Island House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey three-bay farmhouse built pre 1834; rectangular plan form with two-storey return, twentieth century porch and outbuildings of various dates. Located on the west side of Tullymore Road, approximately 7 miles south of Banbridge.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and replacement uPVC rainwater goods; ruled-and-lined rendered chimneystacks with corbelled upper courses and plain clay pots. Roughcast rendered walling with projected long-and-short quoins and smooth rendered projecting plinth. 1/1 double-glazed sliding sash windows with moulded horns (unless otherwise stated) with smooth rendered slightly projecting reveals and masonry cills. The front entrance comprises a twentieth century gabled porch (hipped back to main building) with artificial slate roofing and scalloped timber bargeboards with exposed timber rafter tails. Smooth rendered walling with projected plinth and round-arched 1/1 sliding sash window to either cheek. Bolection moulded raised-and-chamfered four-panelled timber door with muntin bead and brass ironmongery. Set into elliptical-arched opening with decorative leaded over-light and side-lights with apron panels; door-case set in to square-headed recess; replacement step.

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged. Centrally positioned entrance porch flanked by single windows with three first floor windows directly over ground floor openings.

The left (south) gable is symmetrically arranged with two ground floor windows and an apex chimney.

The rear (west) elevation is asymmetrically arranged, comprising a two-storey return right of centre with a further abutment. Single first floor window to right of return; single ground and first floor window to left of return.

Subservient gabled return with lower eaves and ridge level; red brick chimneystack with moulded cornice and replacement uPVC windows throughout. Return comprises blank gable with apex chimney; right cheek has two equally spaced windows to ground floor with two windows directly over at first floor; left cheek has a central window to first floor with a bipartite window to ground floor right and a single-storey twentieth century gabled rear porch with natural slate roofing abutted to left comprising a modern half glazed timber door with sidelight to gable at left; right cheek has a metal window; left cheek abuts main block.

The right (north) gable is asymmetrically arranged with a single first floor window to right and an apex chimney.

Setting

Rural
setting adjacent to main road. Small garden addressing the front of the farmhouse, bounded by a wrought-iron railing with castings and matching pedestrian gate. Variety of historic lime render over rubble masonry outbuildings to the rear. Two earlier nineteenth century gable-ended outbuildings running parallel north of the house; the left outbuilding is extended to the west with a single-storey lean-to abutment; natural slate roofing and timber sheeted doors with timber sash and metal windows. The right outbuilding has replacement artificial slate roofing, timber sheeted doors and sliding sash windows; abutted at the west gable by late nineteenth century barrel roofed outbuilding with corrugated iron roof over timber boards on lattice trusses with parallel latticework bracing; steel framed and timber-louvered openings. On adjacent outbuilding the barrel roof has been replaced with a pitched roof. Immediately to the rear of the house is a pair of lean-to structures abutting either side of a rubble masonry wall; part exposed walling, part roughcast cement rendered. Beyond the complex are slender rubble masonry piers with concrete caps, supporting wrought-iron field gates.

Roofing: Natural slate / Artificial slate
Walling: Roughcast render
Windows: Timber / uPVC
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

Buildings are shown on the site on the first edition map of 1834 which appear to roughly correspond to the dwelling house and two of the outbuildings present on the site today. By the second edition of 1860, the farmhouse has assumed its present plan form and a small structure is shown to the rear which later valuation notes record as a piggery. The third edition of 1903 shows the addition of a byre (with curved lattice truss roof) and Dutch barn to the farmyard and the house is now captioned ‘Island House’. Owner information suggests that the house was named after nearby ‘Island Cottage’ which is situated on high ground surrounded by bog. The form of the present house and farmyard have remained largely unchanged since the early 1900s.

The farm is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40 as a house and offices valued at £7.3s and occupied by Robert Gibson. Dimensions are given for a two storey slated house, 45 feet long and 21 feet 6 inches wide, with a single-storey return and two single-storey outbuildings, one thatched. Griffith’s Valuation lists the tenant as Margaret Gibson who lease the 23 acre farm from the Earl of Clanwilliam at a rent of £27.7s.4d per year. Buildings are valued at £6.10s and the offices are noted to be ‘slated’.

The farm was taken over by Archibald Marshall in 1870 and Samuel James Marshall in 1874. Falkiner B Small became the tenant in 1888 and the present owner of the farm suggests that Small rebuilt or remodelled the farmhouse c.1895, although the plan form of the building remained unchanged and there was no increase in valuation at this time. (Owner information) Small may also be responsible for the addition of a byre with curved lattice truss roof shown on the 3rd edition OS map (1903). By the time of the 1901 census, Small was the head of a large household comprising his mother, wife, uncle (noted to be an ‘imbecile’), one-year-old son, a boarder William Henry Sloane who was a Presbyterian minister, two male farm servants and a female domestic. William Henry Sloane served as the minister for the nearby Fourtowns Secession congregation between 1899 and 1907 but no manse was purchased for the congregation until March 1901 and it appears that Rev Sloane had not yet moved into his new abode at the time of the census. Rev Sloane moved to Harryville, Ballymena in 1907 and served as minister there for the next 25 years, Sloane Memorial Hall was opened in his memory in 1939. (History of Congregations).

In 1910 the valuation increased to £8.10s and then £9.10s in 1912 due to the addition of further outbuildings to the site. Accompanying valuation records show the position and dimensions of the new outbuildings, a single-storey shed to one side of the entrance gateway, a further single-storey cattle shed to the west of the plot and a corrugated iron Dutch barn, which are all still present on the site. By the 1911 census Small’s family had expanded to four sons and two daughters and Small was working as an auctioneer in addition to running the farm.

The farm passed to Robert L Wilson in 1920 and Geo McClements in 1921 and by the 1930s was in the ownership of the Copeland family, first Robert, then John (1946) and James (1955). The accommodation comprised, on the ground floor a kitchen, scullery, pantry and two rooms and five bedrooms on the first floor. An associated plan shows the house with porch, return and projecting scullery, piggery to the rear, stable and cattle shed with attached piggery to the immediate north and stores, byre and barn beyond.

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/355 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/58B Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/A/3/78 Valuer’s notes 1910
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/9A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/29 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/15/K/1 First General Revaluation 1933-57
11. 1901 census online
12. 1911 census online

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. Owner information

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical roadside two-storey three-bay farmhouse built c.1860 with earlier outbuildings. The main house was built to replace an earlier dwelling associated with nearby landscape features. The house itself is a good example of a late nineteenth century dwelling having retained much of its original character throughout including former maid’s accommodation. Minor modern replacements do not detract from its authenticity. Also of note is the surviving latticework Belfast Truss in one of the outbuildings. The traditionally constructed outbuildings and setting features add to the historic value of the site. Overall it is a good example of the type of small Victorian farmstead that is becoming increasingly rare in an unaltered state.