Marybrook

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical one-and-a-half storey Victorian farmhouse built c.1859 to replace an earlier manse. Rectangular plan form with rear returns and abutments. Located north of Kinallen village.

Pitched natural slate roof with weather terracotta ridge tiles; timber moulded barge boards and plain fascia boards; smooth rendered chimneystacks with corbelled upper course; terracotta pots and tall octagonal moulded pots; cast-iron rainwater goods including moulded hopper heads. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling with projected long-and-short quoins; corbelled platband to central dormer at eaves level. 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with exposed boxes; with horns; painted masonry cills. The front door is four raised-and-pointed bolection moulded panelled; round-headed upper panels; brass ironmongery; panelled pilaster frame; round-headed single glazed side lights with apron panels; elliptical arched fanlight with radial glazing bars; plain granite steps.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. Front entrance centrally located with two ground floor windows to either side. Wall-head dormer over front entrance embracing a round-headed fixed light with radial glazing bars; terracotta finial to gable apex. Projecting wheel guard stone to the left.

The left gable is asymmetrically arranged. Single ground floor window to the left; two diminished-in-scale windows to the upper floor.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Roughcast walling with lugged window reveals. Modern double-leaf glazed doors to ground floor left. The centre is abutted by a two-storey return; lower ridge level; higher eaves level; the right cheek comprises a ground floor tripartite window and first floor window to the left; canopy over. The right is abutted by a modern lean-to extension comprising an enclosed porch with dormer window over, large casement window to the left. The gable comprises a single ground floor window, two first floor windows, the ground floor left is further abutted by a single-storey pitched roof ancillary block. The left cheek comprises a bipartite ground floor window and first floor window to the left; the right is abutted by a lean-to modern sunroom, fully glazed to each elevation.

The right gable is asymmetrically arranged; single ground floor window to the left; two diminished-in-scale upper floor windows.

Setting

The dwelling is partially screened by trees; access is via a long private lane lined by timber fences. The principal elevation is approached through roughly dressed part rubble masonry piers with pyramidal caps; wrought-iron gates with castings. The front of the house is addressed by a garden and gravel driveway enclosed to the north and south by a rubble wall; various wrought-iron gates and masonry piers throughout. Further garden to the south. Large concrete yard to the rear with a variety of early to mid 19th century rubble masonry outbuildings; pitched natural slate roofs; red-brick surrounds; elliptical-arched coach entrances; square headed window and door openings;exposed timber collar beam trusses with purlins and rafters. The east block has galletted masonry. The southern most early 20th century block has brick relieving arches over the opening. The west block is smooth rendered to the yard facing elevation; rubble masonry laid to courses to the rear elevation. The pig-pen located in the centre of the yard is a semi-circular rubble masonry structure comprising a mono-pitched slated roof with walled enclosure to the front with wrought-iron gates.

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

Historical information

Marybrook, a one-and-a-half-storey farmhouse in the townland of Kinallen is a mid-19th century dwelling, however a number of the surrounding outbuildings date from at least the early-19th century; Marybrook has been used as a manse, a farm and may also have been associated with Betsy Gray, a 'folk heroine' of the 1798 Rebellion.

The current dwelling does not appear on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1833; however the long single-storey outbuilding to the north, and the two-storey barns to the northeast, of the current house, had been constructed by that time. The map captioned the site as ‘Marybrook in 1833 and the contemporary Townland Valuation (1830s) records that there was a dwelling on the site, however it is not clear from the map where this was situated. At that time the dwelling and outbuildings were occupied by the Rev. William Craig and were valued at £9 7s. The Rev. Craig was minister of First Dromara Presbyterian Meeting House(HB17/11/010) in the nearby townland of Ardtanagh; the Ordnance Survey Memoirs noted that Marybrook was used as the church’s manse (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 67).

The Rev. Craig resided at Marybrook until 1858 when a new manse(HB17/14/005) was constructed in the townland of Tullinisky, first appearing on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1859. This map also notes that between 1833 and 1859 all of the surviving outbuildings at the site had been erected with the exception of the single-storey outbuilding to the south side of the site (currently connected to Marybrook house by a single-storey modern extension) which was constructed between 1859 and the third edition of the maps in 1903. However the most notable addition to the site since 1833 was the construction of the current dwelling which was depicted on the map possessing its current T-shaped layout.

When the Rev. Craig vacated the property Marybrook became a private dwelling; Griffith’s Valuation (1861) records that the Earl Clanwilliam leased the site, which had increased in value to £24, to a Mr. James B. Kennedy, a local farmer of presumably high standing as the 1861 Ulster Town Directory included him under a heading of Gentry and clergymen; however, Kennedy vacated Marybrook in the mid-1860s when a Mr. Robert Skelly, also a farmer, took possession. Skelly continued to reside at Marybrook until his death in 1899 (PRONI Wills).

