Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/12/011 A

Address :
Kilmacrew House 70 Kilmacrew Road Banbridge Co Down BT32 3TB

Townland:
Kilmacrew

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
08/11/2019 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:
202-15

IG Ref:
J1780 4810

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay house, remodelled c.1890 from an mid nineteenth-century single-storey house, and located at Kilmacrew Td north-east of Banbridge. T-shaped on plan with full height rear return, later extended, and single-storey addition to south-west. Pitched natural slate roof with bargeboards to gables and ogee cast iron rainwater goods on projected eaves. Four brick chimneystacks with moulded caps and multiple pots. Roughcast rendered walling throughout. Windows are timber sashes in plain rendered reveals with projecting granite sills; principal and rear elevation windows are 1/1, remainder are generally 2/2, horizontally divided. Timber entrance door comprising four bolection-moulded panels with plain glazed transom; cast-iron knocker; knob removed. Granite threshold and step. Principal elevation faces south-east and is symmetrically arranged, having central entrance and four equally-spaced windows to each floor. Central ‘blue plaque’ (Ulster History Circle) inscribed “HELEN / WADDELL / 1889-1965 / Scholar / and writer / lived here.” South-west gable is abutted to ground floor by a single-storey addition with hipped slate roof and leaded hips; ruled and lined cement rendered walling; lit to south-east and south-west by a 2/2 window. Exposed first floor has a window to left. Rear elevation is abutted by the full-height return to left side. Lean-to entrance porch to re-entrant angle, abutted at right by a metal-framed conservatory. Exposed first floor right has two windows. Porch has a timber door with plinth blocks and two 6/6 sash windows. Return is detailed as house with hipped roof; south-west elevation has three irregularly spaced windows to each floor; north-west end has a single window to first floor. The north-east elevation of the return is abutted at centre by a lean-to brick addition corrugated metal roof having a window over, and at left by a flat-roofed two-storey sanitary extension; exposed right end has a single window. The lean-to is lit by two windows made up of a variety of sash and fixed panes. The extension is lit by a window to each floor. North-east gable extends slightly to right side beneath a catslide roof. Lit by two windows to each floor, all 1/1 with the exception of that to bottom right which is 2/2 vertically divided. The drive is accessed via a pair of wrought-iron gates on monolithic granite piers, with woodland garden enclosed by rubble stone walls with soldier coping. Double wrought-iron gates to farmyard from front of house supported on rubble stone piers with rubble coping and pebble finial. Setting The house is set within a farmyard
setting, with substantial outbuilding ranges to north-west (see HB17/12/011B), and woodland gardens to south and west. The site is accessed via a long tree-lined farm lane from Kilmacrew Road at south (no gates). The house is accessed by a secondary drive, leading to a gravel forecourt and small garden with central paved path to house on axis with the entrance. Roof: Natural Slate Walling: Roughcast Windows: Timber sliding sash RWG: Cast iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Kilmacrew House, a two-storey late-Victorian farmhouse situated in the townland of Kilmacrew, was constructed 1897-98 when it was first recorded in the Annual Revisions as a ‘new house in progress.’ The current house was constructed on the site of a previous farm that first appeared on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1833; none of the buildings that appear on the 1833 map survive at the site having been taken down or remodelled by the 1860s. The contemporary Townland Valuation (c. 1830) records that a Mr. John Boyd resided at the farm in Kilmacrew which was valued at £5 10s. at that time and consisted of a dwelling and three out offices of low value. The owner has in her possession a historic map entitled ‘A Survey and Map of Messr’s John and David Boyd, House and Lands’, dated 1845, depicting a pictorial impression of the house as a T-shaped single storey structure, four openings wide with door second from left, and a substantial return; a single linear two-storey outbuilding is detailed to north. Between 1833 and 1860 a number of alterations were made to the farm when a new dwelling was erected on the site of the current house; the second dwelling constructed at Kilmacrew was T-shaped and possessed approximately the same layout as the current building with a large return abutting the rear of the property. The two-storey outbuilding range currently located to the north-west side of Kilmacrew House had also been constructed by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1860 (for more detailed information concerning the outbuildings see HB17/12/011B). Griffith’s Valuation (1861) notes that the farm had passed from John Boyd into the possession of a Mr. Charles Martin in the intervening years. Martin, who was a local farmer, let the site from a Mr. James Quinn; with the construction of the second dwelling and new outbuildings the value of Kilmacrew House rose to £10 by 1861. Charles Martin resided at Kilmacrew until his death in 1894; in his Will Martin left his property (which at that time was referred to locally as ‘The Home Farm’ to his nephews, the Rev. John Martin of