Outbuildings at Ballyward Lodge and Estate

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A group of early-nineteenth-century outbuildings located to the rear of Ballyward Lodge (HB17/10/007A), at Ballyward Townland west of Castlewellan. The main courtyard is located directly to the south-west of the main house and is enclosed to west side by a two-storey three-bay out office (OB1) abutted to left by a single-storey-link block (partially demolished) linking to a two-storey south range (OB2). The remainder of the buildings are arranged in linear fashion dividing the main farm lane which extends to south from the gardens of the main house. They comprise a two storey block (OB3) which abuts OB2 to rear, with parallel ridge line; a single storey store (OB4), and a further small store to south end (OB5). OB3, 4 and 5 are linked at east side by a brick wall (crude Flemish bond), fronted between OB3 and 4 by a modern stable range (of no interest).

All have pitched slate roofs; chimneystack with moulded cap to OB3 only; cast iron rainwater goods over projected eaves band or projected brick eaves. Walling is generally roughcast; painted with contrasting plinth to more formal courtyard and garden elevations; remainder unpainted roughcast. Windows are detailed within each block as described below.

OB1 is two-storey three-bay; asymmetrical courtyard elevation (E facing) having wider left bay; timber sheeted entrance door with multi-pane overlight to right of centre; 6/6 sash windows to either side; granite cills; first floor openings directly over. Gables are blank. Rear elevation has 1/1 diminished windows to ground floor, 6/6 to first floor left; window removed to first floor right. Abutted to left by a link block, partially demolished to rear, having three segmental-headed openings with brick-heads and timber sheeted double doors.

OB2 has a 6/6 exposed box sash to left end (N elevation facing courtyard); two timber sheeted doors either side of a large sliding vehicular door; spoked roundels to loft and to angled E gable (overlooking the garden). Rear elevation blank and abutted to left side by OB3.

OB3 is two-storey and two-windows wide to first floor S elevation; exposed box 12 pane windows over ground floor abutments comprising crude lean-to and modern stable block. Garden-facing gabled is painted and blank. W gable topped by a bellcote and having timber sheeted loft door accessed by external concrete steps; gable extended by W elevation of OB2, which is lit to ground floor by an inward opening casement and a fixed pane loft window.

OB4 is plainly detailed with timber sheeted door to W having datestone (1811) over; metal framed casement loft window over. Brick garden-facing (E) gable built up in snecked rubble stone over brick garden wall with masonry plinth having infilled segmental-headed openings. Other elevations blank, enclosed to south by tall cement rendered enclosure.

OB5 is a simple single-storey stable with timber stable door to W.

Gardener’s House

A one-and-a-half storey house, extended and raised, rectangular on plan. Pitched natural slate roof with painted rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods on brick eaves. Walling is rendered to gables and rear, principal elevation is exposed rubble stone with fieldstone quoins; some openings are brick dressed. Three 2/2 exposed box sashes with granite cills; to ground floor left, a modern glazed door insertion flanked by small fixed pointed-arched timber lattice windows. Lean-to return to rear. Interior retains simple original layout, having central simple timber staircase, four-panelled doors and architraves, and a small cast-iron fireplace to attic room. Adjacent to cottage is a modern vehicular access gate set into rubble wall leading to the lower enclosure, piers having five upright triangular capping stones.

Setting

Agricultural
setting in Ballyward demesne, with mature plantation to north, gardens to east, and modern farm structures to south. Agricultural land to west. Courtyard accessed via the main entrance avenue to east, with farm lane branching off to right prior to entry. Secondary farm access from Ballyward Road at north. Tall roughcast wall separates garden from yard, with access between the two via a square-headed opening formed in dressed stone with wrought-iron gate. Water pump to yard.

Roofs: Slate
Walling: Roughcast
Windows: Various
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

Ballyward Lodge (HB17/10/007A), a two-storey Georgian Gentleman’s Mansion in the townland of Ballyward, was originally constructed in the early-19th century. The property was first depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1833 which records that the house (which was captioned ‘Ballyward Lodge’) occupied the current layout, however it did not possess the two-storey north return at that time. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1836) described Ballyward Lodge as the only Gentleman’s Seat in the parish of Drumgooland and that the dwelling was constructed in 1811 by a Mr. William Beers. The current owner claims that the site possesses a history stretching back to the mid-18th century; despite the Ordnance Survey Memoirs stating that the current house dates from 1811. A plaque located on one of Ballyward’s outbuildings (OB4) is inscribed with the date 1811 and although not a strong indicator of the date of the house, does suggest that some alteration to the site occurred in the early 19th-century.

