ARDRESS HOUSE

The Department's description

Historical information

A 17th century farmhouse extensively enlarged in the 18th and early 19th century. The original 17th century house in the centre of the present entrance front, 2-storey, 5-bay, and gabled-ended, of double-pile form, with two slight projections to the rear, is variously dated to c 1660, c 1664, and c 1675; enlarged in the late 1770s to early 1780s by the addition of extra bays to each end of the entrance front, the raising of front façade to form a parapet, and the addition of a pedimented Tuscan porch, all by George Ensor, architect from Dublin who married the heiress to Ardress, Sarah Clarke, in 1760, and then retired to the house in the late 1700s. Some internal remodelling was also carried out in the 1700s to 1780s under Ensor, including the plasterwork in the drawing room executed by Michael Stapleton of Dublin; 3-bay rear return and curving screen walls added c 1810 by Ensor's son George.
The house remained in the ownership of the Ensor family until 1960 when it was acquired, in a near derelict state, by the National Trust in 1960; some 19th and 20th century additions demolished in 1961, and the house subsequently opened to the public.
Previously there was a gate lodge located opposite the present gate-piers and built for George Ensor the architect, but it has now been demolished.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1834, Co Armagh 4.

Secondary Sources
1. S. Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Ireland, Vol II (London, 1837), p 313.
2. C.E.M.A., Irish Georgian Architecture and its Historical and Unique Development in Ulster (Belfast, 1947), p 15.
3. C.E.M.A., Georgian Architecture in Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1948), p 17.
4. T.G.F. Patterson, Harvest Home – The Last Sheaf (Dundalk, 1975), pp 140-146 ('Ardress and the Ensor family)').
5. H. Dixon, An Introduction to Ulster Architecture (Belfast, 1975), p 42.
6. B. de Breffny and R. Ffolliott, The Houses of Ireland (London, 1975), p 155.
7. M. Bence-Jones, Burke's Guide to Country Houses, Vol I: Ireland (London, 1978), p 11.
8. J. Brooks, Ulster's Heritage (The Irish Heritage Series: 10, Dublin, 1978).
9. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol I: Parishes of County Armagh, 1835-8 (Belfast, 1990), p 120.
10. J.A.K, Dean, The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer (Belfast, 1994), p 33.
11. C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of County Armagh (Belfast, 1999), pp 73, 82-84.