Ballooly House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical single-storey three-bay Georgian house pre-dating 1780; T-shaped plan form largely altered and enlarged c.1850. Located off the Knockgorm Road, south of the junction with Gall Bog Road; approximately 2 miles east of Banbridge.

Hipped natural slate roof with over hanging eaves; clay ridge and hip tiles; cast-iron rainwater goods; yellow-brick chimneystack with dog tooth course and moulded cornice; tall octagonal clay pots. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling; projected plinth. Large 6/9 timber sliding sash windows; no horns; plain reveals; painted masonry cills at floor level. Six-panelled raised and fielded door with beaded muntin embraced by tripartite side lights with panelled aprons and large round-headed radial fan-light with margin panes, accessed by 6 stone steps.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. Central front door with two-windows to either side.

The left elevation has a single centrally positioned window.

The rear elevation is largely abutted by the L-shaped two-storey block; matching materials; gable ended; uPVC replacement windows throughout. Blank gables with a variety of replacement windows and doors to the yard facing elevations. Single-storey flat-roofed porch to the re-entrant of the rear return; rubble left cheek with built-in masonry steps. The south elevation rises to a gable to the left; variety of replacement windows and doors throughout; the east gable is abutted a single-storey pitched roof linear outbuilding; incorporating a timber framed lean-to conservatory to the south elevation.

The right elevation has a single centrally positioned window.

Setting

The house is largely screened from public view by trees. The site is accessed from the west via cast-iron gated piers with associated decorative railings(modern). The house is approached via a sweeping tree lined driveway, which terminates at the front of the house. The house sits on an elevated terrace overlooking the rural landscape. The front door is served by masonry steps. Large concrete yard to the rear accessed from a separate entrance. The yard is largely enclosed by single and two-storey outbuildings and stables; possibly pre-dating 1830 although largely modified; roughcast rendered, pitched natural slate roofing; timber sheeted doors. The two-storey outbuilding immediately adjacent the rear of the house has a small bell cote with bell. Beyond the historic outbuildings are various other mono-pitched stables and larger corrugated-iron agricultural units. Large commercial warehouse to the east. Various other historic gates and piers isolated throughout the site including a cast-iron water pump located in the middle of the yard.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Ballooly House, a single-storey Georgian house in the townland of the same name, was constructed prior to 1833 when it was first depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for the area. The map records that the cottage possessed a long rear return (or rear adjoining outbuilding); however the two-storey extension adjoining the rear of the current cottage had not been constructed by that time. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1834) record that Ballooley House was occupied by Roger Magennis, a Roman Catholic landlord who was recorded as the proprietor of the townland which he let at 42 shillings per acre (OSM, pp 80-81). The Townland Valuations (c. 1830) valued Magennis’ house at £16 10s.

By 1859 there had been a number of alterations made to Magennis’ farm on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map which shows that the current two-storey Victorian house, to the rear of the original single-storey cottage, had been constructed, whilst a number of additional outbuildings had been erected to the east side of the dwelling. The two-storey Victorian extension was constructed over, and contains a portion of, the original single-storey return or outbuilding from 1833. This portion constitutes part of the ground floor; however the upper floors are Victorian in style and design. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation notes that Magennis still occupied Ballooley House in 1861 and that the site consisted of the main house, valued at £15, and a caretaker’s house (location unknown) valued at £1 5s.

Roger Magennis continued to reside at Ballooley House until his death c. 1873 by which time his relative Anne Magennis had taken possession of the property. Anne Magennis lived at Ballooley until her own death in 1882 when the farm passed to the diocese and came into the possession of the Rev. William McCartan who was parish priest of St. Colman’s Roman Catholic Church in Dromore (HB17/15/004). Ballooley House appears to have been utilised as the Parochial House for the nearby church of All Saints (located on the Ballela Road) as between 1894-1908 three other Roman Catholic priests came to live at the site with McCartan. Although McCartan was noted as occupant of Ballooley House, the 1901 Census notes that the Rev. William McCartan resided at the St. Colman’s Parochial House on Gallows Street in Dromore; the 1901 Census records that Ballooley House was lying vacant whilst McCartan resided at Dromore.

