98 Half-Way Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey three-bay farmhouse built c.1850; rectangular plan form with rear return; three-storey mill buildings to the rear (HB17/13/003B). Located of the main Banbridge to Dromore road to the north, opposite the junction to Mt Ida Road.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; smooth rendered chimneystacks with corbelled upper course; cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast cement rendered walling; smooth rendered undercut plinth. 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with exposed sash boxes; with horns; replacement concrete cills; first floor windows 3/6 sliding sash. Replacement timber door comprising six raised-and-fielded panels; panelled pilaster frame with scrolled brackets; 5-paned side lights; concrete cills; elliptical arched fanlight with radial glazing bars.

The principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged. Centrally position entrance window single windows to either side. Three first floor windows directly over ground floor openings.

The left gable is blank.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged; first floor windows to the centre and right bay; ground floor window to the right bay; replacement timber casement window to the centre. The left bay is completely abutted by a two-storey rear return projecting at an angle towards the northeast; matching eaves, lower ridge levels. Lit by sash windows to upper floor with insertions and enlarged windows to ground floor. Extended by a single-storey gabled shed, similarly detailed.

The right elevation is asymmetrically arranged; first floor window to the right; replacement casement window to the ground floor right.

Setting

The house and outbuildings are clearly visible from the main road; located at the end of a long straight private lane lined with fencing leading directly to the rear yard. In front is a lawn with concrete forecourt enclosed largely by a roughcast rendered wall with wrought-iron pedestrian gate. Further wrought-iron gate and smooth rendered piers abutting the right gable. To the northwest of the house is a large former hemstitching factory predating 1830 (refer to HB17/13/003B for details). Further modern agricultural units beyond.

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

Historical information

No. 98 Halfway Road, a two-storey farmhouse in the townland of Edenordinary was constructed between 1833 and 1860, first appearing on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1860 where it was depicted as a rectangular-shaped building possessing the current two-storey rear return. The early-Victorian farmhouse was constructed on the site of a hemstitching factory (HB17/13/003B); the two and three-storey outbuildings to the rear of the current dwelling date from the early-19th century and are depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1833) as a long rectangular structure (the building was not recorded in the Townland Valuations of the 1830s).

The current two-storey dwelling had been constructed by 1860; the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1861) records that the house and outbuildings were occupied by a Mr. John Johnston who leased the site, which was valued at £8, from the Earl Clanwilliam. The second edition of the Ordnance Survey map notes that, apart from the dwelling, an additional outbuilding had been constructed to the north side of the main outbuilding between 1833 and 1860.

The Annual Revisions note that by 1864 Johnston had constructed an additional yarn store to the site; the value of the farm was subsequently raised to £14, however in 1868 this was greatly increased to £25 10s. The valuer did not explain this increase in the value of the site; however the Annual Revisions noted that Johnston had established a ‘Hemstitching factory’ at the site by 1897 suggesting that Johnston may have converted his outbuildings in the mid-to-late 1860s in order to pursue a career in textile manufacture. Although it is not known exactly when Johnston first began producing textiles from the site, it is clear that the hemstitching factory had been established by 1897.

The 1901 Census described Johnston (64, Presbyterian) as a farmer and linen manufacturer, noting that Johnston’s sons Joseph (35) and Thomas (31) assisted their father in the hemstitching factory. The census building return described the two-storey farmhouse as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of nine rooms and possessed a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, boiling house, a barn and a store amongst its out offices. Johnston was evidently a successful businessman and by at least 1907 had been appointed as a Justice of the Peace and attended Petty Sessions at Dromore as a County Councillor (Ulster Town Directory 1907; 1910). John Johnston continued to reside at the site in Edenordinary until his death in 1925 at which time ownership of the site passed to his eldest son Joseph.

The adjoining hemstitching factory operated until the early-20th century and at its height possessed between 30 and 40 machines which were driven by steam power, however the global recession of the textile industry in the aftermath of the First World War forced Johnston to close the factory. Since the 1920s the site has continued to operate as a farm (Green, p. 20). Development of the site after the closure of the hemstitching factory reflects the sites shift in direction; a large number of modern corrugated-iron outbuildings have been constructed, surrounding the original hemstitching factory, prior to the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1973.

No. 98 Halfway Road was listed in 1977 and since that time has continued to be occupied. The adjoining hemstitching factory is an example of the small rural factories that once dotted the landscape of Co. Down.

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/6/3/27/4 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918
4. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/27 – Townland Valuation map c. 1830
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38D – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21A – Annual Revisions 1864 – 1876
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21B – Annual Revisions 1876 - 1885
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21C – Annual Revisions 1885 - 1900
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21D – Annual Revisions 1900 - 1908
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/21E – Annual Revisions 1909 – 1930
12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (6 Feb 1925)
13. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1901-1918)
15. First Survey Record – HB17/13/003 (1969)
16. Ordnance Survey Map 202 -10; 202-14 (1973)
Secondary Sources

1. Green, E. R. R. ‘The industrial archaeology of County Down’ Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1963.

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 farmhouse built c.1850; rectangular plan form with rear return. Style and proportions survive although the replacement render and casement windows compromise its historic character. The plan form and much historic fabric survive. This is a good example of this type of farmhouse and the presence of the factory building and chimney (HB17/13/003B) to the rear add significant interest to the complex of structures, demonstrating the development of rural industry in the area related to the major linen trade.

General comments

This record was previously known as HB17/13/003