Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/13/016

Address :
Quilly House 43 Lower Quilly Road Dromore Banbridge Co Down BT25 1NL

Townland:
Quillly

---

Survey 2:
B1

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

---

OS Map No:
202/3

IG Ref:
J1842 5282

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey with basement, three-bay Georgian house built c.1800. L-shaped plan form with tetrastyle portico. Located of the Lower Quilly Road to the south; approximately 1 miles east of Dromore. Hipped natural slated roof with leaded hips and ridge; ogee moulded cast-iron rainwater goods; smooth rendered chimneys with moulded string-course and cornicing; with pots. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling with vermiculated long-and-short quoins; ogee moulded eaves course. Tripartite timber sliding sash windows generally comprising 6/6 sashes flanked by 2/2 with horizontal glazing bars. The ground floor windows have plain cills with brackets and shaped aprons; moulded pilasters rising to consoles supporting moulded entablature. The first floor windows are tripartite 3/6 sliding sash with complimentary side sashes; moulded surrounds with raised key-block; raised aprons with foliated ornamentation. The door is timber four raised-and-fielded panels; segmental-arched fanlight over with radial glazing bars (view obscured); wrought iron ironmongery; flanked by paired engaged Doric columns with ribbed bases. The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged. The front entrance is accessed from a raised platform with winder bifurcated steps either side of a masonry balustrade with moulded panel below; Doric portico supporting elliptical-arcade surmounted by a masonry balustrade parapet. Ground floor windows to the left and right bay with three first floor windows directly over. Diminished-in-height sliding sash window to the basement right. The left elevation is detailed as front with opening to each floor. French doors with sidelights, accessed via masonry steps flanked by masonry balustrades. Two diminished-in-height sliding sash windows to the basement. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged; no ornamentation; abutted to the left by two-storey over basement wing; further two-storey over basement gabled abutment with lateral ridge at the re-entrant angle. Variety of windows overlooking rear yard including; 3/6 round-headed landing light with radial glazing bars and coloured glazing. Sheeted basement doors to both internal elevations. The external elevation of the rear wing is detailed as the front comprising two-ground and first floor windows over battered basement level with infilled openings. The north elevation is blank with a round-headed recess located at ground floor level. The south elevation is abutted by a single-storey hipped extension c.1990; of no historic interest. The right elevation is symmetrically arranged; centrally positioned ground and first floor window matching those on the principal elevation; less the vertical glazing bars to the first floor window. Basement openings infilled. Setting Rural
setting, accessed from the road via rendered panelled piers with projected plinth and moulded cornicing surmounted by ornamental falcons perched on a half-sphere; wrought-iron estate gates; flanked by diminished in scale piers (without falcons) supporting wrought-iron pedestrian gates. Second piers on approach (no ornamentation or gates) define the boundary to the immediate setting the house which is screened by trees. Well maintained grounds with a large lawn to the east. South of the main house is an earlier seventeenth century dwelling now used as a cattle barn; snecked rubble walling with brick surrounds to the original openings (now predominantly infilled); no interior of interest; new roofing following a fire c.1960. Adjacent to the earlier house is the remains of an associated walled garden; rubble masonry outer face; hand-made brick internal face with square headed pedestrian accesses. Elliptical-arched opening to the west is infilled; the grounds are over grown; some remains of the base of green house to the west and north walls. Further range of modern agricultural units and portacabins to the rear of the house; accessed by a network of interlinking concrete yards Roofing: Natural slate Walling: render Windows: Timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Quilly House, a two-storey gentleman’s house, dates from the early-19th century, first appearing on the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1834, which records that the house and its two-storey north-west extension had been constructed by that time. In the 1830s Quilly House possessed a gate lodge (located at the entrance to the demesne on the Lower Quilly Road) and a large L-shaped range of farm buildings located to the south-east of the dwelling; however the majority of these original out offices have been replaced with modern outbuildings. Field Inspection of the site finds that the surviving two-storey barn to the south-east of Quilly House was formerly a dwelling and may predate the current c. 1800 gentleman’s mansion. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey map also depicts the large square-shaped brick-walled enclosure situated to the south-east of Quilly House and to the east side of the sites outbuildings although it is not known when the garden enclosure was originally constructed. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (c. 1830) and Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary (1837) note that Quilly House was the residence of a Mr. George Vaughan Esq, a local farmer and gentleman; the contemporary Townland Valuations valued the demesne at £30 14s., noting that the house was individually valued at £13 18s. 3d. prior to valuation reductions being made. By 1858 there had been little change to the layout of Quilly House, although a number of additional outbuildings were added to the farmyard to the south-east of the dwelling raising the total value of the site to £33 10s. by Griffiths Valuation in 1861. Further, Quilly House’s gate lodge had been taken down and a new lodge erected on the opposite side of the estates entrance by 1858. The valuer noted that Vaughan’s son, George Montgomery Vaughan Jnr., had taken control of the site, which he leased from the ecclesiastical Commissioners, until his death in 1878 (PRONI Wills). Upon Vaughan’s death possession of the Quilly estate