DRUMSESK HOUSE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Several houses are shown in this general vicinity on Williamson’s County Down map of 1810, but their positioning suggests none correspond to the present building, indeed the Drumsesk Road is not depicted on this map, suggesting it had not yet been cut. Similarly, although the ‘Newry Magazine…for 1815’ describes (in sequence) various several residences on the road from Warrenpoint to Rostrevor, nothing would appear to equate to the location of this house. ‘Drumsesk Cottage’ the home of ‘Captain Courtney’, is mentioned in Thomas Bradshaw’s 1819-20 ‘General Directory of Newry…’, however, indicating that it was built between 1815 and 1819, a date range that ties in with its Picturesque styling and with the existing deeds, which indicate that it was standing by 1818.

The house appears to have been built in three main phases with the original dwelling consisting of the eastern pile. The deeds suggest that this section was first occupied (and quite possibly built by) Robert Willis (c.1781-1837), who appears to have been a local builder and joiner. In 1818 the house was sold to the aforementioned ‘Captain Courtney’, Edward Rhames Courtenay (c.1773-1825), a Newry-born merchant and captain in the Armagh militia, who by 1816 appears to have acted as agent for the Ross estate at Rostrevor and that of the Halls at Narrowwater. He is remembered locally for having killed fellow Newry man, John Thompson of Trevor Hill, in 1793 by shooting him a duel fought at Violet Hill in that town. The contest was meant to be fought with swords, but realising he facing a more skilled opponent, Coutenay drew a pistol and shot his Thompson in the head. He is said to have subsequently handed himself over to the authorities, but was never put on trial. According to 'A History of Nelson Masonic Lodge No XVII…’, Courtenay is stated to have ‘built Drumsesk Cottage, Rostrevor, in Which he lived and died.’ It is more likely that he altered and extended the existing house by adding the L-shaped portion to the west and south.

After Courtenay’s death in 1825 ownership of the property passed to his widow, Jane (d.1861), who for the next decade or so, rented it to a series of tenants including Henry Whaley and Christopher St. George Trench, both of whom tragically drowned in September 1828 whilst ‘bathing incautiously’ in the sea nearby. The next occupant appears to have been Major Samuel Patrickson (d.1836).

The house, labelled simply ‘Drumsesk’, is shown on the OS map of 1834 with a roughly similar plan to the present, but with a different configuration to the northern end. In the 1835 valuation it is noted as ‘Drumsesk Cottage’, a ‘new’ (grade A) building with its component parts recorded as measuring 35½ft x 20½ x 15½, 20 x 17½ x 15 (‘return’) and 36 x 13 x 10 (‘return’), with ‘offices’ of 24½ x 12 x 6, 25 x 13½ x 10, 36 x 17½ x 13 and 13½ x 14 x 13. The OS Memoirs of the following year refer to the building as a ‘bathing lodge’, a term that source also uses to refer to several of the other contemporary villas in the area similarly close to Carlingford Lough, even though they may not have been built expressly for that particular purpose. The house can be glimpsed in sketch of c.1835, looking eastwards from the grounds of nearby Rosetta House [see HB16.12.013A]

By at least 1846 it had been leased to Hugh Carleton, a son of Francis Carleton (d.1829) formerly of Green Park, Rostrevor [see HB16.06.063], returning to the possession of the Courtney’s Daughter, Jane and her husband Robert Bowen on Carleton’s death in late 1861. In the second valuation of the same year the house is described as a ‘very neat cottage, close to road and sea, well enclosed’, with some ‘very good’ attic rooms. The building’s main section is noted as measuring 6yds 2ft x 12 x 1[storey], with ‘returns’ of 8yds 2ft x 6yds 2ft x 2, 8yds 2ft x 5 x 2, and 10 x 4 x 2, and offices of 5 x 8 x 1½, 7½ x 6 x 1½ and 11 x 4 x 1. These dimensions reveal the building to be larger than in 1835, although whatever alterations had been carried out in the intervening years, they must have been done so closer to that date than 1861, for the whole property was regarded by the valuers as ‘not new’ (grade B+) in the latter year. The small scale of the existing OS maps makes any changes to the planform difficult to discern, but it possible that changes may have been carried out the northeastern return, for in terms of scale it sits slightly awkwardly with the rest of the building.

