Outbuildings

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A group of traditionally constructed nineteenth-century stone farm buildings associated with Knock House (HB17/08/014A), located on the west side of Lisnacroppan Road. Outbuilding 1 is attached to the farmhouse, on axis, but with separate roof. The north range bounds the north side of the yard and is aligned E-W; the east rnage bounds the east side of the yard to the road, and is aligned N-S. All are rectangular on plan.

Outbuilding 1

Outbuilding 1 is two-storey, and attached to the farmhouse. It has a pitched natural slate roof, clipped verge and cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are generally exposed rubble stone built to rough courses with some snecking and roughly dressed quoins. Timber sheeted openings with segmental brick relieving arches over and brick jambs; projecting cills in brick and granite.

The south elevation is roughcast and blank, extending the principal elevation of the house. West gable has a window (infilled with metal) to ground floor and two windows to loft; there are ghost marks of a monopitched structure at low-level. North elevation has a pair of coach doors to left side, with brick tympanum. Two elliptical-headed openings to right. Loft has two small openings to left and a door accessed by a steel stair at right.

North range

The north range is two-storey. It has a pitched natural slate roof with tiled skews and ridge; no chimneystacks. Rainwater goods are cast-iron over projected brick eaves. Walling is granite and sandstone rubble laid to rough courses in places, with some snecking in granite and a small number of slate slips inserted near ground level; large roughly dressed granite fieldstone quoins. Openings are timber sheeted throughout, with brick dressings; granite plinth blocks and thresholds to doors.

The south (yard-facing) elevation has several openings, asymmetrically arranged. From left: a door opening to left side; a 1/1 sash window offset to left of centre; offset to right of centre, a stable door with sheeted loft opening over and a timber framed window opening to right; grouped at right, a segmental-headed double-door with fixed sheeted tympanum, and a square-headed pair of cart-doors.

Gables are blank.

The north elevation has a large pair of corrugated tin sliding-doors to right side. Ranging from centre to left are a series of four small square openings (some timber -framed, some infilled with painted corrugated tin) terminated by a 1/1 sash to left. Single loading door to upper level, to left of centre. Monolithic roughly dressed stone gate pier at left side.

East range

The east range is single-storey and has a monpitched roof, projecting to right yard-facing side. The yard-facing (west) elevation is cement rendered with two timber sheeted doors; modern garage doors and window to projecting section. The ends are blank, that to north covered with scratch-coat cement render. The road facing elevation is blank rubble stone with fieldstone quoins, with vestiges of lime render to left side. It has been raised by two courses of cement block.

Setting

The farmyard forms the
setting of Knock House (HB17/08/014A), a substantial nineteenth century farmhouse, which bounds the yard to south. The farmyard is normally accessed by cast-iron gates, presently removed. There is a modern secondary farmyard to rear. The house was formerly accessed via a pair of cast-iron gates.

Roofs: Slate
Walling: Rubble stone
Openings: Timber sheeted
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

Knock House (HB17/08/014A), a two-storey Georgian farmhouse in the townland of Edenagarry, was constructed prior to 1833 as both the house, and the one-and-a-half-storey barn to its north side, appear on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in that year. Neither the eastern single-storey outbuilding nor the two-storey outbuilding that abuts the west gable of Knock House had been constructed at that time.

In 1862 Griffith’s Valuation noted that Robert McDowell, a local farmer, occupied the site; the Townland Valuation (c. 1830) did not record McDowell and at that time only four houses within the townland were valued at more than the minimum £3, however the corresponding townland valuation map was missing making it impossible to confirm whether Knock House was one of these four. McDowell let the property (which was not captioned as ‘Knock House’ until the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1903) from John S. Crawford, a landowner based in Crawfordsburn who owned 5,748 acres in the area; the house and its out offices were valued at £10 in 1862.

The second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps show that an additional outbuilding had been constructed to the north-west side of the house between 1833 and 1853; this outbuilding continued to be depicted on the fourth edition of the maps (completed in 1918), however it has since been replaced with a modern corrugated-iron farm building.

By 1864 Robert McDowell had either died or vacated the site, his relative Joseph McDowell (likely his son) became occupant of the farm by that year. In 1871 Joseph’s nephew Robert James McDowell was recorded as joint occupant and in 1873 the pair carried out a series of alterations to the site. During this period the McDowell’s added the current north-west outbuilding to the west gable of the house and also erected the eastern single-storey outbuilding that lies along the Lisnacroppan Road; these additions can first be seen on the 1903 Ordnance Survey map and resulted in an increase in the value of the farm to £14 (at which it remained by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929).

Joseph McDowell continued to live at the farm until his death in 1901 at which time sole occupation of Knock House passed to Robert James McDowell who the Ulster Town Directories note was a Justice of the Peace for the area as well as a farmer. The 1901 Census records that McDowell possessed an extensive farm that possessed two stables, two cow houses and three calf houses, two piggeries, a fowl house, and a barn, located in Knock House’s outbuildings. By 1918 an additional outbuilding situated to the north-west of the site had been constructed, however this outbuilding, along with the office constructed by 1862, has since been replaced with a modern corrugated-iron barn.

Robert McDowell continued to reside at Knock House until his own death in 1920 at which time the farm passed to Andrew Ray McDowell (an unknown relative) (PRONI Wills). Andrew McDowell briefly occupied Knock House but vacated the farm by 1927 when Joseph McRoberts, the last occupant recorded in the Annual Revisions, took over the site.

Knock House was listed in 1977 but its outbuildings were not individually listed until 1988; the one-and-a-half-storey barn to the north side of the site, as well as the one-storey outbuilding along the Lisnacroppan Road survive although the two outbuildings that were based to the north-west of the site were replaced by the current modern corrugated-iron barn in the late-20th century sometime after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1973.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/41/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/41/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1853
3. PRONI OS/6/3/41/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/41/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1903-1918
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/357 – Townland Valuations 1830s
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/59A – Griffith’s Valuation 1862
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4A – Annual Revisions 1864-1876
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4B – Annual Revisions 1877-1887
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4C – Annual Revisions 1887-1898
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4D – Annual Revisions 1898-1911
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/4E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929
12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (10 Jan 1901; 12 Aug 1920)
13. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1901)
15. Ordnance Survey Map – 238-11 (1973)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A well-preserved group of traditionally constructed farm buildings, forming the setting of Knock House(HB17/08/014A), a well-appointed farmhouse dating from c.1830. The outbuildings, particularly the north range, exhibit good quality rubble masonry work in a variety of stone types, with snecking in granite and slate slips. The group is largely intact with the exception of some work to the east range, and is a representative example of a nineteenth century farm of medium size.