GREENPARK

The Department's description

Historical information

Documentary evidence suggests that there has been a house on this site since at least 1771. Then known as ‘Moore Park,’ it is mentioned in a ‘Belfast News-Letter’ letting advertisement of May of that year and again in May of the following year, and is designated on Taylor and Skinner’s road map of 1777. The ‘land, dwelling house, coach house, stable, offices and garden’ mentioned in the newspaper notices were at that time the property of either James or Hugh Moore (‘draper’), both of whom appear to have been resident in the vicinity of Rostrevor from at least 1756, when they are noted as having a bleach yard there. A letting notice in the ‘Dublin Journal’ of 15 March 1785 states that the house - which had become know as ‘Green-Park’ by that date - was ‘about 14 years built’ and had been ‘new-fashed and put into complete order last August. The offices are extremely good and convenient, forming an inclosed court to the rere of the house….’.

Both the 'Newry Magazine' of 1815 Bradshaw’s 1819 ‘General Directory' of the Newry area state that James Moore built the house, which ties in with the date of 1771 inferred in the ‘Dublin Journal’ description, but whether the site has a history beyond this is not clear. A castle marked ‘Polly’ is shown in this general area on John Speed’s 1610 map of Ulster and the OS memoirs of 1836 refer to the building as ‘a good old house’, whilst a more recent source states that ‘the original house at Green Park was built in 1646 and it was here that Robert Ross [the first of that family to acquire land in this area] stayed when he came to Rostrevor in the early 1700s’; however pre-1770s documentation relating to anything on this site appears to be lacking. Certain elements of the building, however (notably the back pile’s overall vernacular appearance including its battered walls and relatively steeply-pitched roof), suggest it may contain the fabric of an earlier structure, whilst the square enclosed yard to the rear has an almost bawn-like feel. There is a local belief that it is located on the site of a Magennis castle, and may possibly have been built around its ruins, a theory that the building’s commanding view over Carlingford Lough would seem, on the face of it, to add weight to.

The name of the property had reverted once again to ‘Moore Park’ by 1786, for ’Moore Park the seat of Mr. Moore’ is mentioned in the Post-chaise Companion of that year, with ‘Moorpark…of Mr. Moor’ noted by Tyner in 1794, and the Moore family are recorded as still in possession of the property in 1806. The aforementioned General Directory states that it was occupied ‘for a time, first by Mr. Strong and afterwards by a Mr. Broomfield’; ‘Mr Strong’ may have been John Stronge of Fairview (the earlier incarnation of Tynan Abbey), Co. Armagh, for he is mentioned in the 1785 letting advert.

By 1808 the house, now ‘Green Park’ once again, had become then the residence of Francis Carleton. Mr. Carleton (d.1829) was the son of Francis Carleton Snr. (1713-91), a merchant of the City of Cork and the brother of Hugh Carleton, Viscount Carleton of Clare. He served as Collector of Customs at Newry from c.1793 to some time before 1819. He was still living at Green Park in 1823, probably remaining until his death in 1829.

The ‘Newry Magazine’ supplies the earliest description of the property as we now see it, referring to it as ‘situated on the left, at a considerable distance from the road…Collector Carleton having added an entire new front, [which] has made the house a very fine mansion’. The ‘new front’ is obviously a reference the hipped roof front block that a letter from Carleton himself suggests was built in 1816, although the ‘Magazine’ indicates that it was up at least a year beforehand.

The house is shown on the 1834 OS map as roughly square in plan but with two small projections to the north, indicating that it it possessed some additional sections to the rear at this time. This is borne out by the first valuation of 1835 which states that that the main front portion measured 74ft x 24 x 27 and the rear pile 44 x 26 x 30, but also records two smaller single-storey returns of 25 x 10½ x 6½ and 15½ x 7½ x 6. Within the yard there were ‘offices’ (outbuildings) of 29 x 13 x 8, 20 x 17 x 7 and 34 x 17 x 7½, a stable of 40 x 20 x 14, and a coach house of 21½ x 21 x 13, as well as a gate lodge of 22 x 13 x 6 with a return of 15 x 8 x 5.

