Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/13/014 A

Address :
Ashfield House 42 Killysorrel Road Dromore Banbridge Co Down BT25 1LB

Townland:
Killysorrel

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
25/10/1977 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:
202/6

IG Ref:
J1684 5144

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse originating from the mid seventeenth century. T-shaped plan form with porch, rear return and abutments. Located north of the junction between Killysorrell Road and Villa Wood Road; approximately 2 miles south west of Dromore. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; masonry skews; uPVC replacement rainwater goods; roughcast rendered chimneystacks with moulded cornice; circular clay pots. Roughcast walling. 6/6 timber sliding sash window with horns; masonry cills; first floor windows 3/6 with no horns; painted reveals. Timber four-panelled door with internal rectangular bead. The principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged. Entrance to east cheek of central flat-roofed single-storey porch; single window to the front and left cheeks. Windows to either side of the porch with three first floor windows directly over. The west gable is asymmetrically arranged; ground and first floor windows to the left. Rear elevation is abutted to centre by a gabled return; re-entrant angle to its right is abutted by a lean-to addition. Exposed left bay is lit by a window to first floor. Return is lit by sash windows to first floor, and accessed via a lean-to porch at east having glazed timber door and 2/1 window to cheek. The addition is flush with west gable, lit by a bi-partite window to ground floor and a 6/6 above; it is further extended to north by a lean-to extension having sheeted door flanked by top hung windows (small 2/2 sash over). The east gable is asymmetrically arranged comprising a single ground floor window to the right with a diminished-in-scale 6/6 sliding sash window to the first floor right. The ground floor right is abutted by a mono-pitched slate roofed roughcast out building comprising two doors and a window to the north elevation. Setting Rural
setting with extensive range of outbuildings (HB17/13/014B) and former hemstitching factory (HB17/12/014C). The site is accessed via a new entrance from the road; with original entrance leading to factory. The site is bounded to the south by a roughcast wall with cylindrical piers with wrought-iron gates accessing the rear yard. In front of the house is a simple garden; remains of rubble walls and wrought-iron gates throughout. Yard to the rear of the house enclosed by outbuildings (HB17/13/014B) predating 1830; generally exposed rubble masonry walling, partially rendered; natural slate roofing. Beyond is a large rectangular plan-form three-storey former hemstitching factory(HB17/13/014C); pitched natural slate roof with brick chimneystacks; cast-iron rainwater goods. Rubble masonry walling to the ground and first floor and brick second floor. To the northwest is a modern steel framed timber stable block; of no interest. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Roughcast Windows: Timber sliding sash RWG: uPVC replacement

