to the north. Access is via a modern gated entrance; straight driveway approach to the dwelling; garden to the left and wooded area to the right. West of the house is the remains of part of the former walled garden which now occupies the space for the horse paddock to the south. To the east is a single-storey outbuilding with chimney adjoining the dwelling; rough cast rendered with replacement windows and roofing. Beyond the concrete yard is a further two-storey rubble masonry stable block with brick dressings to openings; significantly altered with new openings; replacement windows; new roofing. Roofing : Natural slate Walling: Smooth render Windows: Timber sliding sash/uPVC casement RWG: Replacement metal.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Ballydown House, known as Roselawn during its early history, was originally constructed prior to 1833 first depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in that year as a rectangular-shaped dwelling occupying the layout of the current building. The map also noted that the house was surrounded by a number of outbuildings and to the south a Bleach Mill was constructed along a mill race cut into the River Bann; the mill is now demolished along with the majority of Roselawn’s original outbuildings. The Townland Valuation map for the area was missing; however the Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that the Bleach Mill was the property of a Mr. Mulligan whilst the Townland Valuation records that a Mr. John and George Mulligan owned a Beetling Mill valued at £10 7s. And a number of other mills, valued at £6 16s., in the parish. By 1859 there had been little discernible alteration to the layout of the house; the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1862) noted that by the 1860s Roselawn, valued at £13, had passed into possession of a Ms. Jane Dobbin who leased the site from Robert Fennell & Company. Robert Fennell utilised the Bleach mills to the south of the house at that time, however in 1866 a Mr. William Malcomson took possession of the mill and by 1869 had also come into possession of Rose Lawn house. It appears that the house was modified c. 1869 when Malcomson came into possession as the value of the building was increased from £13 to £22 (by 1876 the value had been raised further to £30 although no annotation was made in the Annual Revisions to account for the increase). By the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps the layout of Roselawn House had been altered; the two-storey rear return and the southernmost surviving outbuilding were depicted as new additions on the 1902-03 map. William Malcomson & Co. Originally haled from Co. Waterford and constructed a new mill at the Ballydown site in the 1860s; between 1869 and 1884 Roselawn house was occupied by a small numbers of tenants including James McWilliams, manager of the Ballydown mill. After McWilliams’s death in 1884 Msrs. James Anderson & Co. Came into possession of both the textile factory and Rose lawn House. Bassett states that Anderson & Co. ‘confine their efforts exclusively to linen yarns, and bleach all grades from brown to full white ... They employ 30 people and use steam as an auxiliary to the water power [provided by the Bann]’ (Bassett, p. 239). Upon taking possession of the Ballydown mills James Anderson, the company owner, occupied Roselawn House as his personal dwelling. The 1901 Census notes that Anderson (50, Presbyterian) resided at Roselawn with his wife Mary (40) and their three children, employing a number of domestic servants to manage the large house; the census building return described Roselawn as a 1st class swelling that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed a number of farm offices including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, fowl house and a barn located in the outbuildings to the south and south-east of the dwelling. James Anderson dies in 1902 leaving Roselawn to his son Thomas N. Anderson who continued to live there until at least the 1930s (PRONI Wills). The 1911 Census notes that Thomas Anderson also took over his father’s business and was described as a ‘linen, yarn bleacher and dryer.’ There was no further alteration to the site by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. Green and Rankin state that Bleach mills to the south of Roselawn house were the joint property of John and George Mulligan; however Roselawn was occupied by George Mulligan whilst his brother John resided at Parkmount House (HB17/12/003). Rankin notes that George Mulligan died in 1845, during his 47th year residing at Roselawn suggesting that the site dates from at least the late-18th century; after Mulligan’s death Roselawn came into the possession of Jane Dobbin who lived there by Griffith’s Valuation in c. 1862. Green, writing in 1963, recorded that William Malcomson erected the Bleachworks to the south of Roselawn house in 1866, replacing the former mills that had been established by the Mulligans. Prior to its demolition in the late-20th century (the Bleachworks were demolished sometime after the 1974 Ordnance Survey map which continued to depict it) Green stated that the ‘buildings and equipment [had] remained substantially unaltered since that date ... The motive power [was] provided by a combination of electricity and a wood and iron undershot wheel of 14 ft in diameter’ (Green, pp 16-17). There is no longer any trace of the Ballydown Bleachworks; however Roselawn House has been well maintained. Rankin states that Thomas N. Anderson occupied the dwelling until at least 1935, and in later years was home to James A. Beck who was employed as a chemical supplier to the local linen industry. Roselawn changed its name sometime between the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1903-18) and the current edition in 1974 which first captioned the dwelling as ‘Ballydown House;’ further, the corrugated-iron barn was erected to the east of the house by 1974. Ballydown House continues to be occupied; the only change to the site in recent years had been the erection of a modern conservatory. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859 3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1902-1903 4. PRONI OS/6/3/27/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/27 – Townland Valuation map 1833 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/366 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/64A – Griffith’s Valuation c. 1862 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6A – Annual Revisions 1864-1874 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6C – Annual Revisions 1874-1884 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6E – Annual Revisions 1885-1894 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6F – Annual Revisions 1895-1906 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6G – Annual Revisions 1906-1914 13. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6H – Annual Revisions 1915-1929 14. PRONI Wills Catalogue (8 Oct 1902) 15. Piggott’s Directory (1824) 16. Bassett’s Directory of Co. Down (1886) 17. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 18. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918) 19. Ordnance Survey map – 221-5 (1974) Secondary Sources 1. Green, E. R. R., ‘The industrial archaeology of County Down’ Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1963. 2. Rankin, K., ‘The linen houses of the Bann Valley: The story of their families’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007).

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A two-storey five-bay house predating 1833 largely altered c.1870. Its character is later nineteenth century with proportions and style typical of the period although the rear has been modified with extensions and replacement fabric that compromise its appearance. The setting, with the outbuildings and the remains of the nineteenth century walled garden, largely survives. Formerly a mill masters house to the bleach mills located south east on the banks of the River Bann (now demolished) the dwelling is of some interest representative but is not among the best examples of the type.

General Comments

Date of Survey

02 December 2011