Tanvalley House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey with attic, three-bay farmhouse built c.1850; rectangular plan form with rear returns. Located on the Tanvally Road approximately 1 mile north east of Annaclone.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; uPVC replacement rainwater goods; dry dash chimneys with concrete capping and octagonal clay pots. Dry-dashed walling with smooth rendered quoins and plinth. 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with no horns; painted masonry cills. Replacement timber panelled door; Victorian stucco moulded entrance Italianate porch with quadripartite fenestrated round-headed arcade to the front; heavily moulded imposts and archivolt; long-and-short quoins and moulded cornice rising to cast-iron crested parapet; matching bipartite fenestration to the right cheek; door to the left cheek set into matching round-headed surround with fanlight over.

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged. The porch is centrally located with single ground floor windows to either side. Three first floor windows directly over.

The left gable is asymmetrically arranged. Two ground and first floor windows slightly offset left of centre with boarded up attic window centrally positioned in the gable head.

The rear elevation is abutted at the right by a full height gabled return comprising two-windows and a door to the right cheek and a single window on the left to the gable. The left cheek and remaining rear elevation is abutted by a wide two-storey gable-ended return with lower eaves and ridge levels to the main house. The left cheek comprises a bipartite ground and first floor window; the gable comprises a door and bipartite window to the ground floor with two first floor windows set into round-headed recesses; the left portion of the gable is abutted by a single storey outbuilding on an incline, the bay closest to the house converted into ancillary accommodation comprises various windows and doors.

The right gable is asymmetrically arranged. Single ground floor window left of centre; single first floor window to the right, centrally located fixed multi paned attic window to the gable head.

Setting

Rural
setting; located prominently at a bend on the road. Garden to the front and side enclosed by a dry-dashed wall with concrete coping; monolithic granite piers and wrought-iron gates with castings to the north. The main gates are replacements. Single-storey cement rendered linear outbuilding to the rear; slate roof; modern agricultural units beyond.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Dry-dash
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: uPVC replacements.

Historical information

Tanvally House, a two-storey farmhouse situated in the townland of Tullintanvalley, was constructed c. 1850 and first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1859. The farmhouse replaced a previous dwelling that had formerly stood near the current site that was depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1833; the map recorded one large building and four smaller buildings at the site at that time, however none of the early outbuildings have survived to the present. The townland Valuations note that the site was occupied by a Mr. John [Jury] in the 1830s and was valued at £4 4s.

The current dwelling was constructed between the first and second editions of the Ordnance Survey map. The 1859 map notes that ‘Tanvally House’ (as it was first captioned) and a number of additional outbuildings had been constructed, although the returns at the rear of the farmhouse had not been built at that time. Between 1833 and Griffith’s Valuation in 1862 occupation of the site had passed to a Mr. William Martin, a local farmer who let the property from the Marquis of Downshire; with the construction of the new dwelling and the alteration of the site’s outbuildings the value of Tanvally House was increased to £16.

William Martin resided at Tanvally House until 1869 when a Mr. Samuel Waddell came into possession. A draper by profession, Waddell operated his business out of premises on Bridge Street, Banbridge. Waddell resided at Tanvally House for two decades, however by 1889 the Annual Revisions note that the house lay vacant and was looked after by a caretaker; as a result the value of the site was lowered to £12 in the same year although it was restored to £16 in 1892.

Samuel Waddell continued to be recorded as occupant of Tanvally House until 1898 although it is not known whether he resided at the property or if it still lay vacant at that time. The third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps records that the two rear returns, the current elaborate entrance porch, and a number of additional outbuildings to the west side of the dwelling, had been added by 1902-03; again, it is unknown when these additions were made to the property as the valuer did not note any alteration work, however, they were likely erected between 1889 and 1892 when the value of the site fluctuated.

In 1898 the Hillis family first came into possession of Tanvally House when a Mr. Robert Hillis took possession of the farm. The 1901 Census notes that Hillis (40, Episcopalian) was a widowed farmer and resided at Tanvally House with his mother Jane (68), his sister Agnes (28) and a number of servants who worked the farm; the census building return shows that Hillis’ farm occupied an extensive farm that consisted of Tanvally House, a 1st class dwelling of 10 rooms, and a number of out offices that included a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, boiling house and a barn mostly located in the western outbuildings.

Robert Hillis purchased Tanvally House from the Marquis of Downshire in 1915 and continued to reside at the site until his death in 1941 (PRONI Wills). All of the original outbuildings depicted on the various editions of the Ordnance Survey maps (1833-1918) have been demolished and replaced with modern corrugated-iron farm buildings during the late-20th century (after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1975). The only other surviving fabric are the two returns which were added to the rear of the dwelling by 1902-03.

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/1/A/3/34 – Townland Valuation map 1830s
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/352 – Townland Valuations 1830s
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/56 – Griffith’s Valuation 1862
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1A – Annual Revisions 1864-1874
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1B – Annual Revisions 1875-1883
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1C – Annual Revisions 1883-1897
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1D – Annual Revisions 1898-1908
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/1E – Annual Revisions 1909-1929
13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (20 Aug 1941)
14. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
15. Ordnance Survey map – 221-15 (1975)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey with attic, three-bay farmhouse built c.1850. The building has retained its overall proportions and style although the character has been affected with the introduction of dry-dash render. The elaborate porch is a good example of Victorian alteration to an otherwise simple dwelling. The historic fabric is of good quality and detailing and the house, with its outbuildings a good example of the type of developed property surviving in original condition and setting.