Gate screen

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical gate screen, built c.1835, located at the northern entrance to Scarvagh House, south of Scarva. It comprises a pair of tall ornate cast- and wrought-iron gates supported on gate piers of finely dressed V-jointed granite blocks, with slightly tapered cap supporting a pedestal carved with Greek key pattern, formerly surmounted by urns, now gone. The piers are flanked by screen walls of random rubble stone, having a sweeping profile and each inset with a square-headed pedestrian opening with dressed granite surround and matching iron gates. The screen is abutted to either side by the rubble stone estate wall, which curves from the entrance along the Old Mill Road.

Setting:

The gate screen occupies a rural
setting, sheltered by mature trees; it leads to a lime avenue, which gives access through the wooded part of the demesne to Scarvagh House at south.

Walling: Rubble stone
Piers: Dressed granite
Gates: Composite iron

Historical information

The gatescreen was installed at the head of a newly-laid out driveway to Scarvagh House c.1835 and is first shown on the second edition OS map of 1860.

‘Scarva House’ is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834, captioned, and occupying much the same plan form as today. An orchard and formal garden are shown to the rear of the property and the ‘Dane’s Cast’ ancient earthwork is also captioned. The entrance gates and gate lodge at the Scarva end of the property were added between 1834 and the second edition in 1860, together with a long entrance driveway leading to the house.

The house is thought to have been built c.1717 by Myles Reilly (Bence-Jones;(Camblin suggests c.1740 by Myles’ son John Reilly). Local tradition has it that, in recognition of his services to the Williamite army in the 1690s, Reilly was given as much land as he could walk and plant with acorns in a day. (Young and Quail) The Reillys are a branch of the ancient House of O’Reilly, Prince of Breffni, but had dropped the prefix O by the mid-eighteenth century. (Knox)

John Reilly’s son, also John Reilly (1745-1804) became Chief Commissioner of Public Accounts, MP for Blessington, High Sherriff of County Down in 1776 and High Sherriff of County Armagh in 1783. (O’Hart; Duffy’s Hibernia Magazine). He married a Miss Lushington in 1773 and Scarva was eventually taken over by his son John Lushington Reilly. Lushington Reilly (d.1842) became High Sherriff of County Down in 1810, having married Louisa Temple in 1807. It is thought to be John Lushington Reilly who is responsible for much of the present day appearance of Scarva House and that his improvements also included the addition of the gatescreen. The Archaeological Survey of County Down, which carries a plan of additions and alterations to Scarva House, suggests that Lushington Reilly built two double-height wings onto the original main block in the early nineteenth century forming a forecourt to the original house. Interior alterations in a gothic revival style were carried out within the main block and an extension was added to the north west. Between 1834 and 1860 the south facade of the main block was remodelled in a Jacobean style and internal decoration in contemporary style took place. (Archaeological Survey of County Down)

The Townland Valuation of 1828-40 lists the house as the residence of John Lushington Reilly Esq, a house and offices valued at £28.11s for which dimensions are given. Two gate houses are noted, suggesting that the gatescreen was added shortly after the drawing up of the 1834 ordnance survey. Lushington Reilly’s heir was John Temple Reilly and Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists Scarva House as the home of John T Reilly in fee. It is a house, offices, gate lodges and land valued at £30 and later raised to £48 indicating that some improvements were made at about this time. Dimensions are given for the house, including the new porch, four 2-storey outbuildings, one single-storey outbuilding and gate houses.

The 1901 census lists the occupant as John Temple Reilly DL, JP who lives with his Galway wife, his daughter, sister, niece and three servants, a cook, a housemaid and a kitchen maid. The house has sixteen rooms, twenty outbuildings and is of the first class. Subsequent occupiers were Sir John Tuthing (spelling unclear) (1905) and Henry Thomson (1906) of Henry Thomson & Co wholesale wine and spirit merchants, MP for Newry from 1880 to 1885 (Young and Quail). In 1907 the valuation was raised to £60, indicating improvements/additions at this time and in 1910 a new drainage system was installed to designs by architect and engineer William Samuel Barber (www.dia.ie).

At the time of the 1911 census Henry Thomson, JP DL, retired merchant, was living at the house with his wife, a nurse and three servants. Henry Thomson died on 30th December 1916 while still resident at Scarvagh House (Will of Henry Thomson) and the house was taken over by a relative, possibly a son, Henry B Thomson in 1926. Scarva House passed into the hands of Alfred Buller before the Second World War, and Buller was happy to continue opening the grounds each year for the Scarva ‘sham fight’. (Belfast Newsletter)

The most recent historic map dating from 1960s/70s shows that numerous outbuildings have been added to the site in the vicinity of the main house. Other recent work has included the refurbishment of east and west wings for rental purposes.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/33/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/33/2 Second Edition OS map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/33/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/33/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/351 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/22A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI Will of Henry Thomson, died 30th December 1916
9. O’Hart, J “Irish Pedigrees: Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation” Dublin, 1892
10. Duffy’s Hibernia Magazine.
11. Belfast Newsletter 13th July 1976
12. Bassett’s Directory, 1886
13. Newry Telegraph 28th July 1825

Secondary Sources

1. “A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982” authorised by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982 (available at
www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com)
2. Bence-Jones, M “Burke’s guide to County Houses, Vol 1, Ireland” 1978
3. Camblin, G “The Town in Ulster” Belfast: William Mullan & Son, 1951
4. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Armagh” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1992.
5. Dean, J. A. K. “The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer.” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
6. Harris, W. and Smith, C. “The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down” Dublin: A. Reilly, 1744 (Reprinted
Ballynahinch: Davidson, 1977)
7. Knox, Alexander, M.D. “A History of the County of Down” Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Co, 1875
8. Ministry of Finance, Government of Northern Ireland “An Archaeological Survey of County Down” Belfast: Her Majesty’s
Stationery Office, 1966
9. Paterson, T G F “Harvest Home” Armagh County Museum, 1975
10. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Gilford, Scarva, Loughbrickland and Lawrencetown” Stenlake Publishing, 2002
11. www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A fine early-nineteenth century gate screen located at the main northern entrance to Scarvagh House (HB17/03/039A). Set at the head of a lime avenue, the gate screen is of importance within the landscape setting as the principal indicator from a public place of the significance and quality of the demesne beyond. All original fabric survives with the exception of the ball finials and the rubble stone is offset by finely dressed granite piers enlivened by an elegant Greek key design popular in the early nineteenth-century. The gate screen, while stylistically distinct from the house, is of importance within the group and setting.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of the Scarva House group. It was formerly HB17/03/038.