Over the next 15 years or so the property went through a number of short-stay tenants, including - according the valuation books - William Mayne from c.1864, Robert Browne [?Bowen] (c.1867), Colonel[?] Benson-Maxwell (c.1871) and Rev. Cecil Smylie (c.1874). Elizabeth Smylie is listed as the occupant by the valuers from 1875 until c.1882 Afterwards the Benson Maxwell family may have returned for a short time, succeeded in c.1884 by Robert Mathers, who was followed in 1886 by Alice Hancock and Ormsby Vandeleur in c.1891. In the 1901 census, Mr. Vandeleur, (who lists his occupation as ‘gent’), was sharing the residence with his wife, Lucretia, their daughter, Georgina, an elderly aunt, Lucretia Tallan, and two domestic servants, with the building itself noted as a ‘1st class’ dwelling with 13 rooms in use.

In 1906 the rateable value of the property (which had now become known variously as ‘Drumsesk’ and ‘Drumsesk House’, as well as ‘Drumsesk Cottage’) was reduced from £39 to £31, apparently due to the its condition. By 1908 Marcella Von Stieglitz had become the tenant, and in the 1911 census, she is recorded as living here with her grown-up daughters, Augusta Sophia and Adelaide Mary and two domestic servants. The Von Stieglitz family were originally from Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), and had settled in Rostrevor in 1856.

Ownership of the house had been acquired by the the McFarland family of nearby Seapoint Cottage in 1895. In 1913 it was put up for sale (for £850), the advertisement stating that it contained ‘3 reception rooms (on ground floor), 5 bedrooms, bathroom, and servants’ apartments’, as well as ‘good stabling and motor accommodation, together with over half an acre of land.’ It was eventually sold the following year to to Rev. John W.A. and Margaret Victoria MacWilliam, with whose descendant it remains.

References - primary sources
1 ‘A Map of the County of Down…by James Williamson, (1810)
2 ‘The Newry Magazine or literary & political register for 1815’, (Newry, 1815)
3 Bradshaw, Thomas, ‘The general directory of Newry, Armagh…’ (Newry, 1819-20)
4 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 4 December 1829, p.3
5 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 22 October 1830, p.2
6 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
7 NLI vtls000245710 View of Ross obelisk and dwellings on the shores of Carlingford Lough in Rostrevor, by A.E. McCormick, c.1835
8 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
9 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.35 (1835-36)
10 ‘Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846)
11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1860
12 PRONI VAL2B/3/61B (1861)
13 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 19 December 1861, p.3
14 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
15 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 1 September 1868, p.2
16 ‘Belfast Weekly news’, 20 January 1883, p.1
17 OS map, Co Down sheet 54 (1901-02)
18 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie [Accessed
19 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 25 January 1913, p.1
20 OS map, Co Down sheet 54 (1919)
21 PRONI VAL12B/19/9A (1923-29)
22 ‘Northern Whig’, 10 April 1936, p.1
23 OS map, Co Down sheet 54 (1950)
24 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 1 April 1950, p.1

Secondary sources
25 ‘The Courtenay family in Ireland’, compiled by Philip Crossle et al (1904, reprinted in electronic form 2002)
26 Crossle, Francis C., ‘A History of Nelson Masonic Lodge No XVII Newry (1809 to 1909), (Newry, 1909)
http://courtenaysociety.org/crossle.pdf [accessed 2020.05.27]
27 Rankin, Fred, 'Clergy of Down and Dromore Part 1', (UHF, Belfast, 1996), p.197
28 ‘Condition Survey Drumsesk House…’ Compiled by John O’Connor, March 2013 (Private document)
29 https://www.facebook.com/NewryTours/photos/one-of-my-favorite-old-buildings-in-newry-is-no1-trevor-hill-now-the-bank-bar-re/1579917078916768/ [accessed 2020.05.27]
30 https://www.facebook.com/oldwarrenpointforum/posts/there-has-been-much-speculation-over-a-pillar-that-is-situated-on-private-proper/10154362294167971/ [accessed 2020.05.27]

