Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/01/106

Address :
Farm Buildings Portaferry House Demesne Ballymurphy Portaferry Co Down

Townland:
Ballymurphy

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
07/09/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Estate Related Structures

Former Use
Estate Related Structures

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
206/8

IG Ref:
J5915 5172

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Extensive complex of two and single storey farm buildings of mainly pre 1820 construction, built to serve the Portaferry House demesne but now used mainly as stores and dwelling houses. The complex is set to the rear (NW) of Portaferry House, roughly half a mile N of the town of Portaferry. The buildings are grouped around two courtyards and form a roughly figure of 8-shaped complex which is accessed via a gateway in a high stone wall to the S. The courtyard to the W is the farmyard proper in that it is surrounded by a varied U-shaped grouping of single and two storey buildings built as milking parlours, dairies, piggeries, foul houses etc. That to the E (which is grouped around a smaller yard) is a former stableyard and is surrounded by a more uniform U-shaped two storey rendered block which originally contained the stables themselves, as well as quarters for the hands, tack room, carriage house, laundries etc. A distance to the N of both of these yards is a former threshing mill, with the dilapidated remains of a horsewalk. The former stableyard to the E is bounded on the S by the above mentioned high stone wall (against which there is an interesting early petrol pump), on the E by a two storey rendered building (which has recently been converted to living accommodation and may originally have contained stable hands' quarters etc.), on the N by a slightly taller two storey rendered general farm building, and on the west by another similar structure. The latter two buildings probably mainly housed hay lofts with stables and carriage houses to the ground floor. A coach arch leads through the E building of the stableyard to a walled lane which carries on to the rear of of Portaferry House. The walled lane also encloses a small garden to the rear of the E building. The windows to the buildings in this coutyard are generally sash with Georgian panes, while the doors are set elliptical arch openings with painted smooth render dressings. A large carriage doorway to the right on the inner façade of the E building is now largely filled with glazing and a former pedestrian doorway next to it has been blocked. The upper level of the building to the W of the yard is reached via a stone stair from the farmyard to the W. The 'inner' facades of the stableyard buildings (i.e. those which face into the yard itself), are finished in unpainted rough cast, whilst the exposed 'outer' facades are in unrendered rubble with brick dressings to openings. The roofs are a mixture of gabled and hipped and all sections are covered in natural slate. The 'dwelling' block to the E side has two yellow brick chimney stacks, with another to the block to the N. The N building is currently being re-slated, with the window frames to the 'outer' façade undergoing repair. To the NE 'outside' corner of the stableyard block there is a now disused smithy with lean-to roof and open 'porch'. The roof is supported over the 'porch' on harled 'columns'. The farmyard to the W covers a larger area than the stableyard and displays less uniformity. It is bounded on the E by a large single storey building with a lean-to roof (which rests on the W side of the two storey W stableyard building). This lean-to building appears to have been a milking parlour and within it stalls remain (with the names of the cows above!). To the N is a long, low two storey block with a series of open elliptical archways, the two central of which lead through to the N side of the building. Above the two central archways is a large gabled 'half-dormer' wherein there is a loft doorway. The W side of this courtyard is bounded by another two storey building and on the SE by a single and two storey ‘L’ shaped grouping which almost creates an additional smaller courtyard to this corner. All of the buildings in the farmyard have whitewashed stone 'inner' facades with some brick dressings to the openings. The roofs are mainly gabled and covered in natural slate. At the time of this survey the buidings to this former farmyard were largely disused. To the N is the remains of a single storey threshing mill and horse walk. The horse walk is rubble-built with a part gabled, part conical slated roof and an elliptical arched opening in the S side. Joined to the W side of the horse walk is a long, low hipped roof building with small doorway openings to the N. Joined to the N is a tall single storey gable building, with large doorway to W side with modern sliding timber doors. Joined to the E side is a longer building, of similar height to previous, which further to the E joins to a modern corrugated iron clad barn. Apart from the horse walk, this grouping is still in use. The horse walk itself is in poor condition and part of its roof has collapsed.

Architects

Farrell, William

Historical Information

This farmyard/stableyard complex is shown, much as today on the OS map of 1834. The 1838 valuation returns tell us that the present two storey stableyard buildings were present at that point and contained stables and laundries, whilst the farmyard consisted of two, two storey 'cow houses', a two storey cattle shed, 'car house and loft', along with various single storey structures including a 'potato house', 'cattle shed on pillars', fowl house, slaughter house, carpenter's shop and smithy, with a barn and the threshing mill to the north. Interestingly the valuers state that, apart from the threshing mill, most of the structures were not new at that date, indicating that they were built in the later 1700s or very early 1800s. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D.552/B/3/1- Savage/Nugent Papers [This section of The Savage/Nugent Papers contains plans and elevations by architects Charles Lilley and William Farrell showing their proposals/alterations to Portaferry House. There are also other drawings relating to further improvements to the house and outbuildings.] 2 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 OS maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32 3 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.14 4 PRONI VAL/1B/36 1st valuation, Ardquin, c.1838 5 PRONI OS/6/3/32/2 OS maps, 1st rev., 1860, Down sheet 32 6 PRONI Second ('Griffith's') valuation, 1861 [In print.] 7 PRONI OS/6/3/32/3 OS maps, 2nd ed., 1899-1900, Down sheet 32 Secondary sources 1 G.F. Armstrong, The Savage Family in Ulster (London 1906) 2 'Archaeological Survey of County Down' (Belfast, HMSO 1966), pp. 379-381 3 Dick Oram, "Some Notes on the Evolution of Portaferry House and its Household" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Association No.13' (1989), pp. 8-13. 4 G. Philip Bell, C.E.B. Brett, Sir Robert Matthew, Ulster Architectural Heritage Survey: Portaferry & Strangford (Belfast UAHS 1969) 5 Karen Patterson, "To the manor reborn- Portaferry House survives" [Newspaper article from 27th December 1990- actual paper unknown. Copy available in EHS.]

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

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

Extensive and impressive complex of two and single storey farm buildings of mainly pre 1820 construction, built to serve the Portaferry House demesne but now used mainly as stores and dwelling houses. The buildings are grouped around two courtyards and form a roughly figure of '8'-shaped complex which is accessed via a gateway in a high stone wall to the south. The courtyard to the west is the farmyard proper in that it is surrounded by a varied U-shaped grouping of single and two storey buildings built as milking parlours, dairies, piggeries, fowl houses etc. That to the east (which is grouped around a smaller yard) is a former stableyard and is surrounded by a more unform U-shaped two storey rendered block, which originally contained the stables themselves as well as quarters for the hands, tack room, carriage houses laundries etc. A distance to the north of both of these yards is a former threshing mill, with the dilapidated remains of a horsewalk. As well as their intrinsic value they have group value with the other listed buildings in the demesne.

General Comments

This record also covers buildings located at IG Ref J5915 5172.

Date of Survey

01 July 1997