Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB25/06/001

Address :
Millmount House 9 Millmount Road Dundonald County Down BT16 1UY

Townland:
Ballylisbredan

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
07/07/1983 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:
148/1SE

IG Ref:
J4314 7273

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey five-bay over basement with attic, rectangular plan Georgian house built c.1810. Located at the end of a driveway off Millmount Road; approximately one mile southeast of Dundonald. Natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and skews; ogee moulded cast-iron rainwater goods over replacement moulded eaves cornice. Cement rendered chimneys with clay pots. Cement-rendered ruled-and-lined walling. 6/6 and 6/3 timber sliding box sash windows; sandstone cills with some concrete replacements. Replacement timber front door with half-circle fan-light over with hood mouldings; no stops. The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged. The front door located over the exposed basement level and accessed by concrete steps flanked by parapets. The front door is flanked by two 6/6 sash windows; five 6/6 sash windows to first floor and five diminished in height 6/3 basement sash windows. The left gable has a single ground floor window to the left. Two diminished in scale 6/6 sash windows flanking the chimney. The rear elevation is symmetrically arranged. Central offset windows to the stair landings flanked either side by basement doors with outer basement window; paired ground and first floor windows. Five modern conservation style windows to the rear pitch of the roof. The right gable is symmetrically arranged with attic windows matching left gable. Setting: The
setting is primarily rural landscape extending beyond the site perimeters in all directions. Immediately adjacent to the house, the former outbuildings have been removed, with a single modern replacement shed to the rear; of no interest. Grounds to the front have been neglected and are largely over grown. Roofing: Natural slate Walling : Ruled-and-lined cement render Windows: Timber sliding sash RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Millmount House first appears in primary source records in 1814 as part of the ‘lands, mills, premises and tithes’ at Ballylisbredan townland leased for 21 years to Robert Cumming by the Vicars Choral and Organist of St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh. In common with choirs in Dublin, Limerick and Kilkenny, the choir of Armagh Cathedral were substantial landowners with holdings in both Armagh and Down. (Reports from Parliamentary Commissioners) Rights in the house and mills were sold a number of times over the ensuing years but in 1818 and 1821 Robert Cumming leased two mills and associated premises to William Galway of Malone. (Galway family papers) ‘Mill Mount’ is shown, captioned, on the first edition OS map of 1834 together with a ‘Mill’ to the north west. The complex near Mill Mount was one of a series of mills shown along the length of the Enler River, from Killarn townland to the north and terminating in flour, saw and bleach mills at Comber. The house was the residence of miller and farmer William Galway and at the time of the first valuation in 1828-40, his mills were used for the processing of corn and barley with a corn kiln also in use. The barley mill was later given over to the processing of flax. The whole property was valued at £23.5s.0d and dimensions are given for a two-storey house with an additional basement storey and a coachhouse. The house was judged by the valuers to have deteriorated with age, suggesting it had been built some years previously. (Townland Valuation) William Galway’s hobby was smithwork and he is said to have invented Ireland’s first horse-drawn potato-digger, but it appears that, being a farmer, he was not considered a gentleman and the house does not appear in contemporary lists of gentlemen’s seats. (Carr, quoted in Brett) William Galway senior died intestate in 1847 shortly after purchasing the farm and mills for a consideration of £1,500. The property was now left to his son, also William Galway. The second edition of the OS map shows the nearby mill now captioned, ‘Flax Mill’ and the ‘Corn mill and kiln’ are shown further to the north. In 1860-1 the house and mills are valued at £36 - £18 for the house and outbuildings, £6 for the mills and £8 for water power. William Galway died in 1869 and Millmount passed to his wife Margaret Jane in 1871 who appears to have had a young family at the time. She became the owner in fee in 1893, the house passing to John Galway, probably her son, in 1896. The same year John Galway added a substantial new single-storey outbuilding to the plot for which dimensions are given. John Meneely Galway describes himself as a farmer in the 1901 census and Carr reports that at this time the house ‘could boast magnificent mature gardens (amongst which strutted peacocks, until they broke the byre windows, a croquet lawn, tennis court, a leafy, tree-lined avenue and a small ornamental lake’. Some of these features may be identified on the 1901-2 OS map. “Millmount under John Meneely Galway was a model farm. The hedges were dressed, outhouses whitewashed, and ditches dredged every year or every other year. The yard was kept spotless and the stacks were roped and trimmed so neatly that one well-intentioned English visitor remarked that it would, ‘put a home counties village to shame.’” (Carr, quoted in Brett) In 1906, the valuation records state that the corn mill is ‘at rest’ and the valuation of the house is reduced to £33. No further reference is made to the flax mill which seems to have become absorbed as outbuildings into the farm curtilage. John Galway and his wife Sophia raised a large family in the house, by 1911 their seven children ranged in age from 15 to one year and the couple were prosperous enough to keep a small staff of domestic and farm servants, including a governess and nurse for the children. The house, deemed to be of the first class, had 13 windows to the front facade and eleven rooms. (1901, 1911 census) The Galways left the house in 1922 when John became crippled with arthritis and in 1924 the house was bought by Belfast Co-operative Society as a dairy farm. A number of small cottages were built on the plot in 1919 by the Rural District Council as accommodation for the farm workers. The house was occupied by the farm manager but 1932 saw its valuation reduced to £16. The period of the First General Revaluation (1933-57) saw the valuation of the farm steadily increase as outbuildings were added to the plot, in 1939 and in 1949. However at the time of initial assessment in 1934 the house had no artificial light, although it was ‘moderately well-finished internally’. The accommodation comprised three reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery and pantries and four bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. In 1955 one of the outbuildings was converted to a motor house and a new milk house was added increasing the valuation to £22. In 1963 the house and farm became the property of the Northern Ireland Housing Trust, the forerunner of today’s NI Housing Executive, and was subsequently sold to Gerry Meehan who restored the building. Supervising architects were Gifford & Cairns. (Brett; First General Revaluation; Second General Revaluation) The house continues in use as a domestic dwelling. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/2/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/2/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901-2 4. PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-20 5. PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-9 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/317 – Townland Valuation (1828-40) 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/17 – Griffith’s Valuation (1860-1) 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/23/5A-F – Annual Revisions (1866-1929) 9. PRONI VAL/12/F/4/17/2 – Annual Revisions (1930-35) 10. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/34 – First General Revaluation (1936-57) 11. PRONI VAL/3/D/14/17D/1 – Valuers’ Binder (1933-57) 12. PRONI VAL/4/B/3/68 – Second General Revaluation (1956-72) 13. PRONI D3791/1-18 – Galway family papers (1806-1906) 14. Reports from Parliamentary Commissioners (Established Church – Ireland), Vol XXIV 1867-8 15. 1901 census online 16. 1911 census online Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002

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

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

A handsome two-storey five-bay over basement with attic, rectangular plan Georgian house built c.1810 and located on the outskirts of Dundonald in a primarily rural landscape setting. Externally the building has retained its overall style and elegant proportions and is a rare surviving example of a building of its type and period in the area. The front door is located over an exposed basement level that is flanked by external steps with a deep trench around it. The Internal layout has partially changed with a number of rooms been modified resulting in the loss of some period features. Although the character of the building is intact, its setting has been degraded by the loss of adjacent outbuildings.

General Comments

Date of Survey

11 May 2011