By 1832 the property (or at least the lease) had been sold to Mrs. Margaret O’Brien, who let it to ‘Lady Walsh’ (or Welsh) in 1835, but was living there again herself in 1840. By 1846 ‘Lady Belfour’ [sic Balfour] is listed as the occupant, however, ownership must have remained with the O’Brien family, for a William S. O’Brien is listed as the lessor in the second valuation of 1861. Interestingly, the same valuation states that the property was at that point in the hands of the Court of Chancery which could suggest that the ‘William S. O’Brien’ was none other than the erstwhile Young Irelander, William Smith O’Brien (1803-64), who had been transported to Van Dieman’s Land in 1849, but allowed to returned to Ireland in 1856. However, there seems to be no apparent connection between the latter and the owner of the house in the 1830s, other than the fact that both owned estates in County Clare.

The revised OS map of 1860 shows a plan similar to what we see today, but with what appears to be a projecting porch to the front, although this is not mentioned in the valuation book of 1861 which records dimensions identical to those of 1835. The valuers remark that the front part of he house was and ‘very elegant and superior’, while the back half was ‘old’, with the property affording ‘splendid view of mountains and lough.’

Lady Belmore (Juliana Butler, wife of the 2nd Earl of Belmore) continued to rent Green Park—at £200 per annum according to the valuers—until her death in 1861. After this it was let to The Hon. Mary C.A. Maude, ‘widow of the late Rev. W. Maude of Enniskillen,’ who was resident until 1866. The property was then sold to Mrs. S. Hall, one of the Hall family of nearby Narrow Water Castle, with Major Roger Hall buying it for £2,220 in 1886. In the census of 1901 he is noted as living there with four domestic servants, with the house itself recorded as a ‘1st class’ dwelling with fourteen rooms in use.

Green Park remained with Roger Hall until c.1911-12 when it was bought by a Henry Carden, who held it until 1916, when it was acquired (or passed to) Mrs. Helen Hamilton. The next owner, in 1935, was Frederick Devenish-Meares, with Harriet Devenish-Meares listed as the resident two years later. The Hall family, in the person of Col. Francis Hall, returned to Green Park in 1941, although the house and grounds were requisitioned for the use of the US Army for some of the war years. In 1948 it was sold to Commander William E. Bellgrave, who is recorded as still living there in 1972. The present owner bought the property in 1975.

References - Primary sources
1 PRONI T1920/1 (1610)
2 PRONI D254/822-23 (1755)
3 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 22 June 1756; 28 July 1761
4 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 19-23 May 1775
5 ‘Belfast News-Letter', 3-7 May 1776
6 ‘Taylors and Skinner’s maps of the roads of Ireland’, (Dublin, 1777-78), maps 11, 285
7 ‘Dublin Journal’, 15 March 1785, p.4
8 Wilson, William, ‘The post-chaise companion or traveller directory through Ireland’, (Dublin, 1786)
9 Tyner, George, ‘The traveller’s guide through Ireland…’, (Dublin, 1794)
10 Sleator, Rev. Matthew, ‘Introductory essay to a new system of topography and itinerary of the counties of Ireland’ (Dublin, 1806), p.162
11 PRONI T618/53 (1808)
12 PRONI D552/A/8/4/93, 98 (1816)
13 ‘The Newry Magazine or literary & political register for 1815’, (Newry, 1815)
14 Bradshaw, Thomas, ‘The general directory of Newry, Armagh…’ (Newry, 1819-20)
15 Atkinson, A. 1823 ‘Ireland exhibited to England…vol.I’, (London), p.323
16 PRONI D2916/1/C/17 (1832); D2916/1/C/19, 20-21 (1833)
17 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
18 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
19 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.35 (1835-36)
20 PRONI D2916/1/C/29A (1840)
21 ‘Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846)
22 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1860
23 PRONI VAL2B/3/61B (1861)
24 ‘Handbook for travellers in Ireland’ (London, 1866), p.40
25 PRONI D2916/2/B/9 (1886)
26 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
27 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed 2020.05.19]
28 PRONI VAL12F/4/11/3 (1930-35)
29 PRONI VAL3C/4/22 (1936-57)
30 PRONI VAL4B/3/79 (1956-72)

Secondary sources
31 Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. 1976 Burke's Irish Family Records (London, Burkes Peerage Ltd.), p.212
32 Cokayne, G.E.; with Gibbs, Vicary, Doubleday, H.A., White, Geoffrey H., Warrand, Duncan and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ‘The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed. Vol.II’ (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), p.111.
33 Information from owner, April 2010
34 ‘Rostrevor Village and Heritage Trail’, (Mourne Mountains Landscape Partnership, 2017)
35 Smith, Philip, ‘The Buildings of South County Down’, (Belfast, UAHS, 2019)