50 Drumlee Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay farm house built c.1870. Rectangular plan form with two-storey rear return. Located off the Drumlee Road to the north, approximately 2 miles east of Castlewellan.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; masonry skews; cast-iron rainwater goods; ruled-and-lined rendered chimneys with corbelled upper course and clay pots. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling. 8/8 timber sliding sash windows with horns; masonry cills and plain reveals; first floor windows slightly diminished-in-height. Replacement four-panelled timber door with bolection mouldings and modern brass ironmongery; multi-paned side lights with blank aprons; spoked fan-light with hub set into elliptical-arched opening.

The principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged. Centrally positioned front door with ground floor window to either side; three first floor windows directly over.

The left gable has a single ground and first floor window to the left.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged; painted lime render walling. Diminutive 6/3 sliding sash window to the first floor right. The left is abutted by a two-storey return pre-dating 1830; pitched roof block with clipped verges and replacement chimney; the north elevation comprises two ground floor 6/6 timber sliding sash and two first floor 6/3 sliding sash windows; all with horns; exposed sash boxes; shallow reveals; painted masonry cills. The right gable comprises a timber sheeted door to the right with a single window left; diminutive 6/3 sliding sash window to the first floor left. The left gable is blank.

The right gable has a single replacement ground floor casement window to the right; single first floor window directly over.

Setting

The house is located on a elevated site on the side of a hill, accessed from a long lane lined with hedgerows with fields either side. Views to the house a screened by vegetation directly in front of the principal elevation. The lane terminates at the yard at the rear of the house, accessed by rubble masonry piers at the entrance; no gates, although some wrought-iron gates survive. A narrow garden addresses the principal elevation; raised concrete platform with dwarf wall addressing the front entrance. The garden is bounded to the east by a rendered wall with masonry coping; pedestrian wrought-iron gate with looped terminus. Simple wrought-iron gate accessing a small enclosure from yard. The yard is bounded by a variety of two and single storey outbuildings of traditional construction; various phases. All have pitched natural slate roofs and timber sheeted openings. To east is a two-storey roughcast rendered block with loft accessed by a set of external masonry steps; it is abutted by a lower shed, which is further abutted by a low two-storey rubble stone block with perpendicular ridge; the later has a large round-headed voussoired opening facing the yard. To north is a two-storey rubble stone outbuilding with snecking and rough-dressed quoins, with stone slab external steps to gable. It is abutted by a modern concrete block range, of no interest.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The two-storey farmhouse in the townland of Drumlee was constructed in the mid to late-19th century, first appearing on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1901-02; however the current building replaced a previous dwelling that had stood on the site from at least 1833; this may be incorporated as the return to the present house. In that year the first edition of the maps depicted a number of buildings situated to the east of an ancient Rath and arranged around the courtyard area to the rear of the current dwelling; none of these as depicted on the 1833 map have survived. The Townland Valuations (c. 1830) record that the earlier farmstead was occupied by a Mr. Hugh Magill; the entire site was valued at £5 5s. And included a house individually valued at £2 10s. 11d. (prior to reductions) and a large number of out offices.

By 1859 there had been little alteration to the site on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps; however two small outbuildings, located on the site of the current northernmost outbuilding, had been constructed in the intervening years (the north-eastern building survives, however the north-western office was taken down after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1976).

Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1862) records that Hugh Magill continued to reside at Drumlee, which he leased from the Marquis of Downshire; the value of the farm was only slightly increased to £8 by c. 1862. Magill was recorded as occupant of the site until his death in 1866 at which time the farms lease was purchased by a Mr. Robert Bingham.

The Bingham's occupied the farm until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929 and constructed the current two-storey farmhouse. Bingham’s new dwelling was likely constructed by 1870 when the value of the farm was greatly increased to £18; the farmhouse first appears on the 1901-02 Ordnance Survey map possessing its current L-shaped layout including the north-facing rear return.

The two-storey outbuilding to the north-east side of the dwelling may also have been constructed by this time; earlier maps depicted a number of smaller individual out offices on the site of the current two-storey barn, however the third edition Ordnance Survey map depicts the single outbuilding on the present location. The south-eastern outbuilding, which possesses a chimney and abuts the two-storey barn, is possibly a survivor of the many smaller outbuildings depicted on the earlier maps. Bingham appealed against the high value of his property and as a result the value of the farm was reduced to £9 5s. In 1901.

The 1901 Census records that Bingham (87, Presbyterian) was a widowed farmer who lived at Drumlee with his son James (29) who worked the farm; the census building return described the farmhouse as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of four rooms and possessed farm buildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, fowl house, boiling house and a barn. Robert Bingham died in 1910 leaving possession of his farm to his son James. James Bingham continued to reside at the farm in Drumlee until at least the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929, and in 1922 purchased the farm outright from the Marquis of Downshire’s estate.

An early-19th century outbuilding which was located to the west side of the dwelling, and was depicted on the earliest maps, was taken down in the late-20th century sometime after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1976.

The First Survey of the site noted that the farm lay vacant in 1969 but was undergoing a project of renovation. Listed in 1977.

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/2/B/3/51/B – Griffith’s Valuation c. 1862
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/15A – Annual Revisions 1864-1879
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/15B – Annual Revisions 1880-1894
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/15C – Annual Revisions 1895-1908
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/15D – Annual Revisions 1909-1929
10. PRONI Wills Catalogue (5 Sept 1910)
11. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
12. First Survey Record – HB17/10/014 (1969)
13. Ordnance Survey map – 239-15 (1976)

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 two-storey three-bay farmhouse built c.1870 located east of Castlewellan, incorporating an earlier dwelling to rear. The character and appearance of the modest exterior have survived with a clear distinction between the two parts, illustrating the historical development of the smallholding. Much historic fabric and the layout survive intact from the nineteenth century renovations. The outbuildings, gates and piers to the rear vary in interest, but contribute to the overall setting and continuity of the house. It is good example of a type that is becoming increasingly rare.