Ballyloran House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Description on 28.01.2011
The description of the buildng is the same as below (18.01.2002) except for the following.

Since the full Second Survey was carried out the main house and outbuildings have degraded to some extent.

House: The external walls and plan form of the house remain. Walls are rendered and the window and door openings are as before, except that they are now blocked up with concrete blocks . Two small windows and a door on the ground floor have had their concrete blocks removed and the window and door frames are exposed. The roof remains covered with natural slate and is in reasonable condition without any obvious defects, except for the small rear porch where the slates are largely missing.

Outbuildngs: The outbuildings comprise a long range of single and two storey accommodation. The general floor plan and external walling remians the same but the various roofs have degraded substantially. The third of the outbuilding containing the decorative masonry openings has lost most of its roof covering including structure. The remainder of the roofing retains its roof structure but more than half of the natural slate covering is missing.

Setting: The
setting remains as before except that the grassed area to the front of the house is now overgrown, some rubble has been dumped to the rear and one of the wrought iron gates to the older entrance has been removed from its fixing but is still attached to the other gate.

Description on 18.01.2002
Plain, somewhat Georgian-looking, two storey gabled farm house of 1868 with rendered façade and large two storey return which may contain the fabric of an earlier, probably 18th century house. The building is set in wooded surroundings to the N of Ballyhampton Road, roughly a mile W of Larne, with a long one and a half storey rubble-built outbuilding to the rear of c.1835.

The front elevation faces directly E and is symmetrical. To the centre of the ground floor there is a panelled timber entrance door with a plain segmental arched fanlight, all set within a segmental arched opening with moulded dressings. To the left of the entrance is a segmental arched window with Georgian-paned sash frame (6 panes over 6) and simple moulded surround. To the right is an identical window, with three more flat arched versions to the first floor (close to the eaves). The front façade is finished in plain painted render with moulded in-out quoins.

To the S gable there are two windows to ground floor, roughly as first floor front. There is a similar single window to right on the first floor, directly in line with that to right on ground floor. The S gable is finished painted rough cast with smooth render surrounds to windows and a smooth rendered ‘course’ to the verge.

The N gable merges with the N face of the two storey return. To left on the first floor is a window as previous, with another to right on the first floor. To right on the ground floor (and stretching onto the ground floor of the return) is a small single storey gabled porch with timber sheeted door to its N face and a small eight pane window to S. To immediate right of the porch (to ground floor of return) there is a window as gable only slightly smaller. To far right of this is a small six pane window. To first floor of return left and centre are two windows as ground floor left. The N gable, porch and N face of the return are finished in painted rough cast with plain smooth render surrounds to windows. There is a smooth rendered course to the verge of the gable.

The W gable of the return contains a nine pane window to the centre right on the ground floor with two very small widely spaced four pane windows to the first floor. This gable is also finished in plain painted render, with a smooth cement string course below first floor window level.

To the S face of the return there is a timber sheeted door to far right on the ground floor, with a tiny four pane window to left of this. To the first floor are two windows as first floor front only slightly smaller. The lower half of this face is finished in plain painted render the upper half in painted rough cast with smooth cement surrounds to openings.

On the rear of the main block of the house there is a very narrow window to far left on the ground floor. This window has a pointed arch head with cusps and a two over two sash frame. To the right of this is a tiny four pane window with a much larger window to far right, as that to first floor front. There is a similar window to right on the first floor, with another at half-landing level to left. To far left on the first floor is a very narrow window, as that to far left on the ground floor. The rear façade is finished in painted rough cast with plain smooth render surrounds to windows.

The roof is covered in slate with three rendered chimneystacks to the main section of the house and another to the gable of the return. The main roof has an unusual slate covered raised edge to the S gable. The roof originally had an overhang (in typical late 19th century fashion). To the S gable, the return gable, and the E end of the N gable there are squat piers with figurative finials. The rw goods appear to be wholly cast iron.

To the NW of the house is a very long one and a half storey gabled outbuilding in white-washed rubble with a slated roof. To the S gable is a large segmental arched vehicle doorway with timber sheeted double door and stone surround. This doorway is flanked by three pane pointed arched windows, with another above to left. To the long E face there are two timber sheeted pedestrian doors roughly to the centre, with a very large vehicle doorway to the far right. Interspersed to this face are windows of various size with various frames, six windows to the ground floor and two to the upper level, touching on the eaves. To far left on the ground floor is a very small four pane window, then a much larger window with two light Tudor arch frame, then another very small four pane window, then one of the pedestrian doors, next a very squat high level two pane window, then the second pedestrian door another squat high level two pane window, with the large vehicle doorway to far right. The two upper level windows each have four pane frames. The W face of the building and N gable appear to be completely blank.