The majority of Ballyward Lodge’s outbuildings predate the 1833 Ordnance Survey map. OB1, a two-storey three-bay out office to the west of the house; OB2, a two-storey range to the southwest; OB3, a two-storey block with bell cote; and OB4, a single-storey store, had been constructed in the early-19th century. The single-storied OB4 possesses the datestone inscribed with 1811 making it the earliest datable outbuilding on site. It is not clear whether OB5, the small southernmost single-storey outbuilding, had been constructed at this time.

By the 1830s Ballyward Lodge had passed into the possession of Charles Beers Esq., the son of William and a local magistrate (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 22). The estate, including Ballyward Lodge, its outbuildings and Gate Lodge (HB17/10/007C) were jointly valued at £31 3s. in the Townland Valuations.

There was no discernible change to Ballyward’s outbuildings by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1859. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1862) noted that the estate had passed to a Mr. Francis C. Leslie who let the site, which had increased in total value to £45, from a Mr. John. S. Crawford (a landowner based in Crawfordsburn who owned 5,748 acres in the area). Francis Leslie resided at Ballyward Lodge until 1869 when he purchased Ballyward Lodge outright and leased the site out to a Mr. Frederick George Patterson who briefly resided at the site until 1884 when the Leslie family reoccupied the property.

There was little change to the site over the next three decades, however between 1891 and 1896 the value of the estate was reduced to £42 15s., although it is not known why this valuation decrease occurred as the valuer did not make a note concerning the reduction.

John Leslie was not at Ballyward Lodge on the night of the 1901 Census, however the census building return described his dwelling as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a large number of out offices. By the 1911 Census it appears that Leslie had, once more, let Ballyward Lodge out to other tenants as a Dr. Charles R. M. Pattison (30, Church of Ireland) and his wife Ethel (28) were residing at the site in that year. In 1911 the census building return noted that Ballyward Lodge’s outbuildings houses included three stables, four cow houses, two piggeries, a boiling house and a barn amongst many other smaller out offices.

By 1916 a Ms. Harriet Jane Barclay came into possession of Ballyward Lodge; in that year the value of the estate was split when the gate lodge and a stewards house were given individual valuations, reducing the value of the house and its other outbuildings to £34 15s. The stewards house (most likely OB1) was valued at £6 in the Annual Revisions. In 1927 the total value of the site (excluding the steward’s house and gate lodge) was further reduced to £30 when a Dr. John H. [McBurney] took possession of the site, remaining in possession by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929.

By 1969 the Leslie family had relinquished ownership of the site as a Mr. J. Higginson was recorded as owner; the First Survey Record records that by that year Higginson had demolished Ballyward’s stable block which had formerly connected the southern elevation of Ballyward House to OB2 and can be seen on the historical editions of the Ordnance Survey maps, but not on the current edition which depicted the site in 1976. The ornamental garden to the south of the site includes numerous monuments and sculptures which were added by Higginson in the late-20th century (Parks and Gardens UK).

In the mid-19th century there was a summer house in the parkland on a prominent rath, which is planted with beech. There is a cultivated walled garden to the south of the house. This has been converted from a traditional productive garden to an ornamental site, with a formal lay-out and many interesting plants. It was established from the 1950s. The outer walled garden, formally an orchard, is in grass. A pond, with an island on the north side of the road was possibly formally a Decoy. It was cleared out in the 1970s.

Ballyward House and out buildings were listed in 1977 and continue to be occupied; the outbuildings have been maintained.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/42/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/42/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/42/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901-1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/42/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/359 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/51/C – Griffith’s Valuation c. 1862
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5A – Annual Revisions 1864-1875
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5B – Annual Revisions 1876-1889
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5C – Annual Revisions 1888-1898
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5D – Annual Revisions 1899-1908
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5E – Annual Revisions 1909-1920
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/5F – Annual Revisions 1921-1929
13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down I Vol. 3 (1836)
14. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
15. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
16. First Survey Record – HB17/10/007 (1969)
17. Ordnance Survey map – 239-10 (1976)
18. REGISTER OF PARKS, GARDENS AND DEMESNES OF SPECIAL HISTORIC INTEREST, NORTHERN IRELAND

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Online Resources

1. Parks and Gardens UK:
http://www.parksandgardens.ac.uk/component/option,com_parksandgardens/task,site/id,262/tab,history/Itemid,292/

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 group of early-nineteenth-century outbuildings located to the rear of Ballyward Lodge(HB17/10/007A). The outbuildings vary in style and scale, with more formal elevations overlooking the courtyard directly south-west of the main house, and the gardens to east. Although primarily functional rather than aesthetic, the outbuildings add to the integrity of the group setting along with the house and gate lodge and entrance gates (HB17/10/007C). There are good examples of the type in largely original condition, despite the loss of some structures.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of a group. It was formerly recorded under HB17/10/007.