Magherally Rectory

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay Georgian rectory built c.1780; L-shaped plan form with rear and side extensions. Located to the north of Kilmacrew Road, west of the junction with The Cut; adjacent to the St John’s church (HB17/12/009A).

Hipped natural slate roof with clay hip and ridge tiles; ruled-and-lined rendered chimney with corbelled upper course; tall decorative octagonal clay pots; cast-iron rainwater goods. Ruled-and-lined cement render; corbelled eaves. 1/1 timber sliding sash windows; no horns; plain reveals; granite cills. The first floor windows are diminished-in-height. Timber sheeted front door with round-headed fanlight over with radial glazing bars; plain moulded stone surrounds with plinth blocks and granite threshold; granite steps.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is symmetrically arranged. Centrally positioned front door with two windows either side. The first floor comprises a central round-headed timber sliding-sash with radial glazing bars; with gablet over. Two windows to either side.

The northwest elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Three 3/6 sliding sash first floor windows to the left. Single ground floor window. Ground floor left is abutted by a modern flat-roofed link block adjoining a small hipped roof block with chimney; slated roof; ruled-and-lined rendered walling with 1/1 sliding sash windows to the south east elevation; large double glazed door to the rear.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Round-headed sliding sash landing window left of centre. Replacement casement picture window to the ground floor right. The centre is abutted by a single storey hipped ancillary accommodation; casement windows and door to the left cheek. Two-storey lean-to mid nineteenth century portion located at the re-entrant of the L-plan; two ground and first floor diminished-in-height windows to the northeast face.

The southeast elevation comprises a single ground and first floor window to the right.

Setting

View of the house is partially screened by trees lining the ground to the roadside. The south is bounded by a rubble masonry wall and accessed via squared masonry piers with wrought-iron gates with castings. Short sweeping driveway approaches the front and right side of the house. Garage to the north-east; of no interest. St John’s church (HB17/12/009A) is located immediately west of the rectory and is accessed via short linking path. Beyond the grounds of the rectory is extensive rural landscape.

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

Historical information

The Rectory of Magherally Old Church (HB17/12/007A), which was located a quarter of a mile to the east of the church, was constructed prior to 1833. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1833 note that the Rectory, then a Glebe House, was originally an L-shaped building and was erected next to an ancient rath fort; the contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that it was occupied by the Rev. William Filgate and the Townland Valuations rated the property at £12 8s.

By 1860 the layout of the building had been altered; the smaller eastern addition was constructed by that time giving the main bloc of the dwelling its square-layout although a north-west facing return or outbuilding, also constructed between 1833 and 1860, gave the site a distinct L-shape (the rear return has since been replaced by a modern extension).

The Rev. Filgate continued to occupy the Glebe House by Griffith’s Valuation of the site in 1861 which recorded that the Church of Ireland owned the property outright as a freehold valued at £21. Filgate vacated the Glebe in 1867 when the Rev. George Reid took over clerical duties at Magherally Old Church and occupied the property; over the next 60 years the Glebe House continued to be occupied by the ministers of Magherally Old Church (HB17/12/009C) and, after its construction in 1885-57, St. John’s Church (HB 17/12/009A).

In 1871 the value of the Glebe was increased to £23, however the reason for this increase is not known. The third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1903-18) first depicted the ‘Rectory’ in its current layout as a square–shaped building with its north-west facing return or outbuilding. It is possibly that interior alterations to the site were carried out c. 1870 resulting in the increase its value in 1871, however this cannot be confirmed. In 1885 construction of the current parish church of Magherally was begun; this church was completed and dedicated in 1887. Named after St. John, the Celtic Revivalist church was built less than 300ft to the west of the Rectory and was connected to it by a path for the clergyman’s convenience.

The census notes that in 1901 the Rectory was occupied by the Rev. Robert Quirk. Quirk, (51) was born in Co. Wicklow and resided at the Rectory with his sister Jane (55); the census building return described the Rectory as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms. By the 1911 Census little had changed, the return noting that the property possessed a stable, a cow house, a dairy, a piggery and a barn amongst its out offices, most likely located in the north-west facing extension to the dwelling as the Rectory possessed no other outbuildings. Quirk continued to reside at the Rectory until 1916 when the Rev. Richard Crawford took possession of the site, residing there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929.

The Archaeological Survey of Co. Down states that Magherally Rectory was constructed in 1780 as a two-storey Glebe House with cellar and slated roof (Archaeological Survey, p. 370). Magherally Rectory was listed in 1977 and continues to be utilised as the residence for the clergymen of Magherally and also the Parish of Annaclone as both parishes were merged in 1977 (Rankin, p. 219-20). The return or outbuilding which formerly abutted the north-west side of the Rectory was taken down between 1918 and the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1974; since the 1970s a modern single-storey extension has been added to the north-west side of the dwelling.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918
4. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/27 – Townland Valuation map 1833
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/345 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/40 – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19A – Annual Revisions 1864-1875
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19B – Annual Revisions 1876-1889
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19C – Annual Revisions 1889-1901
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19D – Annual Revisions 1902-1911
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/19E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929
12. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down III Vol. 12 (1834)
13. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
14. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
15. Ordnance Survey map – 221-2 (1974)
16. First Survey Record – HB17/12/010 (1969)

Secondary Sources

1. ‘An archaeological survey of County Down’ Belfast: H. M. S. O., 1966.
2. Rankin, F., ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996.

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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay Georgian rectory built c.1780. Character and proportions survive, as well as the floor plan, although compromised by extensive renovations and the modern extension. The primary interest of the rectory is its early date and the historic association with the adjacent St John’s Church (HB17/12/009A) and the former church (HB17/12/009C) and their combined contribution to the local community and landscape.

General comments

This record was previously known as HB17/12/010