To the E of the long outbuilding is a much smaller single storey outbuilding, a large section of the northern half of which has collapsed. There are two drives to the house, one to the W (leading to the rear) and another to the E (leading to the front). The drive to the W appears much older, having curving rubble-built walls, large round rubble-built pillars with pyramidal caps and unusual curving blacksmith made wrought iron gates. The gateway to the east appears late 19th century, having a rendered wall, square rendered pillars with pyramidal caps and a decorative iron gate.

Historical information

The earliest house on this site was built in c.1700 by Rev William Ogilvie, the then minister of the Larne and Kilwaughter Presbyterian congregation. Ogilvie, a native of Scotland, had taken up his post as minister in 1699 and shortly afterwards married, Jane, the daughter of Patrick Agnew of near by Kilwaughter House. As part of the marriage settlement, Patrick Agnew gave Ogilvie a lease of the townland of Ballyloran, and by early 1700 the Larne and Kilwaughter Congregational records mention the presence of a ‘dwelling-house, barn, stable and cow house’.

William Ogilvie died in 1712. A lease in the Killen Papers at PRONI shows that his descendants still held the property in 1800, but by 1835, when the first valuation of Ballyloran was carried out, it was in the hands of a John McFall. It is probable that the original Ogilvie residence was still standing at this stage, for the valuers tell us that the site was occupied by a very old (grade ‘C+’) dwelling low two storey dwelling measuring 49ft by 13, along with some equally old single storey outbuildings and a newly built two storey outbuilding (which appears to match the dimensions of the present one to the west side of the house).

The same buildings were still standing when the second valuation was carried out in c.1860, but the post 1863 annual valuation revision notebooks reveal that in 1868 the rateable value of the property almost doubled, rising from £6-10-0 to £12-10-0, indicating that the present house was built at this time. OS map evidence shows that the new house was built at a completely different orientation than its predecessor, however, a comparison of pre and post 1868 maps shows that the return of the present building appears to lie along the line of the original dwelling, suggesting that it may incorporate some of the fabric of the original.

During the mid 1980s Ballyloran House lay vacant for some years, but was restored by the present owner (a descendant of the McFalls) in recent years. The cut stone Gothic windows in the outhouse were installed by this owner.

The house, outbuildings and gates were listed in 2002. In 2007/8 Ballyloran House became vacant and suffered vandalism in early 2009. Windows and doors were blocked up in April 2009 to secure the building against further damage.

Primary sources
1 PRONI D.300/2/1/22/1 Killen Papers Lease of a farm at Ballyloran, 22 August 1800
2 PRONI OS/6/1/40/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 40, 1832
3 PRONI VAL/1B/153 First valuation, Larne parish, 1835
4 PRONI OS/6/1/40/2 OS map, Co Antrim sh 40, 1857
5 PRONI VAL/2B/1/44a Second valuation, Larne parish, c.1860
6 PRONI VAL/12B/7/14a-g Annual valuation revision notebooks, Larne parish etc., 1863-1897
7 PRONI D.300/1/5/845 Killen Papers Will and codicil of Archibald McFall, 16th May 1884
8 PRONI OS/6/1/40/3 OS map, Co Antrim sh 40, c.1901

Secondary sources
1 Classon Porter, ‘Congregation memoirs- Old Presbyterian Congregation of Larne and Kilwaughter’ (1864, reprint Larne, 1929)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two storey gabled farm house of 1868 with rendered façades and large two storey return which probably contains the fabric of an earlier, 18th century house. This historical development is of interest, linking buildings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has some authentic structure remaining and its layout is still evident. The long stone outbuilding also dating from the eighteenth century is well proportioned and along with the two gate screens contributes to the interest of this house as does the immediate rural setting. Despite the loss of some intermal detailing and the roof covering to the outhouses, Ballyloran House remains a building of significant interest.

General comments

Following the revision of PPS 6 - March 2011, the following two listing criteria have beeen added for this record. These have been reflected in a revised Evaluation carried out on 28.04.2011

R - Age
S - Authenticity