Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/11/037

Address :
Unicarval Ballyrainey Road Unicarval Comber Co Down BT23 5JU

Townland:
Unicarval

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
04/03/1977 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

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OS Map No:
148/6

IG Ref:
J4489 7109

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Unicarval is a large two storey former farmhouse of the mid eighteenth century, possibly built around a house of late seventeenth century origin. The house also appears to have been ronavated, extended, and probably re-roofed, during Edwardian times. The house, with its large collection of outbuildings, is situated at the end of a tree lined drive, off the Ballyrainey Road, c.1 mile N of Comber. The front facade faces NW. It is an odd asymmetric facade with an right of centre elliptical arch headed doorway with timber panelled door, sidelights and fanlight with tracery. The doorway opening has a simple moulded surround and the door itself is encased with a moulded transom and pilaster jambs. To the left of the doorway are four irregularly spaced sash windows with Georgian panes. There are two similar windows to the right of the doorway, with eight similar (but smaller) windows to the first floor. Each first floor window is directly above a ground floor opening. The NE gable has a single storey hipped roof extension with two windows, as front only much smaller. The gable itself has a similar window to the left on the first floor. The SE face of the hipped roof extension has a glazed door. The NW face of the extension is actually the rear of a high rubble wall which is flush with the front facade of the main house. This wall contains an elliptal arch headed carriage gate which leads to the rear. The SW gable has a large canted bay (almost like a conservatory) to the ground floor. To the first floor are two sash windows with have Georgian-like panes to their upper sashes only.The gable merges into a large two storey return. To the ground floor of the return are two canted bays with mullioned and transomed windows. One of the former windows on the second bay is now a door. Both bays are covered with the same lean to like roof. Above the bays are four sash windows, as main gable to left. This return culminates in a second gable, which matches the first but with a much smaller canted bay. The rear of the main house has a lmodern looking lean to section to the ground floor with very large modern casement-like windows. To the first floor (of the main house) are three small sash windows with Georgian panes. The middle window is double. To the far right of this facade (and flush with the NE gable, is a tall rendered wall with curved top. The rear (i.e. NE facade) of the return has an unusual very large modern three light window to the right which is the same height as the facade itself and lights the staircase. To the immediate left of this is a projecting full height gable. To the ground floor of this gable is a doorway, much the same as the main front entrance but without the moulded surround. To both the left and right of this doorway is a very narrow sash window with Georgian panes to the upper sash. To the first floor are two sash windows much as front facade. To the left of this gable is a further gable which is set back (in line with the facade at the far right). This gable has a timber sheeted door to the ground floor with a sash window to each side with Georgian panes. To the first floor are two further sash windows also with Georgian panes, with that to the right double. The entire facade is finished in rough cast render. All sections of the roof are gabled and covered with Bangor blue slates. The roof overhangs at each gable exposed rafter ends. The chimney stacks are rendered and have decorative clay pots. Attached to the end of the return is a long row of single and two storey rubble built gabled outbuildings. Single storey outbuildings to NE of house with sandstone walls and sturdy looking plain dressings to openings. This house is an unusual mixture of the Georgian and the Edwardian. The original house to the NW is Georgian, but the return with its canted bays displays a distinctly Edwardian feel as does the roof with its overhang and exposed rafter ends. The interior reflects this mixture of styles to some degree also, all of which suggests that this house was substantially renovated in the early part of the twentieth century, perhaps c.1910.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The townlands of Unicarval, Ballylisbredin, Castlebegg and Ballycastlebegg were acquired by John Cumming from Lord Clanbrassil in 1673 for £552 ‘and a boale of oats yearly’. On the death of John’s son (another John), the estate was divided between his brothers with the two younger siblings, Thomas and William, jointly taking Unicarval/Castlebeg. Though the details are unclear it appears that William Cumming became the sole owner of the townland at Unicarval at some point around the mid 1700s, perhaps, as family papers at PRONI appear to suggest, in 1747. At what point this house was built is also unclear. Local tradition dates it to c.1740, but there was clearly a good house on this site in the later seventeenth century as attested to in a lease of 1696 with the rent of the house and an accompanying three acres amounting to the not insubstantial sum of £3 12s 2d as well as other farm produce including ‘2 boules of well cleaned barley, 18 good fat hens, 9 days work of a man and a horse or in lieu of each hen 4d, for each day’s work 12d’. The Cummings remained in possesion of the house until the later 1830s when, according to local tradition, they mortaged the whole estate to meet the bail money of a friend, only for the ‘friend’ to abscond, leaving the family with no choice but to sell up. They appear to have sold the estate to a William Strean and a George Ferguson, who in turn sold it to George Allen of Comber in 1849. Allen held the estate until at least 1863, as he is listed as proprietor of Unicarval in the valuation records of that year. What happened to the house between this date and the present is uncertain. The current owner (1998) states that it became the residence of Lord and Lady Dixon in the early part of the twentieth century. It was probably during this time also that the house appears was substantially renovated with the return (much of which may have been an outbuilding) enlarged and the whole of the building re-roofed. In 1798, just prior to the outbreak of the Rising, Unicarval House was raided by some local insurgents on a quest for weapons. The then owner of the house [?John] Cumming (the son of the above mentioned William), a captain in the Yeomanry, was killed in the melee. If the reports of the time are anything to go by, the attackers completely mutilated his body. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D.2064/1-29 Documents concerning the Cumming property at Unicarval 1673-1849. 2 Linenhall Library Belfast News-Letter, 1798. 3 PRONI VAL 1B/317 1st valuation, parish of Dundonald, townland of Unicarval. 4 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 10. 5 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 10. 6 PRONI 2nd (‘Griffith’s’) valuation, parish of Dundonald, townland of Unicarval. Secondary sources 1 Peter Car 'The most unpretending of places- a history of Dundonald' (Dundonald 1987), pp.91-93.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion H-. Alterations detracting from building H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Large two storey farm house of probably c.1740, substantially extended and renovated in the Edwardian period and more recent times. The window arrangement to the original front facade is cluttered looking and somewhat odd, but distinctly 18th century, whilst the return appears mainly Edwardian in style with its large canted bays, but also contains more recent (?c.1990s) alterations. The complex interior layout reflects the building's evolution.

General Comments

Date of Survey

15 April 1998