Historical information

Several houses are shown in this general vicinity on Williamson’s County Down map of 1810, but their positioning suggests none correspond to the present building, indeed the Drumsesk Road is not depicted on this map, suggesting it had not yet been cut. Similarly, although the ‘Newry Magazine…for 1815’ describes (in sequence) various several residences on the road from Warrenpoint to Rostrevor, nothing would appear to equate to the location of this house. ‘Drumsesk Cottage’ the home of ‘Captain Courtney’, is mentioned in Thomas Bradshaw’s 1819-20 ‘General Directory of Newry…’, however, indicating that it was built between 1815 and 1819, a date range that ties in with its Picturesque styling and with the existing deeds, which indicate that it was standing by 1818.

The house appears to have been built in three main phases with the original dwelling consisting of the eastern pile. The deeds suggest that this section was first occupied (and quite possibly built by) Robert Willis (c.1781-1837), who appears to have been a local builder and joiner. In 1818 the house was sold to the aforementioned ‘Captain Courtney’, Edward Rhames Courtenay (c.1773-1825), a Newry-born merchant and captain in the Armagh militia, who by 1816 appears to have acted as agent for the Ross estate at Rostrevor and that of the Halls at Narrowwater. He is remembered locally for having killed fellow Newry man, John Thompson of Trevor Hill, in 1793 by shooting him a duel fought at Violet Hill in that town. The contest was meant to be fought with swords, but realising he facing a more skilled opponent, Coutenay drew a pistol and shot his Thompson in the head. He is said to have subsequently handed himself over to the authorities, but was never put on trial. According to 'A History of Nelson Masonic Lodge No XVII…’, Courtenay is stated to have ‘built Drumsesk Cottage, Rostrevor, in Which he lived and died.’ It is more likely that he altered and extended the existing house by adding the L-shaped portion to the west and south.

After Courtenay’s death in 1825 ownership of the property passed to his widow, Jane (d.1861), who for the next decade or so, rented it to a series of tenants including Henry Whaley and Christopher St. George Trench, both of whom tragically drowned in September 1828 whilst ‘bathing incautiously’ in the sea nearby. The next occupant appears to have been Major Samuel Patrickson (d.1836).

The house, labelled simply ‘Drumsesk’, is shown on the OS map of 1834 with a roughly similar plan to the present, but with a different configuration to the northern end. In the 1835 valuation it is noted as ‘Drumsesk Cottage’, a ‘new’ (grade A) building with its component parts recorded as measuring 35½ft x 20½ x 15½, 20 x 17½ x 15 (‘return’) and 36 x 13 x 10 (‘return’), with ‘offices’ of 24½ x 12 x 6, 25 x 13½ x 10, 36 x 17½ x 13 and 13½ x 14 x 13. The OS Memoirs of the following year refer to the building as a ‘bathing lodge’, a term that source also uses to refer to several of the other contemporary villas in the area similarly close to Carlingford Lough, even though they may not have been built expressly for that particular purpose. The house can be glimpsed in sketch of c.1835, looking eastwards from the grounds of nearby Rosetta House [see HB16.12.013A]

By at least 1846 it had been leased to Hugh Carleton, a son of Francis Carleton (d.1829) formerly of Green Park, Rostrevor [see HB16.06.063], returning to the possession of the Courtney’s Daughter, Jane and her husband Robert Bowen on Carleton’s death in late 1861. In the second valuation of the same year the house is described as a ‘very neat cottage, close to road and sea, well enclosed’, with some ‘very good’ attic rooms. The building’s main section is noted as measuring 6yds 2ft x 12 x 1[storey], with ‘returns’ of 8yds 2ft x 6yds 2ft x 2, 8yds 2ft x 5 x 2, and 10 x 4 x 2, and offices of 5 x 8 x 1½, 7½ x 6 x 1½ and 11 x 4 x 1. These dimensions reveal the building to be larger than in 1835, although whatever alterations had been carried out in the intervening years, they must have been done so closer to that date than 1861, for the whole property was regarded by the valuers as ‘not new’ (grade B+) in the latter year. The small scale of the existing OS maps makes any changes to the planform difficult to discern, but it possible that changes may have been carried out the northeastern return, for in terms of scale it sits slightly awkwardly with the rest of the building.

