Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/16/020

Address :
Gate screen, [40] Hillsborough Road, Ballybeen, Comber, Co. Down BT23 5PW

Townland:
Ballybeen

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
04/03/1977 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Gates/ Screens/ Lodges

Former Use
Gates/ Screens/ Lodges

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
148/13

IG Ref:
J4190 6758

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Curving (ogee plan) gate screen (at the entrance to the former Ballybeen House), on the S side of the Hillsborough Road, c.2.5 miles W of Comber. The screen is made up of decorative wrought iron railings on a very low rendered wall/base. There are two outer piers, square in plan with panels, cornice and shallow pyramidal caps. There are two further inner piers and, between these, the gate piers which are similar in style but hexagonal in plan. The gates are now electrically operated. Part of the screen to the E side has been replaced recently. The railings are painted white and the piers cream. Gate lodge behind screen. (see HB24/16/021).

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This gate screen was built to front the main drive to Ballybeen House some time between 1834 and 1858, probably (judging by the style of the accompanying gate lodge), perhaps closer to the former date rather than the latter. The iron work is said to be by Shaw of Belfast. Ballybeen House itself was a large gentleman’s residence situated on a rise to the south of the Hillsborough Road. The original house appears to have been built by the Birch family, possibly in the mid to late 1700s and may originally have been named ‘Birch Hall’. It appears to have remained in this family but was destroyed by fire early in the early 1900s. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10. 2 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.35. 3 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10. 4 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863. 5 George Henry Basset ‘Co. Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), p.282. Secondary sources 1 J.A.K. Dean ‘The Gate Lodges of Ulster- A Gazetteer’ (UAHS 1994), p.62.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Curving gate screen (to drive of former Ballybeen House) of mid 19th century origin with relatively simple piers and decorative iron railings.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 January 1999