Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/07/026

Address :
Rosebank 8 Millisle Road Donaghadee Co Down

Townland:
Donaghadee

---

Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
20/12/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
132/4

IG Ref:
J5930 7971

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Rosebank is a largely symmetrical, gabled, two storey house with attic and single and two storey wings, probably late 17th Century in origin, but renovated and extended in the later 1700s, and in 1997. The house is situated to the S of Donaghadee town centre, to the E off the Millisle Road, set back from the road at the end of a large expanse of lawn, once a formally planned garden. The front SW of the original dwelling (possibly dating from c.1680) projects 300mm and has a central four panelled front door cased with Doric columns, entablature, fluted frieze and cornice. To the left of the central section are two sliding sash windows, to the right are a further two matching windows and to first floor are five matching and equally positioned windows- all with Georgian panes. To the left and right of the central section are two storey 'lean to' bays (which appear to be shown on the Dillon map of 1700). To the ground floor is one large central window opening flanked by two narrow openings. Directly above is a Diocletian window. With the grouping to the left the openings are blocked but those to the right are glazed (Georgian panes lower and no astragals upper). To the left (and right) are what appear to be single storey gabled projections. Each has one tall sliding sash window to the left (and right) of the 'lean to'. That to the left is the high ceilinged ballroom (c.1790) but that to the right is in fact a recently constructed two storey house (1997/8) The large window lights a double volume entrance hall. To the left of the left hand side is a short wall with a semi circular headed opening with a timber pass door. The NW facade of the single storey section has no openings but has a rendered chimney stack to the apex of the gable. The upper section of the original house is visible over the roof and has two sliding sash windows with Georgian panes and a chimney stack to the apex of the gable. The rear of the house is somewhat jumbled with four separate sections. To the far right is the rear of the ball room which has two tallsliding sash windows as before. To the left of this is a double hipped roofed projection (probably c.1770-80s) which is three storied and has a mixture of medium width, narrow, round headed and tripartite windows all with Georgian panes. To the left of this is the two storey bow fronted projection ( probably 1780s) which has tall sliding sash windows to the ground floor and shorter sliding sash windows to the first floor, all with Georgian panes. To the left gable of the bow projection is a tall chimney stack. The bow projection has a half cone shaped roof. To the left of the bow fronted extension is the rear of the recently constructed house which has a flat roofed extension with one drop hung tripartite window with Georgian panes. The flat roof is a balcony to the upper room. Access is through modern French windows with margins and barrel vaulted 'half dormered' roof to the plain fan light. To the far right of this section is a very small square window. The SE facade has, to the left, a simple symmetrical gable with simple stone door surround, to the central six panelled door, with shallow two pane fan light. To the left and right are drop hung windows with Georgian panes. To first floor are two matching evenly spaced windows. To the right of the gable is the blank side of the flat roofed extension which has a curved screen wall to the side of the balcony. The remainder will probably have a wrought iron railing added. Walls and chimney stacks are rendered, Bangor blue slates to all sloping roofs, cast iron rain water goods.

Architects

Historical Information

Though the early history of Rosebank is unclear and its original dating uncertain. Most writers have agreed, however, that the building is in essence seventeenth century, possibly dating from c.1670-80, and possibly (according to the present owner) even constructed around the ruin of a medieval structure. The house was probably the work of the Montgomery owners of Donaghadee (the Earls of Mount Alexander), though it is odd that they should have chosen to build such a large dwelling so close to the original local family home of the Manor House. Rosebank, complete with its lean to, buttress-like side wings is shown on a pictorial map of Donaghadee which appears to have been drawn up in 1700. With the death of the last of the Montgomery Earls in 1757, the Countess of Mount Alexander bequeathed her late husband’s Donaghadee estate to her cousins, the De la Cherois family. When the Countess died in 1771, the estate passed to Daniel De la Cherois, the son of Samuel. A relation of Daniel’s [?a brother], Nicholas De la Cherois, appears to have lived at Rosebank during this period and renovated the house, adding the Doric columned doorcase and generally ‘Georgianising’ the building. Some time during the 1780s-90s, he also seems to have added the large half cone roofed projection to the rear and the equally large ballroom to the north side. After the extensive remodelling of the Manor House, the De la Cherois’s appear to have vacated Rosebank and the property went through a number of different occupants including the locally prominent Leslie family and the Clarke family, one of whom, Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke, who was born at Rosebank in 1854, went on to become a writer (under the nom de plume of ‘Sarah Grand’) and a prominent early (or proto) ‘feminist’. For most of the twentieth century the house was rented out and was commandeered as quarters for soldiers during W.W.II. When the building was acquired by the present owners in 1969 it was largely derelict and in a state of disrepair. Since then much of the fabric has been restrored. Recently they have extended the south lean to wing making it into a self contained dwelling. Current owner has suggested that the Diocletian windows to the side wings (which appear to date from at least 1700), represent the earliest use of this design within the British Isles. References- Primary sources 1. Map of Donaghadee [?1700]. [This map is curious. It belongs to the owner of the Manor House, Donaghadee, and was believed to have been drawn up by one James Dillon for Daniel De la Cherois in 1780. However, the overall crude style of the piece and the fact that the representations of the buildings (especially the Church) contradict what we know of them at this stage, suggests it is much earlier. This theory appears to be borne out by the fact that the actual date on the map is probably ‘1700’ rather than ‘1780’, a stroke from the ‘7’ passing through the first ‘0’ giving it the appearance of a figure 8. The map has been reproduced for several publications (notably John Stevenson’s Two centuries of life in Down 1600-1800 republished by White Row Press in 1990) each of which have accepted the date of 1780 at face value, yet questioned the contradictions in the style and positioning of the buildings.] This map shows what must be Rosebank with its side wings. 2. ‘A map of the town of Donaghadee...’ [c.1771-90]. [This map was prepared for Daniel De la Cherois, who inherited much of the town and its hinterland in 1771. As Daniel died in 1790, the map can thus be dated to some time between c.1771-90. At some point someone has written on the map ‘about 1780’, a date which may be accurate.] 3. PRONI VAL 1B/32 p.3 1st valuation, Donaghadee parish, Donaghadee., c.1836. [See also accompanying town plan.] 4. PRONI OS Maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 3. 5. PRONI 2nd (‘Griffith’s’) valuation Donaghadee parish, Donaghadee, 1863. Secondary sources 1. Hugh Dixon et al Historic buildings, groups of buildings, buildings of architectural importance in Donaghadee and Portpatrick (UAHS 1977), p.30. 2. Terry Eakin ‘Sensational Sarah’- The story of an Ulster born woman who shocked the world (1995). [This article, which is available in Donaghadee Library concerns the life of Frances Elizabeth Bellenden Clarke (‘Sarah Grand’) the writer and proto-feminist who was born at Rosebank in 1854.]

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

V. Authorship W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

Rosebank is an important large and largely intact, two storey house with side wings, probably dating from the later seventeenth century, renovated and extended in the 1770s-80s and restored recently.

General Comments

Date of Survey

07 May 1998