Island House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Exterior retains slate roof and timber sliding sash windows and timber doors. Generally in good state of repair apart from missing portion of slates allowing ingress of water.

Historical information

Island House first appears in the valuation book in 1869, indicating that it was completed in that year, or the one previously. Described by the valuers as a ‘good 2s[torey] ho[use]’, the building seems to have been constructed by Thomas Wilford on lease held from the Charlemont estate; the identity of the architect (if any) is not known. The house was built on previously undeveloped ground a few metres southwest of a conjoined pair of small - undoubtedly vernacular – pre-1835 dwellings that faced on to the lane off what is now Derrylee Road, one of which continued to be occupied up until the mid-1890s.

Thomas Wilford died at the age of 70 in October 1880 and by 1883 the property had been let to Robert Gilpin. He held it until c.1886 when John Kerr McKelvey is listed as the occupant. Mr McKelvey was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1898, and in the 1901 census, the 53yr-old ‘magistrate and farmer’ was living here with his wife, Sarah, and their five children, whilst the house itself is noted as a ‘1st class’ dwelling with 13 rooms.

The house is shown for the first time on the OS map of 1905 and captioned ‘Island House’ (a name it had possessed from at least 1891, possibly always), and in the same year a letting advert describes it as containing ‘3 reception and 4 bedrooms, large hall, 2 pantries, kitchen and scullery’.

J.K. McKelvey died at some point before 1906 and by 1909 the property was leased to Archibald Smith, who in the 1911 census is described as a 65yr-old farmer sharing the house with his wife, Ann Elisa, and their three grown-up but unmarried children; the valuation books suggest Mr Smith acquired the freehold the following year.

In or just before 1917 Island House came into the possession of Robert Hume, who by 1924 had let it to former occupant Sarah McKelvey (who may also have been his relative.) Mrs. McKelvey died c.1932 and the lease passed to her youngest daughter, Ruby. In 1963 John Hume is recorded as both owner and occupant and he seems to have retained the property until his death c.1983. The building is believed to remain with his relation(s) but would appear to have been vacant since at least 2018.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/14/15A, C-F Annual valuation revision books, Tartaraghan ED – 1864-1929
2 ‘Portadown News’ – 23 October 1880, p3; 13 November 1880, p.2; 4 December 1880, p.2; 19 March 1898, p.5; 4 November 1905, p.3; 25 November 1905, p.4; 2 December 1905, p.4; 2 March 1973, p.30; 18 November 1983, p.28
3 ‘Mid-Ulster Mail’ – 21 February 1891, p.1
4 Census of Ireland – 1901, 1911 [Online at www.census.nationalarchives.ie]
5 OS map county series, Armagh sheet 1 – 1905, 1953; IG sheet 161-12 – 1967
6 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ – 21 November 1906, p.1; 17 September 1973, p.2
7 PRONI VAL12F/2/5/6 Annual valuation revision book, Tartaraghan ED – 1930-35
8 PRONI VAL3C/2/10 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tartaraghan ED – 1936-57
9 PRONI VAL4B/2/13 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Tartaraghan ED – 1956-72

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Changes to interior extensive rendering building unsuitable to be considered for listing.