passed to George’s brother Alexander, however Alexander Vaughan did not live at the estate but let the property out to the Rev. Henry Murphy, Rector of the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer in Dromore (HB17/15/022). Between 1864 and 1876 occupancy of Quilly House passed to the Rev. Charles B. Knox who continued to reside at the site until 1891 when it was reoccupied by the Vaughan family. Quilly House was purchased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners between 1864 and 1876; however the Vaughan family continued to let out the property until 1891 when another George Montgomery Vaughan took possession of the site. The 1901 Census records that George M. Vaughan (75, Church of Ireland) was a widowed farmer and landlord who resided at Quilly House with his daughters and a number of domestic servants; the census building return described Quilly House as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 24 rooms and possessed a large number of farm offices including a stable, two cow houses, a dairy, piggery, fowl house, boiling house, a barn, turf house, potato house, a store and a laundry located in the outbuilding range to the south-east of the dwelling. The third edition of the Ordnance Survey map records that a long range of farm buildings, extending to the east of the former L-shaped range, had been constructed by 1903; these outbuildings were situated inside the square walled enclosure and were a row of greenhouses (all originally situated along the north wall but now taken down). George Vaughan died in 1902 leaving Quilly House to his relative (likely his son) the Rev. George Henry Vaughan. During the 1911 Census the Rev. Vaughan did not reside at Quilly House but lived in Dublin where he was Rector of St. Michan’s in Church Street. The Rev. George Vaughan continued to be recorded as occupant of Quilly House until 1929 when a Ms. Evelyn Vaughan took over possession of the site. Atkinson states that Quilly House was the seat of the Vaughan family who were descended from the Rev. George Vaughan (born 1634); the First Survey Record states that the land at Quilly was granted to the Vaughan family in gratitude for their loyalty during the 1641 Rebellion (Atkinson, p. 164). The current house was erected c. 1800 and was the residence of George Vaughan Esq. during the first half of the 19th century; George Vaughan was the father of Margaret Vaughan (1826-1875) who married Mitchell Henry in 1850. Mitchell Henry was initially employed as a surgeon, however in the 1870s he and his wife Margaret moved to Co. Galway where he was elected as a Home Rule M.P. and erected his residence of Kylemore Castle. Margaret Vaughan died in 1874 and was buried in an impressive mausoleum at Kylemore (Villiers-Tuthill; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Dean states that Quilly House’s gate lodge, a single-storey ‘pretty late Georgian style standard lodge’ was constructed c. 1840, replacing the previous lodge that had been depicted on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map. Dean suggests that the new lodge was erected after George Vaughan Esq.’s death in 1840 when his son George Montgomery Vaughan took possession of the site and made the improvements to the estate first depicted on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1858 (Dean, p. 90). The gate lodge was demolished in the late-20th century sometime after 1973 when the lodge was last depicted on the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map. Quilly House was listed in 1977 and has not been significantly altered since the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1903-16; the majority of the original farm buildings located to the south-east of the main dwelling were taken down before the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1973, the only surviving remnant is the two-storey barn which may date from at least the first edition Ordnance Survey map in 1834. Field inspection finds that the two-storey barn may have been a dwelling prior to the construction of Quilly House and was let out to tenants as late as the 1950s. The square enclosure to the south-east of Quilly House still survives, however its wall has been broken in a number of places and all the former greenhouses and garden features have been removed. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/23/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/23/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/23/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903 4. PRONI OS/6/3/23/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1916 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/23 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38C – 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. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) 14. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co Down III, Vol. 12 (1834; 1837) 15. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1 Aug 1878; 8 Jan 1902) 16. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 17. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918) 18. First Survey Record – HB17/13/016 (1969) 19. Ordnance Survey Map – 202-3; 202-7 (1973) Secondary Sources 1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994. 2. Villiers-Tuthill, K., ‘History of Kylemore Castle and Abbey’ Galway: Kylemore Abbey Publications, 2002. Online Resources 1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Website - http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33823?docPos=1

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey with basement, three-bay Georgian house built c.1800. Externally the proportions are those of the original house although the general appearance and style is a result of the nineteenth century detailing and mouldings, including the portico. Similarly the remainder of the house incorporates features of a later Victorian period, although some of the earlier detailing has remained unchanged. The family house of the Vaughan family until the mid twentieth century; on lands granted to the family in the seventeenth century. The earlier house and adjoining walled garden remain and although they are in poor repair, they add to the historic interest of the site and demonstrate its evolution. The house is s good example of the type of medium country residence that has evolved with changing times and fashions.

General Comments

Date of Survey

06 February 2012