Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/01/079

Address :
Quintin Castle 3 Kearney Road Ballymarter Portaferry Co Down BT22 1QE

Townland:
Ballymarter

---

Survey 2:
B1

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

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Country House

Former Use
Country House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
207/9

IG Ref:
J6317 5051

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Large, two to three storey 'castle style' mansion of c.1855 complete with battlements, towers and ‘outer bailey’, based around a smaller 12th century castle/tower house, itself extended in the mid 1600s. The castle is set on the rocky shoreline of the SE coast of the Ards peninsula, c.3 miles SE of Portaferry, overlooking Quintin Bay. Generally speaking the building is rectangular in plan with the short sides to N and S. For the most part the structure is two storey with a large three storey tower which rises out of this close to the SE corner. The front elevation (which faces W) is in roughly three distinct sections. The largest of these sections is to the S. It is two storey and symmetrical, with the entrance located within a three storey centrally placed projecting tower. The entrance itself consists of a sandstone dressed pointed arch opening wherein is set timber sheeted double doors. Set back to the E (and rising out of this section) is the tall four storey tower. To the N (left) this section links to a further two storey block which is slightly lower as its battlements are less pronounced (and less ornate). This portion projects further W. To the N of this the elevation culminates in a three storey tower. The whole elevation has a rubble finish with dressed [?]sandstone to the openings. The windows are generally flat headed and two light with stone mullions. The frames appear to be mainly timber (and probably a mixture of casement and fixed light). The windows to ground level are taller. The entrance tower has a single pointed arch window to the first and second floors and to the N and S on the ground floor. The lower two storey section has a large relatively recently inserted opening to the left on the ground floor, wherein there is a large modern window with accompanying timber sheeted door. The tower to the N has a doorway to its ground level also, much like the main entrance only narrower. To the N and S edges of the elevation there projects a tall battlemented wall, which encloses the coutyard to the front of the castle. The N façade could only be seen from a distance. To the left it is two storey, and to the right is the N façade of the three storey tower (see above). The two storey section is basically the N façade of the lower two storey section described above. To the left this section is recessed and appears to be still stone faced, but to the right (actually the centre of the elevation) its façade is flush with that of the tower, with both it and the tower cement rendered. This rendered portion appears to have only one first floor window (as first floor front but minus dressings), with a small window and plain sheeted door to the ground floor. The left (recessed) side of the elevation was largely obscured from view. The S elevation is basically the S façade of the taller two storey section (see front elevation). To the centre of the façade there projects a narrow three storey tower, similar to the front entrance tower (and with similar openings), only rendered. The façade to the right of the tower is rendered also, with that to the left stone faced. Both left and right portions have a window to each floor. That to the ground floor left is as front, but that directly above it is now filled with a plain single pane. Both the windows to the left are as front, only with three lights instead of two. The rear elevation is completely rendered and consists of the taller two storey section to left (S) with the lower section to right. From the taller section projects the large three storey tower, and to the immediate right (N) of this is a modern, single storey, lean-to conservatory. The windows to both floors of both the two storey sections are generally as right hand side of S elevation, with three lights, bevelled reveals and with ground floor windows taller. To the far right there is a modern glazed door and the third window from the right has had its mullions removed. A large single storey lean-to (possibly an earlier conservatory) appears to have once stood against the far right of the façade, but this has been removed. To the E face of the ground floor of the tower there is a large pointed arch window containing three pointed arch lights with three quatrefoils above. At high first floor level to this face there is a three light window, similar to those mentioned before, with a two light window to right on the S face. At second floor level to the S face there is a much smaller three light window (with timber mullions). The taller two storey section and all of the towers have oversailing 'stepped' battlements which rest on dentilled corbelling. The lower two storey section has much plainer battlements which are flush with its façade. Out of the battlements on the N side of the taller two storey section there rises a large rendered chimney stack. The roofs are not visible from ground level (due to the battlements) The ‘bailey' walls in flat rubble are of varying height. Generally they are tall (up to c.3m) to the W, S and N and low (c.1m) to the E, giving clear views to the sea. All are finished with crenellations and interspersed with small two and three storey corner towers and pointed arch gateways. To the W the walls enclose a tarmac fore court, to the E a lawn adjacent to the house, and to the S, an additional long rectangular lawn leading to a folly tower.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This large extravagant Victorian vision of a medieval Irish castle is actually built upon and around the ruins of a 12th century castle, constructed by the Anglo-Norman adventurer, John de Courcy. In the later middle ages the castle was held by the Smiths, a dependent family of the Savages. In the mid 1600s Sir James Montgomery, a relation of the Savages, purchased the castle and the surrounding lands from Dualtagh Smith. Sir James and his son,William, renovated the castle adding a large house to it as well as a walled courtyard. Some time after an interlude in the 1650s, when a Cromwellian officer held Quintin, the Montgomerys sold the castle to George Ross, a member of an influential local family who held lands at Kearney. Ross never lived at the castle, which remained in its mid seventeenth century form until the 1850s, when one of his descendants, a Mrs. Elizabeth Calvert, set about remodelling what was by that time, a roofless and dilapidated structure much of whose stone, according to the OS Memoirs, had been taken by locals. This remodelling included the raising in height of the central keep, the construction of drawing and dining rooms and the general decoration to the entire building, as well as rebuilding the courtyard walls, gates and outer towers. In 1897, the estate was sold by the Land Commission, however the house remained with the descendants of the Calverts, one of whom, Miss Louise King-Hall, became a writer whose many works included ‘The Wicked Lady’, a story of highwaymen and women, which later became a successful film. The King-Halls sold the castle in the 1920s and Quintin passed though a series of owners, one of whom, Mr. James O’Hara, ran the building as a nursing home during the 1980s. It may have been at this stage that that the secondary entrance in the front facade was added, perhaps to provide easier access for some of the elderly residents. The building has now reverted to its earlier function of a somewhat ornate country residence. References- Primary sources 1 Walter Harris, 'The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down' (Dublin 1744), p. 47 2 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 Ordnance Survey 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. 126 4 PRONI OS/6/3/32/2 Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st rev., 1860, Down sheet 32 5 PRONI Second valuation, Ballytrustan, 1861 (in print) 6 PRONI OS/6/3/32/3 Ordnance Survey maps, 2nd ed., 1899-1900, Down sheet 32 Secondary sources 1 'Archaeological Survey of Co Down' (Belfast HMSO 1966), p.246 2 Thomas Byers, "Quintin Castle", in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.6' (1982), pp.7-9 3 Jim Blaney, "Mary Ann Donnan of Kearney" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.3' (1979), pp.24-5

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 K. Group value

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Large, two to three storey 'castle style' mansion of c.1855, complete with battlements, towers and ‘outer bailey’, based around a smaller 12th century castle/tower house, itself extended in the mid 1600s. As well as its intrinsic value it has group value with the entrance gates and garden tower.

General Comments

Date of Survey

12 August 1997