Elmfield

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey-with-attic three-bay country house in Scots-Baronial style, built c.1870 to designs by William Spence incorporating an earlier Georgian country house. Located in extensive grounds to the east of Moyallan Road north of Gilford. U-shaped plan comprising three-stage square entrance tower with adjoining turret and two gabled wings; single-storey extensions to east and west wings, that to east abutted by a two-storey annexe; two-and-single-storey modern extensions also to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with leaded ridges, crow-stepped gables flanked by pepperpot towers; sandstone chimneystacks having tall clay pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on corbelled eaves brackets. Walling is rock-faced limestone on a granite plinth with ashlar sandstone quoins and dressings and moulded string courses between floors. Windows are replacement 1/1 timber sliding sash with chamfered sandstone sills in surrounds, some surmounted by label moulds.

The principal elevation faces north comprising two-storey central bay flanked by gabled bay at left (with attic) and three-stage entrance tower at right. Entrance tower has corner tourelles and decorative crenellated parapet, mullioned windows to all floors at north and west elevations, except ground floor to north which has a slightly projecting porch. Porch is all in ashlar sandstone and accessed via two bull-nosed stone steps; contains an eight-panelled timber door in chamfered recess with corbelled frieze; flanked by projecting piers and surmounted by diamond panelled frieze with central coat of arms reading “FORTES FORTUNA JUVAT”; dropped ornaments from the panelled projectors flanking the frieze. To right is an ornate bronze bell-push. Abutted to southwest corner by a four-stage stair turret with small round-headed window at each stage and decorative parapet. Central bay is recessed and has mullioned windows flanked by slender windows to first floor and mullioned windows to ground floor. Gabled bay to left has a small window to attic, paired windows to first floor and four-paned canted bay window with fretted balustraded parapet to ground floor.

The east elevation has projecting gable to ground floor centre with small window to attic, paired windows to first floor and tripartite box bay window to ground floor; window to ground and first floor left.

The south (rear) elevation is complex but is arranged around a U-shaped central courtyard. Both side wings are abutted by single-storey extensions as part of the original design, with two-storey annexe also to east. A two-storey flat-roof L-shaped extension was added to the rear in 1961, joining the two side wings, abutting this is a single-storey kitchen extension, also dating from 1961. To left is a modern sun-room and to right a felt-roof canopy providing sheltered walkway to modern entrance door.

The west elevation has two-storey central bay flanked by slightly projecting crow-stepped gables. Parapet to central bay with mullioned window to first floor and and projecting entrance with mullioned double-leaf glazed timber doors to ground floor. Left and right gables have loop window to attic, mullioned windows to first floor and four-paned canted bay windows with fretted balustrade to ground floor.

Setting

Set in extensive mature grounds to the north of Gilford town centre. The garden was re-landscaped in the early 1960s and the driveway altered to reflect the original Georgian design which brought carriages to the rear of the property. Gravelled driveway from northwest leads to rear coach yard with outbuildings arranged around a central cobbled yard. Outbuildings and stables are largely well-preserved, with rendered walls on a contrasting plinth and some original 6/6 timber-framed windows with painted projecting sills; louvred vents and timber-sheeted doors. East section has been refurbished as accommodation and modern double-leaf glass panel doors with metal balcony inserted at first floor. Segmental carriage arch to south leads to an enclosed yard which contains the remains of a Georgian farmhouse. Gardens are lawned to all sides with mature trees including some re-planted elm trees; ha-ha to west and pond to southwest. Modern entrance to northwest at Moyallen Road with yellow brick boundary wall and gate piers and former gate lodge (HB17/01/034B) to left side of entrance.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Limestone / sandstone
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

‘Elmfield’ is a linen house dating from c.1870 and built to designs by William Spence, incorporating earlier fabric. A house appears, captioned, on the first edition OS map of 1834 as an L-shaped structure with a row of outbuildings to the rear. The second edition of 1858 shows that the house has been substantially remodelled or rebuilt to the north of the original Georgian house. Two ‘Gate Lodges’ are captioned, one at the head of a driveway leading to the service courtyard and the other at the head of the main entrance driveway leading to the western façade of the house which was then the front entrance. Outbuildings are shown forming a stable courtyard to the side of the house and the gardens have been planted with trees. An ornamental pond and formal gardens form part of the newly-laid-out demesne. By the third edition of 1901-2, further remodelling of the house had taken place, including the addition of square and circular towers, and the main entrance is now on the northern façade.

In the late eighteenth century the lands known as Elmfield belonged to the Christy family, Quakers who are thought to have introduced the linen industry into this area in the late seventeenth century. (Rankin) In 1806 James Christy of Stramore granted the Elmfield property to his relative and business partner in the firm of Christy and Dawson, William Dawson. An earlier house existed on the property at this stage, and it is this earlier structure that is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834 and is listed in the Townland Valuation at a valuation of £17.16s. The two-storey house with cellar measured 38.6 feet by 21feet and a number of outbuildings are also listed including a coach house, potato house and barn. One of the outbuildings was thatched and the back wall of the barn was of mud. The occupier of the house is named as William Dawson. Map and field evidence suggest that the Georgian house and outbuildings have been partially incorporated into the present house and stable courtyard. The head rent to the property was bought in 1832 by James Uprichard of Bannvale and the Uprichard family were later to become resident at the house. (Rankin) Newspaper evidence shows that the next occupier, James Dickson, was resident at the house from at least 1851. (Belfast Newsletter) Remodelling of the house took place at around this time and its altered plan form is shown on the second edition OS map of 1858, together with gate lodges serving front and rear entrances.

