25 Tower Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three bay farm house built c.1840; rectangular plan form with hipped single-storey rear extension. Located at the end off a private road of Tower road, approximately 2 miles south of Banbridge.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; uPVC replacement rainwater goods; smooth rendered gable chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Roughcast rendered walling. Replacement uPVC casement windows; granite cills. Replacement hardwood door, side and fanlight set into elliptical arched opening; accessed by four steps.

The principal elevation faces north east and is symmetrically arranged. Centrally positioned door with window to either side. Three first floor windows directly over.

The left gable is symmetrically arranged comprising two ground floor windows.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Full-width T-shaped hipped single-storey extension with further projection left of centre comprising various sized windows and doors. Three symmetrically arranged first floor windows over.

The right gable matches the left.

Setting

Secluded from public view, located at the crest of a hill accessed off the public road by a narrow winding private lane. On approach to the house the lane is lined with rendered walls with circular rubble stone piers with wrought-iron gates. Masonry stile built into the wall adjacent to rear yard entrance. The yard is enclosed with three blocks of single-storey rubble masonry white-washed outbuildings; pitched corrugated-iron and natural slate roofing; some replacement windows; painted timber sheeted doors. Narrow garden addressing the front elevation.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: roughcast
Windows: uPVC
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

No. 25 Tower Road, a Victorian two-Storey farmhouse in the townland of Ballynafoy, was constructed sometime after 1833 first appearing on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1859. The second edition of the maps depicted the farmhouse as a square-shaped building which possessed a small south-east facing return; the sites south-eastern outbuildings had also been erected by 1859. In the 1860s the farm was occupied by James Mulligan who let the property from John S. Crawford (a landowner based in Crawfordsburn who owned over 5,000 acres in the area). Griffith’s Valuation (1862) jointly valued the farm and it’s out offices at £6 10s.

James Mulligan was a local farmer and resided at the farmhouse in Ballynafoy until 1872 when his son John took possession of the site. John Mulligan was recorded as occupant of the site in the Annual Revisions until 1911; however, he was not included in the 1901 Census. The Annual Revisions note that in 1911 a Mr. John O’Hanlon came into possession of the site but it is possible that O’Hanlon resided at No. 25 Tower Road from as early as 1901 as he appears in the census of that year, residing in the same townland of Ballynafoy.

The 1901 Census notes that O’Hanlon (68, Roman Catholic) resided in Ballynafoy with his wife Isabella (71) and their son Matthew (31) who worked on their farm. The census building return described their property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms and possessed a stable, a cow house, a piggery and a barn amongst its out offices. In 1911 when O’Hanlon certainly resided at No. 25 Tower Road, it was described as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms and possessed a stable, a cow house, a piggery a fowl house and a barn.

It is not clear whether O’Hanlon resided at the site as early as 1901, however the absence of John Mulligan from the census, as well as the similarities between the properties in O’Hanlon’s possession in 1901 and 1911 make it a possible theory. John O’Hanlon continued to reside at No. 25 Tower Road until 1920 when his son Matthew O’Hanlon (53) came into possession residing there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929.

No. 25 Tower Road was listed in 1977 and continues to be occupied as a private dwelling; the majority of it associated outbuildings that are contemporary with the original construction of the house survive. A single-storey extension was added to the rear of the property prior to the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1975 which first depicts it.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/34/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/34/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/34/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1902-03
4. PRONI OS/6/3/34/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1903-1918
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/56 – Griffith’s Valuation 1862
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1A – Annual Revisions 1864-1874
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1B – Annual Revisions 1875-1883
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1C – Annual Revisions 1883-1897
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1D – Annual Revisions 1898-1908
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1E – Annual Revisions 1909-1929
11. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
12. First Survey Record – HB17/08/028 (1971)
13. Ordnance Survey Map – 238-1 (1975)

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three bay farm house built c.1840. Its proportions and character survive although a degree of modern repair and replacement has compromised the authenticity and integrity of the building. The outbuildings and walls/gates add to the historic setting and continuity of the house. It is a good example of a type that is becoming increasingly rare in the locale, surviving in it original setting.