The Valley

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively small, one and a half storey picturesque early Victorian country house of c.1840, with large, but well-mannered, single-storey extension of 1982. The house is set in extensive well-tended grounds with a yard to the rear at the north end of which is a large two-storey contemporary stable block. The property is located to the south-east of Valley Road roughly 3km west of the village of Kells.

The front elevation faces south-west, for ease of description this is referred to as south and the naming of all other façades follows this convention.

In plan the original house is basically rectangular with a one and a half-storey rear return to the north-east (which may be partly original but appears to have been largely rebuilt c.1900), and a small projecting flat-roofed porch to front. To the east is the 1982 extension, which has a large canted bay to front. To the north there is a two-storey stable block; two-metre high walls connect this to the rear of the house and enclose a yard. A stone wall extends from the east of the stable block; a later lean-to roof has been added, creating a long range that now houses a series of open car ports and garden stores.

Window openings are generally flat-headed, however, directly above the porch there is a gothic-style opening and lighting the landing on the rear north façade there is a semi-circular-headed opening. Openings are all framed with raised moulded surrounds and rest on painted sills. Window frames are all painted timber; the majority are 6/6 sash, but to the north side of the extension some frames are top-hung to ground floor and some to first floor dormers are side-hung casement. Ground floor window opening flanking the front porch are surmounted by a blocking course / frieze and a projecting cornice.

The south front façade of the original house is symmetrical. The main entrance is central in the porch and has paired timber-panelled doors; these are surmounted by a plain fanlight and flanked by plain clasping pilasters. To each side wall there is a fixed light window. Either side of the ground floor there is a flat-headed window with 6/6 timber sash; directly over the porch and set within the half-dormer, there is a Tudor-type arch window with Gothick sash frame (the upper sash has 6 panes surmounted by intersecting tracery). To the east side of the front elevation is the 1982 extension; this is set back; to the left side is a French window and to the right side is an outsized canted bay.

The west façade of the main house merges with the one and a half-storey return. Window openings are irregularly arranged with three to first floor and one on the left side of the ground floor. The return connects with the yard wall which projects forward and has a central gateway with double timber gates.

The rear north façade is informal; to the right is the return, to the centre is the rear of the house and the right is the rear of the extension. The extension is set forward and overlaps the original rear wall. Window openings are irregularly arranged; those to rear of the extension have top-hung frames, that to the first floor of the main house is semi-circular arched with a fixed multi-paned frame; the remainder have 6/6 frames.

The east façade of the original house is mainly obscured by the extension; there is one 6/6 first floor window to the left side of the first floor. The east façade of the extension has two 6/6 windows set one to either side.

Walls are finished with roughcast render over a projecting plinth. The front walls are flanked with ‘clasping’ pilasters. There is some carefully manicured ivy to the south façade.

The roofs are pitched and covered with blue/grey slate. Eaves and verges overhang and are boxed. There are two half-dormers; one is centrally placed on the south face and one on the west face of the return. There is a gabled dormer in the roof on the left of the south face of the extension with a further three to the north face. Rendered chimneystacks rise off gables and are set on the line of the ridge; these have corbelled caps and matching clay pots. Rainwater goods appear to be uPVC.

Stable Block

The stable block is two-storey and lies to the north of the house at the north end of a brick-paved yard. Walls are random rubble and much obscured by trimmed ivy and other climbing plants. To the centre of the north is an elliptical-arched coach opening with paired timber sheeted doors; the archway divides the ground floor of the stable block in two and leads into the patio area. Window openings are quite regularly arranged; all have smooth render surrounds; frames are all timber, a few are 6/6 sash but most are top-hung. To the east façade there is an external set of steps set at an angle; these rise to an external landing and then to the first floor interior. The treads are finished with ceramic tiles and have modern wrought-iron balusters and handrail. The roof is pitched and covered with blue / grey slate.

The ground floor areas are used for storage; the first floor is one large room and is in use as a gymnasium.

