FAIRY HILL

The Department's description

Historical information

The Newry Magazine of 1815 tells us that ‘Mrs. Dawson, relict of the late Dean Dawson, has just finished a house on a very novel plan, which, from its situation, promises to be a charming residence.’ ‘Mrs. Dawson’ was born Anna Maria Balfour (1770-1820), the daughter of Blaney Townley Balfour (1744-71) of Townley Hall, Co. Louth. In 1793 she married Thomas Vesey Dawson, Rector of Loughgilly, and after his death in 1811 settled in Rostrevor and built a house on land leased from the Ross-of-Bladensburg estate. Anna Maria was an amateur architect and an accomplished draughtswoman who co-operated with architect Francis Johnston on the rebuilding of her family home of Townley Hall in 1794-96, and worked with him on improvements to several of the clergy residences she and her husband occupied. Although it is not certain, it is likely that she had some input into the design of the new dwelling, (which appears to have been originally named ‘Riverside’ or Riverside Cottage’), possibly even designing it herself.

After the death of Anne Maria in 1820, the lease of the property passed to her family, the Balfours - possibly firstly to a sister (or sister-in-law), and then her brother Blayney Townley Balfour (1768-1856). He had married Lady Florence Cole (c.1779-1862) in 1797, and one of their daughters may be the ‘Miss Balfour’ with who collaborated with Anna Maria to build ‘a very neat school house’ at the ‘upper end of the village….for the education of female children’, and the ‘Miss Belfour’ noted amongst the Rostrevor gentry in Pigot’s ‘Directory’ of 1824. By 1829, the Balfours had rented ‘Riverside Cottage’ to a Mrs Fosbery, undoubtedly the same ‘Mrs Fosbury’ noted in the OS Memoirs as occupying the now renamed ‘Fairy Hill’ in 1836.

The ‘handsome ornamented house’ as it stood by that date seems to have been somewhat different to what we see today, the plan on the 1834 OS map suggesting that it consisted of the front-facing double gable-ended portion, with the right (south-easterly) of these linking to the rear section, which appears to have been shorter than at present; all of that said, the the small scale of the map prevents any definite conclusions. The 1835 valuation records the components of the building as measuring 25ft x 32 x 20, with returns of 47½ x 20 x 20 and 22½ x 15 x 9, as well as offices of 30½ x 19 x 11 and 17 x 12 x 6 (‘shed’), and a thatched ‘steward’s house’ (which may have stood to the north-east) of 28 x 17 x 7 with accompanying thatched office of 14½ x 17 x 7.

Mrs Fosbery died in 1843 and in 1844 Captain Smith Ramadge is mentioned in connection with Fairy Hill. Upon the death of Blayney Townley Balfour in 1856, the property appears to have acted as a de-facto dower house for the family, with his widow and her daughters taking up residence. To this end, alterations may have been carried out to the house, which is shown in different square-like form on the OS map of 1860 with projections to front and rear and a large off-set section to the northern corner. That said, the valuation of the following year suggests that, in terms of square yardage, its footprint was approximately the same as in 1835 - the dimensions of the various sections of this ‘Elizabethan villa…well finished’ amounting to 15yds x 8½ x 2[storeys], 4 x 2 x 2, 6yds 2ft x 16 x 2, 3 x 5 x 2, along two portions ‘in rear’ of 4½ x 8 x 2 and 3½ x 7 x 2. The valuers also note outbuildings of 4 x 3 x 1, 10 x 6yds 2ft x 1½ and 7 x 6 x 1 and another house (possibly a replacement for the former steward’s dwelling) of 7 x 6 x 2 with return of 3 x 5 x ?, and its own outbuilding of 4½ x 6yds 2ft x 2.

Following Lady Florence Balfour’s death in 1862, Fairy Hill was left to an unmarried daughter, Anne Maria Townley Balfour, who appears to have remained there until her death in 1892. After this the property reverted to the Ross-of-Bladensburg estate and was leased for several years to a J.C. Norton. Anna Norton, an unmarried lady of 53, is recorded as the householder in the 1901 census, the census return stating that she was living here with two sisters, six nephews and nieces, and two domestic servants.

In c.1905 Col. Edmund James Thomas Ross-of-Bladensburg, the younger brother of Sir John Foster George Ross-of-Bladensburg of Rostrevor House, became resident, remaining until his death in 1926. After this, Fairy Hill and the entire Ross estate passed to his eldest daughter Mary Frances Harriett Angela Ross-of-Bladensburg (d.1946). Her sister Miss Kathleen Blanche Ross-of-Bladensburg was the last of the name to live at Fairy Hill, and following her death in late 1972, it seems to have passed to a niece, Mrs Campbell. On the 1979 OS map the building is marked as split into two dwellings, but appears to have reverted to single occupancy since then.

The valuations suggest there were no major changes to the house during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the plans as shown on the 1860 and 1902 OS maps have not insignificant differences, namely that the front and rear projections shown on the earlier map do not appear on the latter. Since then there appear to have been several small additions to the southwest and northeastern sides of the building

A significant portion of the grounds to the east / north-east of the house was sold off for housing c.1990s, with some relatively large detached dwellings now occupying the this part of the site. Some decades prior to this the land on the northern edge of the garden (part of which appears to have originally belonged to Fairy Hill) was given over for the building of a primary school, whose premises have since greatly expanded. Closer to the house (to the west) a large detached double garage has been built in more recent years.

References - Primary sources
1 ‘The Newry Magazine or literary & political register for 1815’, (Newry, 1815)
1 Bradshaw, Thomas, ‘The general directory of Newry, Armagh…’ (Newry, 1819-20)
3 ‘Pigot & Co.’s Provincial Directory of Ireland’, (1824)
4 ‘Fourteenth report (1829) of the National Institution for the Deaf and Dumb Poor’, (Dublin, 1829) [Mrs. Fosbery of ‘Riverside Cottage, Rostrevor’, is listed as a subscriber.]
5 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
6 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
7 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.35 (1835-36)
8 ‘The Gardener’s Chronicle’, 2 September 1843 [Death notice for Mrs Fosbery, Rostrevor]
9 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 30 November 1844, p.1 [Mentions ‘Captain S. Ramadge, Fairy Hill’. Ramadge is noted as living in ‘Riverside Cottage’ in Slater’s 1846 ‘Directory’, which could suggest that the house continued to known under its old name at that time. There appears to have been another property named ‘Riverside Cottage’ in Rostrevor from at least c.1860.]
10 Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846)
11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1860
12 PRONI VAL2B/3/61B (1861)
13 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
14 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 5 September 1892, p.1
15 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed 2020.05.19]
16 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1902
17 Young, R.M., ‘Belfast and the province of Ulster in the 20th century’, (Brighton, 1909), p.233
18 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919
19 PRONI VAL12F/4/11/3 (1930-35)
20 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3 October 1946, p.4
21 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 28 December 1972, p.4
22 OS map, 1979
23 HERoNI D-052 Registered Garden file (c.1992- )