Over the next 15 years or so the property went through a number of short-stay tenants, including - according the valuation books - William Mayne from c.1864, Robert Browne [?Bowen] (c.1867), Colonel[?] Benson-Maxwell (c.1871) and Rev. Cecil Smylie (c.1874). Elizabeth Smylie is listed as the occupant by the valuers from 1875 until c.1882 Afterwards the Benson Maxwell family may have returned for a short time, succeeded in c.1884 by Robert Mathers, who was followed in 1886 by Alice Hancock and Ormsby Vandeleur in c.1891. In the 1901 census, Mr. Vandeleur, (who lists his occupation as ‘gent’), was sharing the residence with his wife, Lucretia, their daughter, Georgina, an elderly aunt, Lucretia Tallan, and two domestic servants, with the building itself noted as a ‘1st class’ dwelling with 13 rooms in use.

In 1906 the rateable value of the property (which had now become known variously as ‘Drumsesk’ and ‘Drumsesk House’, as well as ‘Drumsesk Cottage’) was reduced from £39 to £31, apparently due to the its condition. By 1908 Marcella Von Stieglitz had become the tenant, and in the 1911 census, she is recorded as living here with her grown-up daughters, Augusta Sophia and Adelaide Mary and two domestic servants. The Von Stieglitz family were originally from Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), and had settled in Rostrevor in 1856.

Ownership of the house had been acquired by the the McFarland family of nearby Seapoint Cottage in 1895. In 1913 it was put up for sale (for £850), the advertisement stating that it contained ‘3 reception rooms (on ground floor), 5 bedrooms, bathroom, and servants’ apartments’, as well as ‘good stabling and motor accommodation, together with over half an acre of land.’ It was eventually sold the following year to to Rev. John W.A. and Margaret Victoria MacWilliam, with whose descendant it remains.

References - primary sources
1 ‘A Map of the County of Down…by James Williamson, (1810)
2 ‘The Newry Magazine or literary & political register for 1815’, (Newry, 1815)
3 Bradshaw, Thomas, ‘The general directory of Newry, Armagh…’ (Newry, 1819-20)
4 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 4 December 1829, p.3
5 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 22 October 1830, p.2
6 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
7 NLI vtls000245710 View of Ross obelisk and dwellings on the shores of Carlingford Lough in Rostrevor, by A.E. McCormick, c.1835
8 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
9 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.35 (1835-36)
10 ‘Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846)
11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1860
12 PRONI VAL2B/3/61B (1861)
13 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 19 December 1861, p.3
14 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
15 ‘Newry Telegraph’, 1 September 1868, p.2
16 ‘Belfast Weekly news’, 20 January 1883, p.1
17 OS map, Co Down sheet 54 (1901-02)
18 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie [Accessed
19 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 25 January 1913, p.1
20 OS map, Co Down sheet 54 (1919)
21 PRONI VAL12B/19/9A (1923-29)
22 ‘Northern Whig’, 10 April 1936, p.1
23 OS map, Co Down sheet 54 (1950)
24 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 1 April 1950, p.1

Secondary sources
25 ‘The Courtenay family in Ireland’, compiled by Philip Crossle et al (1904, reprinted in electronic form 2002)
26 Crossle, Francis C., ‘A History of Nelson Masonic Lodge No XVII Newry (1809 to 1909), (Newry, 1909)
http://courtenaysociety.org/crossle.pdf [accessed 2020.05.27]
27 Rankin, Fred, 'Clergy of Down and Dromore Part 1', (UHF, Belfast, 1996), p.197
28 ‘Condition Survey Drumsesk House…’ Compiled by John O’Connor, March 2013 (Private document)
29 https://www.facebook.com/NewryTours/photos/one-of-my-favorite-old-buildings-in-newry-is-no1-trevor-hill-now-the-bank-bar-re/1579917078916768/ [accessed 2020.05.27]
30 https://www.facebook.com/oldwarrenpointforum/posts/there-has-been-much-speculation-over-a-pillar-that-is-situated-on-private-proper/10154362294167971/ [accessed 2020.05.27]