Fruitvale

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Long, relatively plain two-storey gable-ended linear farmhouse with asymmetrical front elevation, whose present form would seem to have been the result of a two-phase late 19th century and c.1920s heightening of a pre-1832 single-storey thatched dwelling.

SETTING Rural, to the SW side of Ballykeel Road, 1.1km E of Aghagallon. Extensive garden fringed with mature trees to NE, W and SW sides and enclosed from roadside by low rendered wall with decorative wrought-iron railings. Farmyard to E and S with informal arrangement of outbuildings of various dates, sizes and construction. Recessed gate screen with quadrant walls leads into short drive to front of house where there is a small forecourt. A tall, rendered wall runs parallel to the drive.

PLAN / GENERAL FORM The main section is long and rectangular in plan, two-storey, gable-ended with an overhanging slate roof and whitewashed roughcast façade. To the front is a single-storey off-centre gabled porch and the NW gable is a single-storey lean-to garage, both with wall and roof finishes as before. To the rear there are two full-height extensions / returns which directly abut each other. That further to the NW is post-1965 and of no interest, whilst the other appears to be of the late 1800s and is shallower with roof and façade as main block. To the immediate SE of the latter is a small, single-storey lean-to projection, finished as previous. The main roof has four symmetrically arranged yellow brick chimneystacks, whilst the RW goods appear to be cast-iron.

FRONT ELEVATION The front elevation is asymmetrical. To the left of centre on the ground floor is the porch with entrance to the SE face of this and a window to the NE. The entrance has a c.1970s panelled timber door whilst the window has a plain (1/1) timber sash frame and painted stone sill. To the left of the porch at ground level are two similar windows, with four more to the right, with six more of to the first floor. Of these, six have been boarded over (but probably still retain their frames), whilst the rest are as the porch apart from that to the immediate left of the porch which has a recently installed PVC frame.

SE GABLE Featureless.

NW GABLE Garage lean-to has a mid to late 20th century timber garage door to NE side and a window to NW with timber (3/6) sash frame.

REAR ELEVATION Post-1965 return to left. The earlier return has two ground floor windows set at slightly differing levels, with what appear to be fixed light PVC frames to both. There is a similar window to the SE side of the ground floor of the return. To the first floor (SW side) is a window as that to the garage, with close to the gable apex is a small squat window with what looks like a fixed light timber frame (presumably this part of the house must have an attic level.) The lean-to has a window with a 3/3 timber sash frame, whilst above this (to the main section of the house) is a window as most of those to the front elevation, with one to each floor to far right.

OUTBUILDINGS No access to farmyard. The most noteworthy structure is the long storey and half / two-storey gable-ended outbuilding to W side of yard (closest to house) as this may be of pre-1832 construction. It is partly finished in painted roughcast, partly bare rubble, with a slated roof with several door and window openings observable to the NE gable and NW side. A small single-storey building to the immediate E of this appears to be of later 19th century construction, but now has a corrugated-iron roof and is joined to large barn further to the E which appears to be of mid to later 20th century.

Historical information

A long building matching the main section of the present house is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832. This is recorded in the valuation of 1834 as a ‘not new’ thatched dwelling occupied by Margaret Magill (or McGill) and measuring 62ft x 18½ x 7, with a thatched ‘barn etc.’ (to the immediate east) of 47 x 20½ x 9, ‘stable etc.’ of 19½ x 20½ x 7 and a byre of 35 x 14½ x 5½.

The revised OS map of 1857 shows a similar plan although no dimensions are recorded in the c.1860 valuation. The fact that the rateable value in c.1860 was roughly the same as in 1834, (£4-2-6 as opposed to £4-5-0) would appear to indicate that no substantial change had been made to the building between these dates. That said, this rate remained constant until at least 1928, by which time it is likely that the house had assumed much of its present two-storey form.

In the 1901 census the structure is noted as slated with 8 rooms and 9 windows in front, indicating that it it had been enlarged by this point. The fact that the building had adopted a name – ‘Fruitvale’ - by 1900 also suggests a degree of upgrading / gentrification from its 1830s form. It is likely that by the beginning of the 20th century all of the section between the first and third chimneystacks (looking from the front) had been raised, and the gabled projection added to the rear, with map evidence indicating that the remainder was heightened sometime after 1920 - possibly not long after. The larger rear extension is post-1965.

From at least c.1860 the property was in the hands of Robert Ellis, with Thomas Ellis acquiring the freehold from the Hertford estate in or just before 1894. In the aforementioned 1901 census, Thomas is noted as 58yr-old farmer living here with his wife, Sarah, their three children, a nephew, William G. Hillis ('assistant farmer'), as well as a farm hand and a domestic servant. In 1911 Mr and Mrs Ellis, their now grown-up (but as yet unmarried) children and Mr Hillis are noted as the occupants.

The property appears to have remained with descendants of the Ellis family, but seems to have been vacated c.2022.

References – Primary sources
1 OS maps county series, Antrim sheet 66 - 1832, 1857, 1900, 1920, 1965
2 PRONI VAL1B/165A-B First valuation, Aghagallon parish - 1834
3 PRONI VAL2B/1/54 Second valuation, Aghagalon parish - c.1860
4 PRONI VAL12B/9/1A-E Annual valuation revision books, Aghagallon ED - 1864-1928
5 NAOI Census of Ireland – 1901, 1911 [online at www.census.nationalarchives.ie]
6 PRONI VAL12B/9/2E Annual valuation revision books, Aghalee ED – 1912-28
7 ‘Lurgan Mail’ – 5 February 1949, p.3; 17 October 1958, p.7

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Long, relatively plain two-storey gable-ended linear farmhouse with asymmetrical front elevation, whose present form would seem to have been the result of a two-phase late 19th century and c.1920s heightening of a pre-1832 single-storey thatched dwelling. To the rear is a large late 20th century flat-roofed full-height extension. A relatively unremarkable example of its type, the building does not meet the criteria for listing.