Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/01/008 A

Address :
Duquesne 34 Ballymacormick Road Bangor County Down BT19 6AB

Townland:
Ballymacormick

---

Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
Yes

Thatched:
Yes

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
116/09

IG Ref:
J5312 8245

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

This pair of thatched buildings have been demolished- street view confirms this to have occurred post June 2012. Now pair demolished and a terrace of three new dwellings has replaced them. The following is a record of the structure dating from a visit in March 2011. The right portion of a single storey, linear, four-bay thatched vernacular direct-entry house (functioning as two individual dwellings under separate ownership), possibly originating from 17th or 18th century (see surveyors notes). Located directly on the south side of the Ballymacormick Road approximately 2 miles east of Bangor town centre and 1 mile south of Groomsport. Partially thatched to the front elevation only; corrugated asbestos roof to the rear. Cement rendered chimney stacks with red-brick upper courses; concrete flaunching with terracotta pots. uPVC rainwater goods to the rear. Cement rough-cast render walling (see surveyors notes). Timber casement and 1/2 timber sliding sash; horizontal glazing bar and horns; masonry cills. Timber elliptically arched front door; paired lower raised-and-fielded panels with Palladian proportioned glazed upper panels. Moulded cement surrounds. The asymmetrical principal elevation faces north and incorporates the three easterly bays of the original cottage. The two right hand bays comprise a door located left of centre flanked by enlarged modernised casement windows. Two unaltered windows to the left bay. The east gable is abutted by the adjoining dwelling. (HB23/01/008B) Views of the rear elevation are obscured (see surveyor’s comments.) The rear elevation is partially abutted by a pitched roof extension with various window and door openings and a single-storey shallow pitched lean-to construction. The west gable is blank; right skew altered to suit modern roofing; chimney located at the gable apex. Setting The building sits adjacent to the Ballymacormick Road running east from Bangor. Opposite the road is farmland extending towards Groomsport, permitting views across the rural landscape. Either side of the cottages are 20th century two-storey dwellings. The front of the site is bounded partially by a masonry wall joining the gated access to the rear via a pair of square piers. Large enclosed yard to the rear (see surveyor’s comments) Roofing: Thatch/corrugated asbestos Walling: Cement roughcast Window: Timber RWG: uPVC

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The building is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for the townland of Ballymacormick 1 ½ miles to the east of Bangor centre in 1833. The current owner claims that the cottages were constructed earlier in the 18th or even 17th century, however there is no collaborative evidence to back this claim. The Ordnance Survey map depicted the building as an oblong structure which is visibly smaller than the current site, at that time the length was a single property and did not possess the adjoining slate-roof eastern extension. There was no discernible change to the site by the second edition of the maps in 1858. The 1861 Griffith’s Valuation records that the cottage was a single dwelling occupied by a Mr. Robert Reed; the valuer recorded that Reed let this cottage and 25 acres of farmland from Lord Dufferin of the Clandeboye Estate at a lease of £30; the valuer noted the poor quality of the farm resulted in its low value of £1 15s. In 1876 the house was enlarged resulting in an increase in value to £4; Robert Reed continued to occupy the cottage until c. 1891 when Sir Daniel Dixon came into possession of the site and split the cottage into two separate dwellings; the slated extension abutting Duquesne’s east gable had been constructed by 1901 when it can be seen on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps. Sir Daniel Dixon (1844-1907) was a former Lord Mayor of Belfast first appointed in 1893 and subsequently re-elected in 1902, 1903, 1905 and 1906. Dixon owned a number of properties in Co. Down and resided in a house at Ballymenoch near Holywood; the revisions record that Dixon owned three additional houses in the townland of Ballymacormick (Dictionary of Irish Biography). The Annual Revisions record that Sir Daniel Dixon occupied Duquesne cottage between 1891 and 1911, however the 1901 Census indicates Dixon let the cottage to David Gunning, a Presbyterian farmer who resided there with his wife and family. The Census Building Return described Duquesne as a 2nd class thatched dwelling which consisted of four rooms and possessed no outbuildings. With his father’s death in 1907, ownership of the cottages passed to Major Daniel Dixon who continued to let Duquesne cottage to David Gunning until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1923. In 1911 the value of Duquesne cottage was devalued to £3 whilst the adjoining Avoca was similarly reduced to only £1 5s. Between 1833 and the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1919-26) a large number of small suburban dwellings were constructed in the area surrounding the cottage on the southside of the Ballymacormick Road which can be seen on the fifth editions of the maps in 1939; the map also indicates that the single-storey return at the rear of Duquesne was constructed between 1919 and 1939. This pair of thatched buildings has now been demolished- street view confirms this to have occurred post June 2012. Now pair demolished and a terrace of three new dwellings has replaced them. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/2/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/3/2/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901 4. PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-26 5. PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1939 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/1C – Griffiths Valuation 1861 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7/A – Annual Revisions 1866-71 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7/B – Annual Revisions 1872-82 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7/C – Annual Revisions 1883-93 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8/A – Annual Revisions 1894-1903 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8/B – Annual Revisions 1903-1913 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8/C – Annual Revisions 1914-1923 13. Census of Ireland 1901 / 1911 Secondary Sources 1. ‘Dictionary of Irish biography’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2009.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This pair of thatched buildings at 32 and 34 Ballymacormick Road, known as Avoca and Duquesne have been demolished.

General Comments

.

Date of Survey

07 March 2011