Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB17/14/004

Address :
Altafort 62 Skeagh Road Dromore Banbridge Co Down BT25 2QB

Townland:
Skeagh

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Survey 2:
B+

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:
203/9

IG Ref:
J2316 5019

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay detached farmhouse with outbuildings, built c1830 and located on an extensive rural site to the south of Skeagh Road northwest of Kinallen. Rectangular plan with lean-to extension to rear. Hipped natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks having four terracotta pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on projecting stone eaves. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render to east elevation; lime-rendered and whitened walls to remainder. Windows are generally 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash without horns, framed in limewashed brick and have projecting painted masonry sills. The principal elevation faces east and is three openings wide to each floor. To centre at ground floor is an elliptical-headed doorcase with timber fanlight and modern eight-panelled timber door flanked by three-paned sidelights with panelled aprons. Entrance is accessed via a flight of granite steps with paved threshold having wrought-iron boot-scraper. The south elevation has two evenly-spaced windows to ground and first floor. The west elevation has full-height lean-to extension at right; to centre is a segmental-headed stairwell window and a window to first and ground floor left. Extension is modern and of no interest. The north elevation has two-segmental-headed multi-paned windows to ground floor. Setting Set on extensive grounds in a rural location to the south of Skeagh Road, with panoramic views to east over surrounding farmland. Double entrance across agricultural grazing lands. Bounded to main road by curved low lime-rendered and whitened wall with coping stones topped by original cast-iron arrowhead railings. Three square gate piers with pointed granite caps, original cast-iron latch gate to paired piers. Secondary squared gate piers to inner driveway having masonry caps with ball finials, supporting original cast-iron gates. Curved driveway leads to U-shaped farmyard with original rubble stone outbuildings and twentieth-century barn to east. Double-height barn to south of yard has a modern timber cupola with clock and weathervane. Stable block to west and northwest each have original glazing and timber-sheeted half-doors. To rear of house is a walled garden with paved pathway accessed from yard by an original wrought-iron gate. Rubble stone wall also to south gable of house to grounds to front of house. Roof: Natural slate Walling: render Windows: Timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Altafort, a two-storey Georgian farmhouse in the townland of Skeagh, was constructed prior to 1834, appearing on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in that year; the map records that the house, as well as the outbuildings to its south side (arranged in a U-shape creating a farmyard) had been constructed by that time. In the 1830s Altafort was the residence of William C. Heron Esquire, a local magistrate who operated in Dromore. The contemporary Townland Valuations valued the house and its many out offices at £23. There was no discernible change to the site by the second edition of the Ordnance maps in 1834, however Griffith’s Valuation (1861) notes that the value of the site had increased to £35 in the intervening period. By 1861 Altafort had passed to William Heron’s brother Robert Heron who resided at Ardigon House in Killyleagh and leased the site from the Earl Clanwilliam. Robert continued to live at Ardigon until his death in 1876 at which time he had amassed a fortune of approximately £35,000; in his will Robert left his mansion of Altafort to his nephew William Cowan Heron who was described as a businessman who traded in Belfast (PRONI Wills). William Cowan Heron (c. 1820-1917) continued to be recorded as the occupant of Altafort until his death in 1917, however the census for 1901 and 1911 notes that he often resided with his brother John Heron (c. 1829-1917) at his residence of Maryfield in Holywood; both William and John were described as landed proprietors. During William Cowan Heron’s absence the estate at Altafort was administered by a land steward by the name of William Ervine; it was a common practise for substantial landlords to employ land stewards to manage their estates and ensure the collection of rents in their absence. It is not known whether William Ervine resided in the main residence at Altafort or in a smaller dwelling at the site; the Census Building Return notes that Ervine resided in a 1st class dwelling owned by William Cowan Heron, however this consisted of only four rooms. There is no record of a larger house in the 1911 Census, however it does note that the large farm possessed six stables, two cow houses, a boiling house, barn, and a store which were located in the outbuildings to the south of Altafort house. William Cowan Heron continued to be recorded as occupant of Altafort until his death in 1917, however at the time of his death on 7th June, Heron still resided at Maryfield in Holywood (at the time of his death William Cowan Heron left over £75,000; his brother subsequently died in July of that year leaving a huge fortune of £434,833 to his son Francis A. Heron – PRONI Wills). With Heron’s death occupation of Altafort house passed to a Mr. Robert J. Poots; the 1918 Ulster Town Directory notes that a Robert J. Poots resided in Dromore and operated wholesale and retail grocery business, a funeral parlour, and postal establishment who also hired out motorcars. Whether this is the Poots that came into possession of Altafort c. 1920 is unknown however a Robert J. Poots continued to be recorded as occupant of Altafort until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. Altafort is historically important as the residence of William Cowan Heron, a locally significant figure who assisted in the development of Dromore and the surrounding countryside. Heron was responsible for the installation of Dromore’s town clock in 1891 (a four-faced clock located in the cupola of the Town Hall – see HB17/15/010A), the renovation of Ballyvicknacally School and the erection of a new teachers residence c. 1880 (see HB17/14/003A+B) and, most significantly, the erection of the Cowan Heron Hospital in the townland of Drumbroneth in 1900 (see HB17/12/028A). The Ulster Town Directory for 1901 notes that Heron constructed the hospital at his own expense ‘for the benefit of the people of the town and neighbourhood’ of Dromore; William Cowan Heron continued to meet the costs of improvements and repairs to the hospital until his death in 1917 (Doloughan). Altafort House was occupied by a Mr. D. E. Kirk during the First Survey (1969); the site was listed in 1977 and continues to be occupied. The majority of Altafort’s original outbuildings have survived. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/28/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/28/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859 3. PRONI OS/6/3/28/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901-02 4. PRONI OS/6/3/28/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-1921 5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/28 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuation c. 1830 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38B – Griffith’s Valuation 1861 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23A – Annual Revisions 1864 – 1875 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23B – Annual Revisions 1876 - 1885 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23C – Annual Revisions 1886 - 1898 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23D – Annual Revisions 1899 - 1911 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23E – Annual Revisions 1912 – 1929 13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (16 Sep 1876; 7 Jun 1917; 22 Jul 1917) 14. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down III, Vol. 12 (1837) 15. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 16. Ulster town Directory (1901; 1918) 17. First Survey Record – HB17/14/004 (1969) 18. Ordnance Survey Map – 203-9 (1975) Secondary Sources 1. Doloughan, A., ‘Cowan Heron Hospital – A gift to the people of Dromore’ Dromore: Dromore and District Local Historical Group, 1991.

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 Z. Rarity V. Authorship

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay detached farmhouse with outbuildings, built c1830. Well-proportioned and symmetrically arranged about a central elliptical-headed doorcase, most historic fabric and detailing has survived. The associated outbuildings, adjoining farmland and particularly the original double entrance (with original gates and piers), add to the interest of the site. A prosperous middle-sized Georgian farmhouse and landscape, Altafort is a good example of an early nineteenth-century farmhouse with outbuildings in its original setting.

General Comments

Date of Survey

19 January 2012