Farmhouse

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Long, two storey vernacular farm house of probable pre 1834 origin, but which may have been raised to its present height in the mid to later 1800s. The property is located at the end of a lane to the N of Glasswater Road, c.1.5 miles N of Crossgar.

The front façade faces S and is asymmetrical. To the right of centre is a timber sheeted door with boarded up sidelights. The sidelights are three pane and behind the timber sheeting is a panelled door (all of which can be seen from the inside). To the left of the doorway are three windows, with two to the right and six to the first floor. The windows are unevenly spaced and all but one are boarded over (but have the remnants of sash frames with Georgian panes). Both gables are blank. To the rear there are two left of centre timber sheeted doors. To far left is a very small window, with a larger window to the right of the 2nd door. To the first floor there are two windows. The rear windows are largely boarded up.

The façade is finished in unpainted rough cast. The gabled roof is covered in natural slate and has four rendered chimney stacks.

The property is now abandoned and in poor repair.

Historical information

[NOTE- The writers have not yet had time to consult the valuation records concerning this property, so much of the first paragraph is speculative.]

A building is shown on this site on the OS maps of 1834 and 1859-60, which probably corresponds to the house we see today. As is the case with many two storey vernacular dwellings of pre 1834 origin, the building may have originally been single or one and a half storey, having its roof heightened in the mid to later 19th century.

In the late 19th and for most of the twentieth century this house belonged to the Martin family. Sir James Martin, the inventor of the ejector seat (and currently celebrated on the Northern Bank £100 note) was born in the house in 1893.

The dimensions of this house and the arrangement of the front façade openings match those of another farm house (‘Rosebank’) on the opposite side of the Glasswater Road (No.32). One would almost suspect that the same builders were responsible for the raising of the roof of both.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/6/3/23/1 OS map, 1834, Down 23
2 PRONI OS/6/3/23/2 OS map, 1860, Down 23
3 PRONI OS/6/3/23/3 OS map, 1901, Down 23
4 PRONI OS/6/3/23/4 OS map, 1920, Down 23

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Long, two storey vernacular farm house of probable pre 1834 origin, but which may have been raised to its present height in the mid to later 1800s.