Setting

The house is set in mature grounds with a gravelled drive leading from a modern period-style gateway of wrought-iron railings, curving gate screen and matching gates. It contains remnants of the original formal layout consisting mainly of the mature trees and the line of the drive. There is a gravelled forecourt then a lawn with mature trees beyond. There are further gardens to both sides and the site backs on to fields to the north. The Kells Water river bounds the site to the east.

Historical information

The main block of this house, along with the porch, a small return to the north-east and the freestanding stable block, are shown on the revised OS map of 1857, with the property marked 'Crevilly Valley'. In the 1859 valuation it is recorded as the home of Jesse Miller, with the valuer referring to it as 'a very neat cottage, well built and finished and in excellent repair [and the] offices all good.' Jesse Miller was the then owner of beetling mills, located to the east south-west of the house itself, next the Kells Water River, some of which (at least) had been in operation since at least 1818, and which are noted in the first valuation of 1836 as in the hands of David and William Miller. The date of the house, however, and the identity of the architect are not known.

In 1875 both the house and the mill were in the hands of William Kirk. William died in c.1890 and in 1893 a Loughlin (or Lachlan) Arthurs is recorded as the leaseholder. In 1917 the whole concern was acquired by Joseph O'Gorman. It was probably around this date that the return was either totally rebuilt or extended, as it is shown much as today on the OS map of 1921. John (or Jack) McAllister was the next owner, a reputed gambler who is said to have bought the house out of one day's winning's! Mr. McAllister sold Crevilly to the present owner in 1982, who added the extension (to designs by architect Joe Kerr) in the same year.

The mill was sold off as a separate concern in c.1945 and is noted as the property of 'Tapestry Weavers Ulster Ltd.' from 1947 up until at least 1972.

This property originally possessed a gate lodge (it is noted in the 1859 valuation), but it is not marked on any of the OS maps nor there is there any mention of it in J.A.K. Dean's 'Gate Lodges of Ulster…'.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL1B/12 First valuation, Connor parish, 1836
2 PRONI VAL2A/1/37B OS map, County Antrim sheet 37, with valuation
references, 1857(-c.1859)
3 PRONI VAL2B/1/2A Second valuation, Connor parish, 1859
4 PRONI VAL12B/3/18A Annual valuation revision book, Kells ED, 1863-80
5 PRONI VAL12B/3/18B Annual valuation revision book, Kells ED, 1881-93
6 Bassett, George Henry, 'The Book of County Antrim', (Dublin, 1888)
7 PRONI VAL12B/3/18C Annual valuation revision book, Kells ED, 1894-1909
8 PRONI OS6/1/37/3 OS map, County Antrim sheet 37, 1901
9 PRONI VAL12B/3/18D Annual valuation revision book, Kells ED, 1909-20
10 PRONI VAL12B/3/18E Annual valuation revision book, Kells ED, 1920-29
11 PRONI OS6/1/2/4 OS map, County Antrim sheet 37, 1921
12 PRONI VAL12F/1/6/7 Annual valuation revision book, Kells ED, 1930-35
13 PRONI VAL3C/1/9 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cromkill ED, 1936-57
14 PRONI VAL4B/1/18 Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cromkill ED, 1957-72

Secondary sources
1 Brett, C.E.B., 'Buildings of County Antrim' (Belfast, 1996), p.238 [In his references Brett lists a PRONI document D1991/614/2, but this appears to have no relevance to this property.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Relatively small, one and a half storey picturesque early Victorian country house of c.1840 with large, but well-mannered, single-storey extension of 1982. This house is a well-preserved example of a small early Victorian country residence externally, its character has been maintained and internally, the layout is still discernible and most of the original detailing remains. The mature garden provides a fitting, though altered, setting to the house, and the large stable block adds to this. Its associated mill, some of which survives at the river, adds to its historic interest. Properties such as this are an important element in the countryside, representing the rural aspect of Ulster's Victorian expansion.