The Old Rectory

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey, five bay, rendered Georgian former rectory with pitched roof built c.1817 and extended in 1838 and 1858 with rear courtyard, within its own grounds, located on the S side of Strangford village, a short walk from The Square in the centre of the village. The house is currently in use as holiday accommodation.

The house is accessed from the northern end of the site through large stone piers, up a curving driveway to a forecourt facing gardens on the NE side. The driveway continues past the front (NW) of the house and exits further SE along Shore Road, and opposite the entrance to Stella Maris Church (HB18/08/133). There are large gardens to the south side of the house and views over Strangford Lough towards the E and SE from the rear boundary.
The site is bounded on all sides by a tall stone wall. To the immediate NE of the house is a stone ‘folly’ or rampart with steps leading to a small platform.

The house itself is comprised of the main frontage block which faces NW, a return running NW-SE from the southern end of the house, and a further rear return running SW-NE from the return. A garage structure is located to the rear of the NE end of the front block, all forming an enclosed courtyard, accessed via large timber gates on the NE side.
A single storey, flat roof, timber/steel framed glass side extension, Garden Room, is central on the SW elevation & a block-built, rubblestone-faced, boat house is sited 18m SW of the main house. Both have been recently constructed (C21).

FRONT ELEVATION (NW):
Two storey, five bay ruled & lined sand/cement rendered façade with entrance door and portico located towards the right side. Toothed raised rendered quoins to both corners. Plain rendered plinth.

Fenestration:
Ground floor from L-R: Three window openings, door screen opening, single window opening.
First floor L-R: five window openings. All openings are aligned vertically with those on ground floor level.
Windows are 6/6 putty-faced timber sliding sash, single glazed, painted white.

Pitched roof of natural slate and black clay ridge tiles, three rendered chimneystacks, one on each gable and one approximately one third along from left side. All with 4 clay pots (likely replacement) and concrete/Victoria Stone coping. Verges in sand/cement extant to all main roofs.

Entrance Portico is comprised of four fibreglass marble-effect fluted Doric columns on square concrete bases, plain concrete entablature with moulded stone cornice and flat roof over, possibly rubberised membrane (dark grey) [roof could not be seen at time of survey]. Ground beneath portico is concrete. Replacement door screen - front door is timber panelled and is flanked by timber-framed plain glazed panels with timber spoked fanlight over and plain glass.

SIDE ELEVATION (SW):
SW side gable of frontage block runs to, and is flush with, 2 storey return with rear return at SE end. The rear pitch of the frontage block is sprocketed at this junction. The modern single storey extension, Garden Room, is positioned central to SW elevation. The Garden Room is timber/steel framed (externally) & large floor to ceiling glazed panels have frameless corner detail. Roof of extension is dark grey rubberised membrane. Plain rendered plinth diminishes to SE.

Fenestration:
Windows to gable are mix of 4/4, 3/6 & 8/8 sliding sash while return windows are 2/2 top-hung & side-hung casement, all in white painted timber. Access openings from extension to main house appear to be existing window apertures.
Access doors: From utility to external (replacement concurrent with front entrance door) at SE end of return matches existing windows with single-glazed 6 panel door, matching 3 panel side light and 3 fan lights, in white painted timber. Modern double-glazed single panel timber access door from Garden Room to external at southern end of extension.
Plain rendered plinth diminishes to SE.

REAR ELEVATION (SE):
Ruled & lined rendered sand/cement masonry, no plinth.
Pitched gable to rear pressed concrete flagged patio. 2No first floor windows 2/6 putty-faced timber side-hung & top-hung casement, painted white. Ground floor utility window triple 2/2 putty-faced timber side-hung casement (centre fixed), painted white.
Single storey utility/store to NE, abuts rubblestone boundary wall. 2No windows, double 2/4 putty-faced timber side-hung & top-hung casement painted white. Pressed aluminium ogee gutter to CI downpipe. Natural slate roof with lead flashed stainless steel flue. 2nd stainless steel flue from wall NE elevation.

