Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/03/046

Address :
5 Rock Meeting Road Poyntzpass Newry BT35 6QR

Townland:
Ballymacaratty Beg

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
25/10/1977 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:
237/7

IG Ref:
J0829 3894

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay vacant farmhouse with rubble stone outbuildings; built c.1860 and located south of Rock Meeting Road, Banbridge. Rectangular plan with two-storey flat roofed out-shot to rear. Pitched profiled metal roof with no rainwater goods or chimneystacks. Walling is harled lime over rubble stone. Windows are boarded to main elevation and sashes in exposed boxes to first floor; all with granite sills. The principal elevation faces north-west and is three openings wide to each floor; all openings are boarded. The north-east gable is abutted by a single-storey annexe; top section is blank. The rear (south-east) elevation is abutted to centre by the two-storey flat-roof off-shot; windows to left and right at ground and first floor (ground floor are enlarged casements). Out-shot has a window to ground and first floor and a timber sheeted door to the west elevation. The south-west gable is blank. Setting Situated on an elevated site with views of the surrounding countryside, accessed via a curved laneway with mature trees; farmyard to rear. Lawned to front with a small orchard to north. Bounded to lane to west by a roughcast rendered wall with square piers having pointed caps and supporting a cast-iron latch gate. Two-storey rubble stone barn to rear yard with metal casement windows and timber-sheeted loading doors. To east is a large modern agricultural shed enclosing the yard. To south is a modern farmyard. To north, with shared access, is a modern two-storey detached house with landscaped garden. Roof: Profiled metal Walling: Lime render Windows: Boarded RWG: None

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The building is a much-altered farmhouse, once the home of a moderately prosperous tenant farmer, and situated in a rural landscape that has retained its agricultural character in the period since the first ordnance surveys. The house first appears on the second edition OS map of 1860, as a dwelling of rectangular plan form with an outbuilding to the rear which has survived. It is listed in the Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as the farm of John McKnight, leased from the Earl of Clanwilliam. The house and offices, valued at £5, are situated in over 43 acres of land spread over two plots. A further outbuilding, abutting the first has been added by the third edition of 1903. John McKnight died in 1885 (Will of John McKnight), a comparatively well-off farmer leaving a fortune of £1,116.2s.6d. The house remained in the McKnight family, James O McKnight was occupier in 1891 and by 1901 farmer James R McKnight is the head of the family. He is 26 and living with his two younger sisters and a male farm servant. The eight-room house is designated second class, a wide category of buildings that covers most structures between mansion and thatched vernacular dwelling. The house has nine outbuildings. By 1911 James’ younger sister Jane is living in the house with a boarder, a female school teacher from County Tyrone. The house subsequently passed to the Megaw family, Thomas (n.d.) and then Hugh Megaw in 1930. In the early 1930s the building was revalued at £4 and the agricultural outbuildings at £1.15s. In the early 1930s the accommodation in the house comprised two receptions, a kitchen, scullery and pantry on the ground floor and four bedrooms and a box room on the first floor. Dimensions and a plan are given of the house and outbuildings. The house is shown with a single-storey return and an extension to the side is added to the plan at a subsequent date. The outbuildings, forming two sides of a courtyard to the rear of the house are a stable/byre/cowshed with loft over, a cart shed, a calfshed and a store. An inspection of the house in 1935 following an appeal noted that the house was on an ‘out farm’ and was only used during the harvesting season. Two rooms on the first floor were uninhabitable owing to their poor state of repair and defective floors. “The remainder of this house is in very poor condition, the kitchen being the only useful room. At present the ground floor rooms are used for storing farm implements and for housing young fowl. In its present condition this house is of little more value than an office.” In the 1970s, at the time of the first survey, the house appeared to be well-maintained however, it has been altered in subsequent years and is now vacant. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/33/1 First Edition OS Map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/33/2 Second Edition OS map 1860 3. PRONI OS/6/3/33/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903 4. PRONI OS/6/3/33/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18 5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/22A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929) 7. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/15/K/1 – First General Revaluation (1933-57) 8. PRONI Will of John McKnight died 21st April 1885

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay farmhouse with rubble stone outbuildings; built c.1860. Although in a poor state of repair and with some loss of fabric, there is good quality detailing and the layout is as original with a later extension. The original character survives and it remains representative of its type in the area. The setting also survives, including good outbuildings to the rear, albeit somewhat compromised by a large modern shed to the east. This is a good example of a type that is becoming rare in the district.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 October 2011