Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/08/013

Address :
Greenfield 29 Greenhill Road Ballybrick Road Katesbridge Banbridge Co Down BT32 5QY

Townland:
Ballybrick

---

Survey 2:
B1

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:
Yes

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
238/8

IG Ref:
J2055 3888

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

An asymmetrical two-storey four-bay farmhouse built c.1815; rectangular plan form with rear return. Located off the Greenhill Road approximately 1 mile south of Katesbridge. Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; stone skews; aluminium rainwater goods; cement rendered gable chimneys with octagonal clay pots. Roughcast rendered walling over cement rendered plinth to the front elevations and gables with long-and-short quoins; lime rendered walling to the rear. 6/6 exposed timber box sash windows; tripartite 6/6 sliding sash flanked by 2/2 side sashes with horizontal glazing bars (glass pane inscribed with 1814); granite cills and plain smooth rendered surrounds. Flat-roofed single storey porch with plain pilasters with simple moulded capitals and corbelled eaves; four-panelled bolection moulded timber front door with wrought iron ironmongery to the right cheek; tripartite window to the front with the door on the left cheek and single window to the left; each window with an embossed fruit-bowl moulding centred on the head. The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged. The entrance porch, accessed by two steps, is positioned left of centre; single tripartite window to the left; tripartite window to the right with double leaf glazed panelled timber door and further tripartite to the far right bay. Four first floor windows. The left gable is asymmetrically arranged. Single 6/6 with margin panes ground floor window to the left with two first floor windows. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. To the left is a 1/1 sliding sash window and replacement split timber sheeted door. Four windows to the first floor; far left is 1/1. Varying sized wrought-iron roof lights to the rear pitch. Two-storey gable ended return to the left; the gable end comprises a single diminished in height 4/4 sash left of centre, two first floor 1/1 sliding sash with vertical margin coloured panes. Abutting the left cheek of the return and the rear elevation is a single storey lean-to extension with varying sized windows. The right gable is asymmetrically arranged. Enlarged ground floor window to the right; two first floor windows. Setting Entrance comprising dressed granite plinth wall supporting cast-iron railings, terminated by panelled granite piers. Central matching gates on large dressed granite piers with sweeping tapered stone caps. Sweeping driveway on an incline through a wooded landscaped garden with some remaining portions of rubble walls. Outbuildings to the rear addressing the yard; rubble masonry built to courses with brick surrounds to openings; pitched natural slate roofing with brick eaves. The two storey block to the north is lime rendered to the south face; partially removed exposing stone; masonry steps to the first floor; fixed lights and timber sheeted doors. Beyond the site is an extensive rural
setting. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Roughcast Windows: Timber RWG: Aluminium

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Greenfield House, a two-storey farmhouse, was constructed prior to 1833-34; field inspection suggests that the building was constructed c. 1814 as a glass pane within the dwelling is inscribed with that date. The farm appears on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1833-34 which depicts the dwelling as an oblong building on the site which was captioned ‘Greenfield.’ The map also indicates that Greenfield’s two surviving barns (located to the west and the north-west of the house) had been constructed by the 1830s; the third surviving outbuilding (a single-storied slate building situated to the north-west of the barns) was constructed by 1860. The Townland Valuations (c. 1830) record that Greenfield was valued at £7 5s. And was occupied by the Rev. Alexander Heron who was minster of Ballyroney Presbyterian Church from 1826-1865 (for Ballyroney Presbyterian Church see HB 17/09/008). The second edition of the Ordnance Survey map records that the single-storey north-west outbuilding, and a small outbuilding to the south-west of the house (now demolished), had been constructed by 1860. The erection of the additional outbuildings resulted in the increase in the value of the site to £14 in Griffith’s Valuation of 1862. The Rev. Alexander Heron continued to reside at the site, which he leased from a Mr. James Birch, until his death in 1865. In his Will Heron left his ‘house, farm, household goods, farming implements, cows and horses’ to his son Alexander Heron Jnr. (PRONI Wills). Alexander Heron resided at Greenfield until his own death in 1923. The 1901 Census notes that Heron (58, Presbyterian) was a Justice of the Peace for the area and was employed as a coroner; he resided at Greenfield with his wife Sarah (60) with whom he had three children including his eldest son Robert (30) who was employed as a solicitor. The Census Building Return described Greenfield as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms. By 1911 the outbuilding return noted that Heron possessed an extensive farm that consisted of two stables, four cow houses, a piggery, fowl house and boiling house, a barn and a coal house which were located in the outbuildings to the west of the dwelling. Sarah Heron died in 1922; her widowed husband Dr. Alexander Heron followed the next year leaving possession of Greenfield to their son Robert Heron (PRONI Wills). Robert Heron continued to reside at Greenfield until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. Greenfield was listed in 1977 and continues to be occupied. Excluding the small outbuilding constructed to the south-west of the house by 1860, Greenfield possesses its original outbuildings; in recent years two small modern garages have been erected. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/35/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1833-34 2. PRONI OS/6/3/35/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1860 3. PRONI OS/6/3/35/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02 4. PRONI OS/6/3/35/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1902-20 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/35 – Townland Valuations map 1830s 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/357 – Townland Valuations 1830s 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/59B – Griffith’s Valuation 1862 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4A – Annual Revisions 1864-1876 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4B – Annual Revisions 1877-1887 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4C – Annual Revisions 1887-1898 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4D – Annual Revisions 1898-1911 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929 13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (17 Nov 1865; 17 Apr 1922; 1 Feb 1923) 14. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 15. First Survey Record – HB 17/08/013 (1970)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form J. Setting

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An asymmetrical two-storey four-bay farmhouse built c.1815. Its historic character, style and proportions have survived. It is well detailed and demonstrates the development of a certain formality in a vernacular house. A good example of an established farm house with outbuildings surviving in an original setting of a type that is increasingly rare hereabouts.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 January 2012