Church View

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey /three bay vernacular house on W side of Donaghmore Road overlooking St Bartholomew’s Church (HB16/14/004).

Pitched natural slate roof aligned NE-SW. Three rustic brick corbelled chimneys – one to each gable and one between the central and right bays. Modern timber eaves board carries plastic rainwater goods. Walls are pebble-dashed with smooth cement rendered basecourse.

Principal elevation faces SE. The central bay is narrowest and the right bay is widest. Central bay has a porch at ground floor. It has a hipped naturalslate roof with decorative cusped pendant bargeboard with drop finial shamrock ends. Porch walls are as those to the main house. Its front door has two elongated moulded panels with decorative cast-iron door furniture. Timber pilasters resting on granite blocks flank either side of doorway with margin-paned transom over. Left and right cheeks of porch each have a small 1/1 margin-paned fixed light.

All windows are 1/1 margin-paned sliding sashes with dressed granite cill. There is one above the porch, the left bay has a single window to each floor and the right bay has two windows on each floor.

Right (NE) gable is blank.

Rear (NW) elevation of the main house is dashed as façade. Windows are 2/2 (vertically divided) sliding sashes unless otherwise stated. Single window to each floor of the left bay. The ground floor of the central bay is blank and its first floor has a 1/1 (margin paned) sash window. There are two windows to each floor of right bay, the ground floor right one containing a pair of 2x3 paned timber casements.

Left (SW) gable sits proud at ground floor (suggesting it may have been raised at some stage). It is abutted to left side by a lower two storey return. The remaining right end is dashed as façade and has a window (as those on façade) at first floor right.

Return is narrower than the main house. It has a pitched natural slate roof detailed as main roof and similarly aligned. Its walls are as main block. Its front (SE) facing elevation has a modern glazed door with a plain cast-iron bootscraper set to the right. To its left is a top hung casement window with concrete cill. First floor has a window to centre (as those to façade) with concrete cill. The end (SW) gable of the return is abutted by a lean-to. The rear of the return has a modern top-hung casement window to ground floor, first floor is blank.

Lean-to has a monopitched natural slate roof and cement dashed walls. Its front (SE) face has a t+g door with fixed single pane window to its left. Its rear (NW) wall is completely abutted by rendered yard wall with pitched coping. Its front (SE) gable has a t+g sheeted door.

Setting:

House is set parallel to the road, to itsfront is a small garden enclosed by a curving rendered stone wall with saddle coping. A pair of roughly dressed granite gate piers with pyramidal caps support a wrought-iron gate with rounded top and spearhead finials. Set to the left (SW) of the house is a small farmyard enclosed to the front and rear by outbuildings which are aligned parallel with house. Rear outbuilding is two storey with rubble stone walls and pitched natural slate roof (with plastic rainwater goods). Harled rubble stone walls. All doors face forward and are t+g sheeted. Its right gable is abutted by a matching lean-to and has a cast iron pump (with rampant lion mark). The front outbuilding is single storey and blank to its road (front) face, its yard facing elevation has t+g sheeted doors. Between outbuildings and house and fronting the road is a pair of hoop topped yard gates on rendered piers.

Historical information

Shown on the 1835 OS 6" map. The 1836 Valuation book notes it as measuring 42ft x 23ft 6in x 17ft and being occupied by Mr Jonathan Clarke. There is no change in its valuation from 1862 to 1929. It is probably the same house as presently exists. It was captioned ‘Old Four Mile House’ on the 1859 OS map, which suggests that the Lisserboy Road was once the main route between Belfast and Newry.

The HMBB first survey slide shows the house to have had a painted smooth render finish. The HMBB first survey card states, ‘A two storey, four bay, harled and whitened house with slated roof and three modern brick chimneys. Sash windows are margin paned. The entrance is contained in a hipped roof projecting porch with pendant type carved decoration on fascia. The door is flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a decorated rectangular fanlight, Single storey annex on south gable. Two storey outbuilding to south.’

Primary sources
1. OS 6" map, 1834, Co Down sheet 40 (PRONI OS 6/3/40/1).
2. OS 6" map, 1859, Co Down sheet 40 (PRONI OS 6/3/40/2).
3. First Valuation, 1836 (PRONI VAL 1B/355, p.126)
4. Second Valuation, 1862 (PRONI VAL 2B/3/58A, p.22).
5. Valuation revision books, 1866-1929 (PRONI VAL 12B/22/9A-E).
6. HMBB first survey slide dated April 1977.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This house is prominently situated on the Donaghmore Road and has a good setting and attractive farmyard. However it has a modern dashed render and has been modernised internally.