The 1901 Census records that after Skelly’s death Marybrook was occupied by his widow Mary Ann Skelly (46, Presbyterian) who resided there with her three sons who assisted with the farm work. The census building return described Marybrook house as a 1st class dwelling which consisted of six rooms and possessed a number of farm offices, located in its outbuildings, which included two stables, two cow houses, a dairy, piggery, fowl house, boiling house and the two-storey barn. By 1911 the house appeared to have been extended as the census building return for that year recorded the house consisted of 15 rooms making it likely that the extension to the rear of the house had been constructed between 1901 and 1911. Mary Ann Skelly continued to reside at Marybrook until her own death in 1931; prior to her death the value of Marybrook was reduced to £18 in 1928, however the valuer did not note why this alteration took place.

McClelland states that prior to the construction of Kinallen Manse, the ministers of First Dromara Presbyterian resided at Marybrook farm in Kinallen townland. The farm was originally purchased by the congregation in 1795 for £300 by the Rev. James Jackson Birch; Birch’s grandson succeeded him after his death but was suspended from First Dromara because of drunkenness. In 1858 Kinallen manse was constructed, at a cost of £600, during the ministry of the Rev. William Craig who served at First Dromara between 1823 and 1871 and had previously resided at Marybrook (Kirkpatrick, P. 232; McClelland).

The current owner claims that in the late-18th century, prior to the sites purchase by the Rev. James Birch, Marybrook farm was possibly the dwelling of Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Gray a famous folk heroine who was involved in the 1798 Rebellion. Tradition states that Betsy Gray, a young Presbyterian girl, fought in the battle of Ballynahinch following her brother and her lover who supported the cause of the United Irishmen. After the defeat of the United Irishmen at Ballynahinch the trio were apprehended by a detachment of the Hillsborough Yeomanry Infantry who murdered all three, Gray had her hand cut off before being decapitated. Traditionally this incident occurred at the corner of what is known as ‘Horner’s Road’ in the townland of Ballycreen (Newmann, p. 92).

It is not known with certainty where Betsy Gray originated; in the late 19th century W. G. Lyttle compiled an article dealing with the many assertions and theories as to Gray’s birthplace. One tradition holds that Betsy Gray hailed from the townland of Tullinisky which neighbours Kinallen; Lyttle states that a Mr. John Gray resided in Tullinisky with his wife Rebecca in the late 18th century and that the two had a daughter named Elizabeth who was baptised at Garvaghy Parish Church in 1780. The Gray family resided quite close to Kinallen and Marybrook farm, as in a letter from Marybrook in 1818 the Rev. James Jackson Birch wrote his ‘uncle knew her well. He says she was a pretty lass with golden curls, a fair daughter of humble parents.’ Local tradition claims Gray was from the immediate area, however according to Newmann the folk heroine was, in fact, born near Bangor and Lyttle includes a number of other plausible claims in his article. Like most heroic folk tales, so much myth is interspun with fact concerning the entire tale that it would be difficult to confirm any case (Lyttle; Newmann).

Marybrook farm was listed in 1977 and since that time has continued to be occupied and used as a farm. The majority of the outbuildings have survived, however the outbuilding in the centre of the courtyard has fallen into a state of disrepair in recent years and lacks its original slate roof; the remaining outbuildings have been well maintained. The three large modern barns to the east and northeast of the original site were erected between 1920 and the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1975 where they are first depicted.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/28/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/28/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/28/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/28/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1920
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/28 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38B – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23A – Annual Revisions 1864-1875
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23B – Annual Revisions 1876-1885
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23C – Annual Revisions 1886-1898
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23D – Annual Revisions 1898-1911
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/23E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929
13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down III, Vol. 12 (1834; 1837)
14. Lyttle, W. G., ‘Betsy Gray or Hearts of Down’ Newcastle: Mourne Observer Ltd, 1896.
15. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
16. First Survey Record – HB17/11/016 (No date)
17. Ordnance Survey map – 203-10 (1975)

Secondary Sources

1. Kirkpatrick, L., ‘Presbyterians in Ireland: An illustrated history’ Booklink, 2006.
2. McClelland, A., ‘A short history of First Dromara Presbyterian Church: 1713-1963’ Belfast: Howard Publications, 1963.
3. Newmann, K., ‘Dictionary of Ulster Biography’ Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1993.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A one-and-a-half storey Victorian farmhouse built c 1859 to replace an earlier manse. Much historic character and appearance survive although the additions to the rear have altered the proportions of the rear return, detracting from the historic integrity of the dwelling. The interior has undergone major refurbishment following a period of dereliction and is now substantially of modern fabric. The outbuildings to the rear contribute to the overall setting of the dwelling and historic interest to the complex. Despite the alterations, this is a good example of a type of modest country house that is fast disappearing; the history of the site and its development, as evidenced by the present dwelling add to its interest.