Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/14/005 B

Address :
Former Walled Garden Seacourt Maxwell Gardens Maxwell Road Bangor Co Down BT20 3LE

Townland:
Corporation

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
18/06/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Walled Garden Structure

Former Use
Walled Garden Structure

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
115/12 NW4 & SW2

IG Ref:
J4952 8236

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

The remains of a substantial walled garden, built c.1865, formerly part of the Seacourt estate (HB23/14/005A-D) located on the coastline of Bangor West, and now incorporating a modern housing development (Maxwell Gardens) within its walls. The wall is approximately 6m high, of random rubble stone, red brick in parts. The south section has been largely removed. The north and east faces have crow-stepped crenellations; the inner face of the north section is in red brick (English garden wall bond), and is the only part of the internal wall now visible from a public place. There is a round archway roughly to centre, fitted with a modern steel gate. The east face bounds the 'Seacourt' development, partly overlooking the Seacourt formal gardens, and partly enclosing private yards. The wall slopes upward to south with the topography of the site and rises are articulated by a variety of crenellated rubble stone and rendered turrets, some with pinnacles. The remaining part of the south section is ivy-clad, and contains a segmental headed doorway containing a modern timber sheeted door set in a moulded ashlar stone surround with keyblock. The west section has rough brick copings, slightly ramped in places as it slopes down to north, rising again with simple brick and rubble stone piers. There is a segmental-headed brick-infilled opening, originally formed in brick, and a further opening with recent rubble stone infil. There is a socket with stone lintel, possibly formerly containing a niche. The north west corner is articulated by projecting rubble stone pier terminated by a three stage diminishing sandstone pinnacle with offsets; to its left facing north is a full-height bowed projection with overhanging crenellated parapet supported on brick brackets and with arrow loop openings having red sandstone lintels or sills. Setting The walled garden is located to the north side of Maxwell Road, west of the main house at Seacourt and its formal garden. The north side overlooks the Bangor the Belfast coastal path and the interior is now a cul-de-sac of modern dwellings known as Maxwell Gardens. Walling: Rubble stone and red brick

Architects

Lanyon, Charles

Historical Information

The walled garden at Seacourt appears to be contemporary with the main house and is shown on the third edition OS map of 1901. An aerial photograph of uncertain date shows the walled garden complete with greenhouses against the west and south-facing walls and a rectangular pattern of paths and beds, presumably containing vegetables, herbs and fruit bushes (Haines, p.2). ‘Seacourt’ was built c.1865 for Foster Connor, a Belfast linen merchant. The architect is unknown but James Hamilton and Charles Lanyon have both been suggested. The builders were Henrys who also built the Albert Bridge in Belfast. (Patton, p.165, Information Leaflet) The house is not listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) but does appear in the first fieldbook of Annual Revisions dating from 1866, giving a probable start date for construction of c.1865. It is listed in the Annual revisions of 1866 as a house, with out-offices and gate lodge added later, buildings initially valued at £80. By 1870 this has been revised to £180, suggesting that the house and outbuildings were under construction during this period. In 1877 the valuation is revised again to £187 suggesting that Connor continued to make improvements during this period. (Patton, p.165, Information Leaflet) The next owner of Seacourt in 1895, Samuel Cleland Davidson of the Sirocco Works, also carried out some repairs and alterations, and as a consequence the valuation of the property was raised to £285 in 1915. This was lowered to £260 following an appeal. Patton refers to a tower ‘set in a bank of tall windswept trees at the bottom of Brompton Road, [which] was built at the turn of the century to watch the yacht racing’. (Patton, p.165) A ‘tower’ is captioned at the north-west corner of the walled garden from the third edition of 1901 and is still present as a bowed projection with crenellations. Two further towers are set into the boundary wall and may also have been used for the same purpose. (Annual Revisions; Patton, p.165) A large housing scheme has been introduced into the walled garden within the last few years, obscuring much of it from public view. Primary Sources 1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901 2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26 3.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939 4.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99) 5.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930) 6.PRONI D3642/A/3/3 – Diary recording purchase of Seacourt by SC Davidson in 1895 7.PRONI Will of Foster Connor died 5/12/1881 8.Journal of Society of Arts, Vol 8, Issue 365-416, p.201, 1860 Secondary Sources 1.Haines, K “North Down Memories, Photographs 1860s-1960s” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000 2.‘History of Seacourt’, Information leaflet dated October 1976 3.McCormick, T.J. and Bleakley, Nancy “Sir Samuel Davidson and Seacourt” in Patterson, D.C. ed.“Bangor Life, An Historical View of People, Places and Events in North Down, Volume 1” Bangor Historical Society, 2008 4.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

Z. Rarity X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A former walled garden originally part of the Seacourt estate (HB23/14/005A-D) now extensively developed. Housing development within the walled garden and on the larger site has compromised the overall group and the planned setting. Although diminished by the removal of part of the structure to facilitate the development, the remaining sections of the garden wall are distinguished by unusual embellishments in a variety of styles, rare for a utilitarian structure and indicating the quality and status of Seacourt.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 July 2010