The Rev. William McCartan died in 1907 and for a brief period Ballooley House appears to have lain vacant; in 1910 Joseph Hale took possession of the farm (the 1910 Ulster Town Directory records he was a butcher who resided in Dromore). Hale did not reside at Ballooley House in 1911; the census for that year notes that the farm was occupied by Annie Hillan (45, Roman Catholic) who was employed by Hale as a caretaker. The census building return described Ballooley House as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed an extensive farm with two stables, four cow houses, two piggeries, a boiling house and two barns which were located in the numerous outbuildings to the east of the dwelling. Joseph Hale continued to reside at Ballooley House until at least the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929.

Robb, writing in the Dromore Leader (1970s), states that Ballooley House was the residence of the last members of the Gaelic Magennis Clan who owned land in Ballooley and the neighbouring townlands of Knockgorm, Killaney and Castlevenon. In 1778 Richard Magennis (perhaps the father of Roger Magennis) resided in the townland of Ballooley and by at least 1786 had erected the single-storey cottage from which the current house has evolved. Robb states that ‘Ballooley House in those days was a one-storey bungalow type with a long back return, having a thatched roof and red brick Elizabethan chimneys with French windows.’

In the prelude to the 1798 Rebellion, Roger Magennis was a member of the Society of United Irishmen and was noted as one of 200 suspects included in the ‘Black Book of the North.’ In the aftermath of the Rebellion Magennis continued to reside at Ballooley; in the 1840s Magennis was a magistrate for Co. Down and in 1849 participated in the investigation into the sectarian battle of Dolly’s Brae Affray. In 1882 the Magennis lands, including Ballooley House, passed to the Rev. McCartan on the death of Anne Magennis, the last member of the landowning Gaelic Magennis Clan; McCartan occupied the house but entrusted the administration of the Magennis estate to his nephew.

Joseph Hale purchased Ballooley House in 1910 for £1,100; Robb states that Hale owned a butchers shop (which employed a dozen men) in Dromore and transported cattle from Dublin to Co. Down, fattening the cows at the farm in Ballooley before slaughtering them in Dromore. The Hale family continued to occupy Ballooley House until the economic downturn during the Second World War when Joseph Hale could not pay his workforce; as a result Hale let the property out to tenants in order to generate an income, however at his death in the mid-20th century Ballooley House was sold to a Major Gribbens who paid £28,000. Gribbens was also involved in cattle farming, modernised the farm and constructed the modern corrugated-iron barns to the east of the farmhouse.

In the 1970s Ballooley House was sold to a Mr. Radcliffe and in 1977 the dwelling was listed. Ballooley House continues to be occupied and is historically significant as residence to members of the Gaelic Magennis Clan; the clan is of note in Co Down as a landowning caste that maintained a hold of their estates after the wars and confiscations of the late-16th and 17th centuries.

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 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1902-1903
4. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/27 – Townland Valuation map 1833
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/360 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/52 – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/3A – Annual Revisions 1864-1875
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/3B – Annual Revisions 1876-1883
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/3C – Annual Revisions 1884-1893
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/3D – Annual Revisions 1894-1908
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/3E – Annual Revisions 1909-1929
12. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
13. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
14. First Survey Record – HB17/12/015 (1970)
15. Ordnance Survey map – 221-3 (c. 1970)

Secondary Sources

1. McMahon, A., ‘The Diocese of Dromore past & present: Parish of Dromore’ Dromore: Dromore Diocesan Historical Society, 2004.
2. Robb, C. J., ‘The story of Ballela: Its Portadown landlords’ Dromore: Dromore Leader, c. 1970.

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single-storey five-bay Georgian house pre-dating 1780; T-shaped plan form largely altered and enlarged c.1850. Its character reflects the styles and details of both the Georgian and Victorian periods and much historic fabric survives. Formerly thatched; the Georgian fenestration to the earlier front single-storey cottage has survived. The detailing to the rear is representative of the later alterations. This is evident throughout the house although a few modern alterations detract from its historic character. The outbuildings to the rear are of some interest but have also been modified. The original setting survives to a great extent. Historically the residence of the Mageness family until 1882, a prominent landlord in the area of note.