James Dickson was a partner in the linen firm Dunbar, Dickson and Co, whose factory in Gilford was largely responsible for the town’s growth and prosperity in the second half of the nineteenth century. According to Rankin, Dickson purchased the house and lands in 1861, although newspaper evidence shows that he had already been resident for at least ten years. Elmfield was substantially remodelled before the second edition of 1858, the evidence from valuation records and newspaper sources suggests that the building present on the site today largely dates from c.1870. Stone-cutters were working at the site in 1867 and valuation records state that a new house and outbuildings had been completed by 1872. The new building was valued at £110 and was built at a cost of £4,000 by contractor William Barclay. (Belfast Newsletter; Valuation Records)

Dean suggests that the architect of Elmfield was William Spence, who had also designed Gilford Castle for James’ brother Benjamin Dickson. Unfortunately the building of Elmfield co-incided with a downturn in the linen trade and the Dickson family were eventually forced to sell it. Houghton Dickson was the occupier in 1881 but by 1883 the house was vacant and the valuer believed it was ‘likely to be let’. In fact it was purchased in 1884 by Forster Green, tea and coffee merchant, for his daughter Emily and her husband, Henry Albert Uprichard of the local Quaker linen dynasty. Elmfield was the main residence for Henry Albert Uprichard and his family but it is unclear whether the family were living here or at nearby Bannvale, another Uprichard property, at the time of the 1901 census. The census records Henry and his second wife Beatrice together with children from his first and second marriages, six in all. Also living with the family was Beatrice’s mother from Waterford and four female servants. Henry Albert Uprichard died in November 1901 and left Elmfield and its estate of 260 acres together with the ‘plate, pictures, horses, carriages and furniture’ to his eldest son William Forster Uprichard. William Forster was also left an equal share in the Springvale Bleach Works, a successful linen enterprise which gave employment to around 130 workers at the turn of the twentieth century. The 1911 census shows that William Uprichard, a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) was living with his wife and two-year-old son, Rutledge who was being raised as an Episcopalian, his mother’s denomination. The family had a staff of five, a parlourmaid, housemaid, cook, nurse and a 15-year-old ‘milk boy’ from County Armagh. The 38-room house with 21 windows to the front facade was designated ‘first class’.

The Uprichards lived in considerable style at Elmfield, and horses, dogs and hunting were an important recreation. William Forster Uprichard was an accomplished amateur jockey, both he and subsequently his son Rutledge winning the title of Irish Amateur Champion. (Rankin)

At the time of the First General Revaluation of 1933/4, the house and outbuildings were revalued at £105 with £38.10s for agricultural buildings. On the ground floor were three receptions, a billiard room, smoke room, cloaks, kitchen, scullery, two pantries and a schoolroom. On the first floor were a bathroom with bath and WC, two separate WCs, a pantry, ten bedrooms, a dressing room and two linen cupboards. Five further bedrooms were on the second floor. The valuer judged the building a ‘good first class farmhouse’. A plan and dimensions are given showing the site much as it remains today, although some glasshouses and a conservatory appear to have been lost. A badminton hall is one of the outbuildings shown.

William Forster Uprichard died in 1949 leaving Elmfield to his son Richard Rutledge Kane Uprichard, known as ‘Rut’. Unfortunately Rutledge died not long afterwards in 1952 and the castle passed to Samuel Calvert in 1954. Calvert did not occupy the house and was unable to let it, contemporary valuation records judging it ‘much too large for present day requirements’. Many of the outbuildings were in ruins and of no value in 1956 and the valuation of house and outbuildings was reduced to £80 and £20 respectively, following complaints by Calvert and suggestions that he would have to demolish the building. The house was subsequently sold to the Shaw family who began a programme of restoration, and were resident when the house was listed in 1977. (Rankin; HB file) A single storey annexe to the western facade of the main house had been demolished behind its front elevation and this was rebuilt as a sun-room in the early 1990s to designs by Brian Emerson Associates of Hillsborough. (HB file)

In the late1860s, when Elmfield was first built, the gardens had been planted with rhododendrons, azaleas and specimen trees with rose gardens around the house together with a walled, kitchen garden. When the Shaw family bought the house in 1958 they began to restore the gardens. In 1989 a Belgian landscape designer Francois Goffinet was commissioned to develop an overall plan. (Rankin) The course of the entrance driveway has been altered as part of these renovations.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/26/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/26/2 Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/26/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/26/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/350 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/48A Griffiths Valuation (1861)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/25A-G Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/12/C/3 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
9. PRONI Will of Henry Albert Uprichard died 11th November 1901
10. Belfast Newsletter 20th January 1851
11. Belfast Newsletter 24th August 1867
12. 1901 census online
13. 1911 census online
14. NIEA HB file

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2. Rankin, K “The Linen Houses of the Bann Valley, The story of their families” Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2007

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Elmfield, formerly known as Elmfield Castle, is a two-storey-with-attic three-bay country house in Scots-Baronial style, built c.1870 to designs by William Spence, who also designed Gilford Castle, incorporating an earlier Georgian country house, located on an extensive site. The building has been restored by the present owners and although the historic interior has been compromised, some fabric remains and external architectural detailing is largely intact with its Victorian proportions. Some modern additions to rear do not compromise the overall design. A good example of the work of a prominent architect with important connections to the linen industry of the area, the house is of special architectural and historic significance, including the survival of a largely intact Georgian coach yard and a good setting. The gate lodge to northwest entrance (HB17/01/034B) adds to the group.

General comments

Please note this record has been renumbered is was previously recorded as HB17/01/034