Magherally Presbyterian Church (HB17/12/008) and Charles Martin, however only the Rev. John Martin took possession of the site and was recorded as occupant in the Annual Revisions. Upon coming into possession of the farm the Rev. John Martin constructed the current two-storey late-Victorian which was under construction in 1897 and completed by 1898 when it was first valued in the Annual Revisions at £32. It is possible that the L-shaped single-storey outbuilding situated to the south-west of the house was also constructed at the same time as the dwelling; this is likely as the outbuilding first appears on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1903 18) but there was no further alteration to the valuation of the farm between 1898 and the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. In 1901 the Rev. John Martin (41) resided at the farm alone, aside from two agricultural labourers and a domestic servant; the census building return described Kilmacrew House as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms. In c. 1907 the Rev. Martin married Margaret Waddell the sister of the famous Medieval Irish Scholar Helen Waddell. The 1911 Census notes that Martin and his wife (27, Presbyterian) had three children and continued to employ a number of domestic servants and farm labourers; by 1911 Martin possessed an extensive farm that the census states consisted of a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, fowl house, boiling house and a barn. The site was first captioned as ‘Kilmacrew House’ on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps which also noted that all of the sites surviving outbuildings (apart from the modern corrugated-iron barns to the north-west of the house) had been constructed by 1903-18. The Rev. John Martin continued to reside at Kilmacrew House with his family until his death in 1946 at which time his widow Margaret took possession; with her husband’s death Margaret invited her sister Helen Waddell to live with her. Helen and Margaret were originally born in Tokyo, the daughters of the Rev. Hugh Waddell a missionary to the Far East; returning to Ireland in 1900 Helen Waddell attended at Victoria College and Queen’s University Belfast where she studied English Literature. Waddell established herself as a medieval scholar and translator with the publication of world famous works such as The Wandering Scholars (1927) and Peter Abelard (1933) which were lauded for revealing the medieval world to a modern audience. In the 1950s Helen Waddell began to suffer from mental illness and went to live at Kilmacrew House with her sister Margaret where she resided until her death in 1965. Helen Waddell is buried in the graveyard of Magherally Old Church (HB17/12/007) and is commemorated by an Ulster History Circle blue plaque at Kilmacrew which reads ‘HELEN / WADDELL / 1889-1965 / Scholar / and writer / lived here’ (Rankin, p. 220; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Kilmacrew House continues to be occupied by a relative of the Rev. John Martin and has maintained its general character; the house and its adjoining outbuildings having been kept in a good condition by the present owner. A number of large modern corrugated-iron barns were erected to the north-west side of the farm in the mid-20th century sometime prior to the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1973. 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 1860 3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918 4. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/27 – Townland Valuation map 1833 5. PRONI VAL/1/B/345 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/40 – Griffith’s Valuation 1861 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19A – Annual Revisions 1864-1875 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19B – Annual Revisions 1876-1889 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19C – Annual Revisions 1889-1901 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19D – Annual Revisions 1902-1911 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929 12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (7 Dec 1894) 13. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 14. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918) 15. Ordnance Survey map – 202-15 (1973) Secondary Sources 1. Rankin, F., ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996. Online Resources 1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography website - http://www.oxforddnb.com 2. Ulster History Circle website - http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/helenwaddell.htm

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

R. Age S. Authenticity U. Historic Associations X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Kilmacrew House is a plainly detailed symmetrical two-storey three-bay late nineteenth-century house evolved from an earlier single-storey farmhouse. A high proportion of original fabric survives, including the developed plan form and detailing from the various phases of its occupancy. The original extensive woodland setting survives and a variety of early nineteenth-century farm buildings (HB17/12/011B), dating from the original property. The house is of historic interest as the former home of Helen Waddell, noted Irish medieval scholar and writer, and has associations with the nearby Kilmacrew Parish Church (HB17/12/009). This is a good example of the type of substantial farmhouse developed from an earlier dwelling.

General Comments

Date of Survey

22 February 2012