Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB06/01/025

Address :
Drumnasole House, 8 Tower Road, Carnlough Ballymena Co Antrim BT44 0JW

Townland:
Drumnasole

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
25/06/1979 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

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OS Map No:
35/11

IG Ref:
D2893 2143

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey house with basement, of masonry construction, with hipped roofs arranged around a low central lantern light. Main entrance faces east. Entrance elevation: two-storey, with exposed basement; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; small central flush rooflight; two chimneys behind front ridge, smooth cement rendered with plain block string course to one and block cornice to both; modern pots. Cast iron rainwater goods. Wall of random rubble basalt with some galletting, built to rough courses; moulded sandstone cornice, plain sandstone platband at ground floor level. Ends of building are broken forward surmounted by a blocking course, and contain narrow niches, square headed at first floor level, semi-circular headed at ground level, and square headed at basement level, with ashlar sandstone dressings to the ground and first floor. Elevation is symmetrical, with one window to each side of a central breakfront which is three windows wide to the first floor. Windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 6 over 1 without horns, set in sandstone block dressings with a slightly raised square surround; projecting sandstone cills. Windows to first floor have segmental tops to lintels, surmounted by segmental relieving arches. Basement windows are sashed 6 over 6 without horns, set in plain reveals, with iron bars attached. A central breakfront, surmounted by a blocking course, contains a central projecting sandstone doorcase to the ground floor, and a central window flanked by two false windows at first floor level, sashed 2 over 2 without horns, in which the stonework can be seen through the panes: small circular motifs are recessed in each corner of the cills. Doorcase comprises four unfluted Doric columns, paired either side of the round arched entrance to contain narrow sidelights and support an entablature; rectangular timber panelled double doors, surmounted by a frieze and cornice with a semi-circular fanlight over; radial glazing bars to fanlight; sidelights are sashed 2 over 2, without horns, with a small circular motif recessed in each lower corner of the cills similar to first floor. Entrance approached by a flight of six sandstone steps flanked by a curling balustrade of plump stone balusters, carried on a basalt rubble half-arch containing a large circular window, with radial glazing, recessed to each side at basement level. South elevation: two-storey, with exposed basement; roof slated as previous, with two flush rooflights; walling as previous, without end piers; dressings to windows similar to entrance front. Elevation is six windows wide to first floor, but second bay from right on all floors is blind, the recessed openings filled with basalt rubble. Windows to first floor are sashed as previous to entrance front; windows to ground floor are longer with cills dropped to floor level; sashed 6 over 9 without horns. Sixth opening from right is a doorway containing a rectangular timber glazed door surmounted by a two-light fanlight with segmental arched top rail; approached by steps and a walkway bridged over the basement well; rustic timber balustrading. To the left of the doorway is a small narrow window, sashed 4 over 4. Extending to the left, in the same wall plane, is a lower single storey gabled rear return: roof slated as previous; wall of basalt rubble containing some blocked up openings with brick filling. Rear elevation of main front block: two-storey; roof slated as previous but largely hidden by a pair of tall and broad chimneys linked by raking screen walls to a central stilted semi-circular arched belfry, all in basalt rubble; two modern pots to chimney to north. Main walling is similar to entrance front, without end piers. Windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, 6 over 6, without horns, set in plain reveals with flat arches to head. First floor window opening to extreme right is blocked up with basalt rubble. Much of lower storey obscured by gabled return blocks. Cast iron downpipes. North elevation: two-storey with exposed basement; roof and walling as previous to south elevation. Elevation is six windows wide to all floors, with second opening from left blind, as previous to south elevation. All windows sashed 6 over 6 without horns. Extending to the right-hand extremity and projecting forward is a gabled single storey rear return block with basalt rubble walls; roof slated as previous; gable to north contains two windows, small paned, with red brick dressings to jambs. SETTING: The house stands in a very rural area, well back from the public road within its own extensive demesne, located high on a hill side, viewed against a wooded mountainous background. Approached by a driveway marked at the main road by a 19th century gate lodge and ornamented gateway (HB06/01/023); driveway surfaced for the most part of concrete, and crosses over two 19th century stone bridges of modest dimensions; a ruinous, early 19th century schoolhouse (HB06/01/024) lies within the demesne within view of the driveway; driveway terminates in a gravelled area in front of the house and continues to a yard at the rear. Yard at rear approached from the north through a three-centred stone archway; contains a two-storey outbuilding to the west, with slated roofs, whitened rubble walls, and rectangular openings including sheeted timber doors and small paned windows and two open doorways; east side occupied by gabled outbuildings with whitened rubble walls, slated roofs, sheeted doors and small paned windows, abutting rear of rear return wings of the main house; small lean-to building with slated roof and low bounding walls to front enclosure, looks like a pig-house.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Built from c 1810 to c 1840 for Francis Turnly, possibly to his own designs; in 1835 the Ordnance Survey memoirs described it as "a very capacious and extensive building" but noted that it was then "still far from finished internally". The front portion of the house appears on the OS map of 1832, while the complete house is shown on the OS map of 1857. It was built near the site of an earlier house of the same name which had been occupied in the 1760s by the Donaldson family and in the 1780s by Francis Shaw who sold the estate to Turnly in 1808. Turnly had amassed a considerable amount of money while in China in the 1790s and following his return to Ireland in 1801, he bought two estates, one at Drumnasole and another at Cushendall. To facilitate his frequent journeys between the two, he cut first the Red Arch near Waterfoot in 1817, and then the Split Rock, known locally as 'Turnly's Cut', near Garron Point in 1822, thus creating a predecessor of the present Coast Road. He also erected the building in Cushendall known as Turnly's Tower. Elsewhere in the Drumnasole estate Turnly built a schoolhouse (HB06/01/024) c 1820, and a descendant built a gate lodge (HB06/01/023) c 1860. References – Primary Sources 1. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 25 (front portion shown). 2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 25 (complete house shown). 3. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 13: Parishes of County Antrim IV, 1830-8 (Belfast, 1992), pp 3, 6-7. 4. S. Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Vol I (London, 1837), p 45. Secondary Sources 1. Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall, Ireland: its Scenery, Character etc, Vol III (London, 1843), pp 132-3. 2. J.B. Doyle, Tours in Ulster: a hand book to the antiquities and scenery of the north of Ireland (Dublin, 1854), p 216. 3. UAHS, Glens of Antrim (Belfast, 1971), pp 22 and 26. 4. M. McSparran, C. Dallat and J. Irvine, Oh Maybe it was Yesterday (Glens of Antrim Historical Society, 1980), p 19. 5. C. Dallat, The Road to the Glens (Belfast, 1989), p 21. 6. C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of County Antrim (UAHS, Belfast, 1996), pp 104-105.

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

V. Authorship X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is an early 19th century county house of some architectural distinction, in a clearly proportioned classical style which retains its original features including ornamented interiors of exceptional quality. It enjoys an unspoiled setting and together with other associated estate buildings it forms part of an interesting group.

General Comments

Date of Survey

16 December 2000