BENVENU

The Department's description

Historical information

Benvenue (sometimes ‘Benvenu’) is shown - and named - on the OS map of 1834, but is not mentioned in any other source before at least 1824. Therefore, unless it originally possessed a different name (or none at all), the house must have been constructed at some point between these dates. Later evidence (from 1877) suggests that it may have been built in or just prior to 1833, and the first valuation of late 1835 notes that it was ‘new’ (grade ‘A’) at that point. Whatever the case, its design is in accordance with a building of the 1820s or early 1830s. The aforementioned valuation tells us that at that date the the main section of the house measured 59ft x 62½ x 13, with returns of 26 x 16 x 17 and 20 x 6 x 10½, and offices amounting to 12 x 8 x 7, 9 x 7 x 7, 39 x 18 x 14½, 23 x 14½ x 9, 11½ x 13½ x 7.

The house appears to have been built (on land leased from the Ross-of-Bladensburg estate) by the Bruce family, most likely Thomas Richard Bruce, a captain in the Royal Navy. Henry Bruce is recorded as occupant in late 1835; he may have been a relative renting or looking after the property, as the ‘beautifully situated cottage…completely furnished for the accommodation for a large family’ had been advertised for let earlier that year. Thomas R. Bruce was in residence in 1846-47, but in 1853 Benvenue was up for let again, and in 1856 it was occupied by Mrs. Forde, the widow of Matthew Forde of Seaforde House. It was on the market for lease again in 1858, the newspaper notice stating that the house contained ‘3 handsome reception rooms and 5 bedrooms in addition to servants’ apartments.’

By 1861 the property was back in Bruce hands, with Thomas R. Bruce’s widow, Jane Bruce, noted as the occupant. In the valuation of the same year the house in described as ‘a very beautiful cottage villa with good view of mountain and sea…one of the prettiest villas about Rostrevor and the grounds are beautiful but land bad’, with the dimensions listed as 24yds x 6½ x 1[storey] (‘flank’), 24 x 6½ x 1 (‘flank’), 18 x 7 x 1 (‘centre’) and 8 x 4 x 1 (‘conservatory’), with offices of 12 x 6 x 2, 7 x 5 x 1½ and 9 x 5 x 1½ , and a gate lodge of 14yds 2ft x 9 x 1.

Mrs. Bruce died in 1865 and, according to the valuations, Benvenue was leased to Nicholas Crumlin (probably Crommelin), followed in c.1874 by Joseph Carvill, a member of a prominent merchant family of Newry. Mary Carvill is listed as the resident in 1878, John Carvill in 1881, Mrs. Johnston in 1884, Captain Robert Pierse [?or Presse] in 1885 and M.G. Smythe in 1892. In 1898 the house and gate lodge were leased to William James Watson, with landlord Sir John Foster Ross-of-Bladensburg retaining the outbuildings. Watson (c.1844-1911) was an english-born architect and land agent who had worked in Newry from at least 1872, and was responsible, amongst other things, for the Methodist church at Warrenpoint (1884-85), town hall at Bessbrook (1886), and the Masonic hall, Downshire Road, Newry (1887), as well as a number of houses in Rostrevor itself (see HB16/06/067, 084A-B). In the 1901 census he is recorded as living here with his Co. Armagh-born wife, Elizabeth, their daughter, Janet, and a domestic servant, with the house itself noted as a ‘1st class’ dwelling with 14 rooms in use.

After William J. Watson died suddenly in August 1911, Benvenue lay vacant until 1915, when Miss Katherine Carleton (c.1856-1948), a J.P. originally from Portadown, took up the lease, becoming joint tenant with Hannah Charley in 1923. Miss Carleton took a particular interest in the grounds around the house, and during her time there the garden became something of a local attraction.

In 1951 a Roger Patrick Berry is noted as the occupant. The ‘delightfully situated small Georgian-type house’ was put up for auction in June 1955, the sale particulars noting that the accommodation consisted of a ‘dining room (25ft x 18ft including bow window), drawing room 25ft x 18ft, 4 principal bedrooms, good culinary apartments…good outbuildings…a gate lodge which is vacant [and a] most attractive garden.’ It was acquired by Rev. James Quinn (c.1877-1962), the Rector of St. Jude’s Ballynafeigh 1924-56 and Chancellor of Down Cathedral 1940-56, and his wife, with Mrs. Quinn still living there in 1969.

References - Primary sources
1 Pennsylvania State University Special Collections Library 1466 Carvill Family Papers, 1820-1933
2 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
3 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 25 February 1835, p.3 [Letting advertisement for Benvenue.]
4 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
5 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.35 (1835-36)
6 Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846)
7 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 6 September 1847, p.2 [Mentions Thomas R. Bruce of Benvenue.]
8 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 4 August 1853, p.1 [Letting advertisement for Benvenue.]
9 ‘Downpatrick Recorder’, 10 May 1856, p.3
10 ‘Belfast Mercury’, 28 May 1858, p.1
11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1860
12 PRONI VAL2B/3/61B (1861)
13 ‘Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet’, 17 August 1865
14 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
15 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed 2020.06.09]
16 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1902
17 PRONI D2004/6/138 (10 July 1913)
18 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919
19 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 16 September 1948, p.4
20 ‘Belfast News-Letter’,23 May 1951, p.2
21 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 13 June 1955, p.1
22 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 18 July 1956, p.4
23 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 31 January 1963, p.8
24 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 10 April 1969, p.3
25 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 9 June 1969, p.6

Secondary sources
26 PRONI D2004/6/57 [Two letters from Johns, Hewitt and Johns, solicitors, 7 Lombard Street, Belfast to John Ross and a copy of a reply, concerning the ownership of the trees in Benvenu, many of which were planted and registered by Thomas R Bruce in 1833.] (February 1877)
27 Dictionary of Irish Architects [https://www.dia.ie/architects/view/5553/watson-williamjames#tab_biography accessed 2020.06.09]