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Ashfield House, a two-storey house in the townland of Killysorrell was constructed in the mid-18th century and is the oldest surviving former residence of the Lindsay family who were one of the most respected and connected families linked with the textile industry in the Banbridge area. The Lindsay family originally resided at Tullyhenan House (HB 17/13/006) and later possessed residences at Moorlands (HB17/07/038), Balleevy House (HB17/12/002) and Clanmurry (HB17/13/019). Ashfield is first depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map which shows that the two-storey house, as well as both two-storey barns to the northeast of the dwelling (HB17/13/014B), were constructed by 1834; however the three-storey factory (HB17/13/014C) had not been built and the contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1834; 1837) did not include Ashfield in its list of manufactories and mills in the parish of Dromore. The Townland Valuations recorded that Ashfield House was valued at £15 13s and was occupied by David Lindsay (1795-1859). David Lindsay resided at Ashfield until his death in 1859 at which time possession of the property passed to his son Maurice Lindsay. The three-storey factory located to the northeast of the site appears to have been constructed by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1858, which depicts an L-shaped building situated on the site of the current building possessing the same layout. The entire site consisting of Ashfield House, the three-storey factory and a gate lodge situated at the entrance on the Killysorrell Road (now demolished) was jointly valued at £50 in Griffith’s Valuation (1861), occupied by Maurice Lindsay who let the land from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (the Church of Ireland remained the largest landowner in Ireland in the 1860s). Griffith’s Valuation also noted that Lindsay was the lessor of around 20 private dwellings situated at the crossroads between Killysorrell Road and the Villa Wood Road; these dwellings were occupied by members of Lindsay’s workforce and were known collectively as Ashfield Village. Maurice Lindsay died in 1877 at which time Ashfield House passed out of the Lindsay family (PRONI Wills); on 26th March 1878 Ashfield was sold by public auction at the Downshire Arms Hotel in Banbridge. The site was described as ‘nicely situated, and in every way suitable for a Gentleman’s residence, is very commodious, substantially built and slated, and in excellent order’ whilst the outbuildings were ‘very extensive, and well adapted for carrying on the Linen Manufacturing business on a large scale’ (Banbridge Chronicle). The lease was purchased by a Mr. John Moore who also came into possession of the 21 dwellings that constituted Ashfield Village. The 1901 Census notes that Moore (65, Unitarian) was also employed as a linen manufacturer and was also a Justice of the Peace for County Down; Moore was a widower and resided at Ashfield with one of his daughters Mary Alexandra (23). The census building return described Ashfield House as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms and possessed a number of out offices including a stable, two cow houses, a dairy, piggery, boiling house, a barn, forge and a laundry room situated in the out offices to the north-east of the site. The census building return also notes that Moore was lessor for all the dwellings in the townland of Killysorrell, not solely Ashfield Village; according to the census the vast majority of the townlands population were employed in Moore’s factory. The Annual Revisions note that John Moore’s three-storey factory was a hemstitching works; the site is first captioned as a ‘Hemstitching factory’ on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1903. John Moore continued to reside at Ashfield until his death c. 1911 when his daughter Julia Moore (45) took over the site, however by 1914 a Mr. William A. McMurray had taken over possession of the house and the factory. By 1922 the Coey family had occupied Ashfield when Msrs George H. And Edward Coey purchased the lease and were recorded as occupants in the Annual Revisions; Ashfield continues to be occupied by a relative of the Coey family. According to Rankin Ashfield House was constructed c. 1760 and is the oldest house connected with the Lindsay family. Rankin states that Ashfield was constructed by Maurice Lindsay; however the site was originally leased out to the Rev. W. [Hewig] from 1766 and was occupied by his son John [Hewig] in 1789. It was not until 1792 that Maurice Lindsay (1745-1815) purchased Ashfield House. Maurice Lindsay was the son of David Lindsay (b. 1710) of Tullyhenan House which was the family home for over 250 years; the Lindsay’s first came to Ireland in 1642 during the Irish Confederacy War (1641-53). Originally from Scotland the 17th century Lindsays were part of the army of General Monro who was sent to Ireland with order to quell the Irish Catholic Rebellion (which had began in 1641). In the aftermath of the conflict the Lindsays settled at Tullyhenan and established their first dwelling in the townland. Rankin states that ‘in the development of the linen industry of the Bann towards the end of the 18th century the Lindsay family played a notable part ... The family connected with many other well known linen families such as the Crawfords, Mulligans and Hunters’ (Rankin, pp 36-41). It was Maurice Lindsay’s son David who established the first textile business at Ashfield in 1828 which weaved heavy fabrics by hand looms. By 1839 Lindsay employed 950 weavers who predominantly manufactured linens, unions and cottons from home; the three-storey factory was constructed between 1836 and 1859 (when it was first depicted on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map) (Green, p. 20). With the death of Maurice Lindsay in 1877 the Lindsay family vacated Ashfield House after approximately 85 years. The house came into the possession of the Coey family c.1922. Ashfield House was listed in 1977. The former gate lodge to the site, which was constructed c.1860, was demolished after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1973. (Dean, p. 61). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903 4. PRONI OS/6/3/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1916 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/20 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38D – Griffith’s Valuation 1861 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21A – Annual Revisions 1864 - 1876 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21B – Annual Revisions 1876 - 1885 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21C – Annual Revisions 1885 - 1900 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21D – Annual Revisions 1900 - 1908 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21E – Annual Revisions 1909 – 1930 13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co Down III, Vol. 12 (1834; 1837) 14. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 May 1859; 14 Oct 1877) 15. Banbridge Chronicle (2 Mar 1878) 16. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 17. First Survey Record – HB17/13/014 (1969) 18. Ordnance Survey Map – 202-6 (1973) Secondary Sources 1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994. 2. Green, E. R. R. ‘The industrial archaeology of County Down’ Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1963. 3. Rankin, K., ‘The linen houses of the Bann Valley: The story of their families’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007).

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse originating from the mid seventeenth century. The historic character, appearance and style survive, The plan form and much historic detailing survive, including historic alterations. The outbuildings to the rear (HB17/13/014B) are integral to the overall setting, while the larger former hemstitching factory (HB17/13/014C) represents the industrial connections of the house and its association with the local linen industry. The house is a good and early example of the type and this is a coherent group of historic buildings representing a range of activities. Associated with the linen merchant John Lindsay, the house is one of a number of noteworthy linen houses in the District.

General Comments

This record was previously known as HB17/13/014

Date of Survey

06 February 2012