SIDE ELEVATION (NE):
Ruled & lined sand/cement rendered masonry. NE gable of frontage block to NW with plain rendered plinth, garage gable to SE with no plinth, double gates to courtyard centre. Gates black painted timber, framed/ledged/braced & sheeted with accommodation door in SE leaf, with ruled & lined rendered posts integral with frontage block gable and NW elevation of garage.
NE gable of frontage block 2No ground floor & 2No first floor 6/6 putty-faced timber sliding sash windows with single ground floor 4-pane window beside courtyard gates, rear pitch of frontage block is sprocketed above with slender rendered chimneystack, 2 clay pots (replacement) and concrete/Victoria Stone coping. Pressed aluminium ogee gutter returns with single CI downpipe to NW.
Single black composite insulated roller shutter door to NW elevation of garage. Black ½ round upvc returns to garage NE gable with matching downpipe.

COURTYARD: (not accessed at time of survey but restricted view available through gates)
Visible masonry:-
Frontage block SE elevation - Ruled & lined rendered, with plain rendered plinth.

Visible pipework:-
Frontage block SE elevation - CI SVP & downpipes, pressed aluminium ogee gutter.
Return NE elevation – CI SVP NW end, pressed aluminium ogee gutter.

Visible fenestration:
Frontage block SE elevation – First floor, NE end, double putty-faced timber side-hung casement with 12 lights each leaf. Ground floor 4No putty-faced timber side-hung casement at varying head height, 1 to SW & 3 to NE with glazed access door from to courtyard with matching side lights. All painted white.
Return NE elevation - Ground floor, 3No kitchen windows triple 2/2 putty-faced timber side-hung casement (centre fixed), painted white with lattice leaded lights. Access door from utility to courtyard (replacement concurrent with front entrance door) at SE end of return with SG 6 panel door in white painted timber. First floor 4No windows triple 2/2 putty-faced timber side-hung casement (centre fixed), painted white.

SETTING:
Rectory is associated with Christchurch, Churchtown, HB18/08/102, located 3.2km SW.
Rectory is sited 150m SSE from Strangford Village Square, at SE side of private grounds extending to1.12Ha, with tall rubble stone boundary wall. Dense woodland lines the driveway and extensive lawns to NE, and side garden to SW with walled paddock beyond. Private residences and retail to NW boundary, private residences to SW boundary & farmland to SE boundary. Stella Maris Church (HB18/08/133) on opposite side of Shore Road, NE boundary.

MATERIALS:
Walls:- Ruled & lined sand/cement rendered masonry to frontage block, return, rear return & utility. Garage in matching ruled & lined rendered blockwork.
Roof:- Dark grey natural slate.
RWGs:- Existing CI downpipes retained with pressed aluminium ogee guttering, black, to frontage block, return, rear return & utility. Garage in black ½ round upvc with matching downpipes.
Fenestration:- Windows & doors timber single glazed (not historic glass) with concrete/ Victoria Stone cills except DG units to SW extension.
Boundary:- Perimeter wall in random rubble with flush sand/cement joints and pitched top, with matching pyramid topped gateposts (front and rear vehicular access)

Historical information

The ‘Ecclesiastical Register’ of 1820 states that this building - the ‘glebe house’ for Ballyculter parish* - was completed in 1817 and paid for by a gift of £450 from Board of First Fruits along with a loan of £50 also from the Board. The OS Memoirs of 1833 repeats this information, adding that ‘It is a plain 2-storey house, being characteristic of a rectory.’ The identity of the architect / builder is not known.

The building is shown on the OS map of 1834 as consisting of the original (symmetrical) 3-openings wide portion of main block with a small square appendage at the eastern corner, a long freestanding outbuilding at the south-eastern side of the yard to the rear and another small square structure just north-west of this. The first valuation of July 1838 records the dimensions of the building as 41ft x 27½ x 18½, with a ‘scullery’ addition of 10 x 11½ x 6 (possibly the aforementioned appendage), an ‘office [i.e. outbuilding] attached to car house’ of 25½ x 9½ x 8, and ‘offices - stables’ of 60½ x 15 x 8ft 3in, with everything valued at £9-6-0 for rating purposes.

The revised OS map of 1858 shows a markedly different plan with what would appear to be several additions to the rear of the house. Oddly, however, these do not seem to be referred to in the 1863 valuation, which simply records the main section of the house as amounting to 14yds x 9 x 18ft and two ‘offices’ of 20yds x 5 x 9ft and 9yds x 5 x 12ft, all much as before aside from the last building.

The rateable value had risen to £18 by 1863 and was to remain as such into the mid-1930s, which on the face of it would indicate that no major alterations were carried out to the property between these dates. However, clearly fresh construction work did take place in the later 1800s, for the 1901 OS map shows a plan similar to today, with the present return linking to the outbuilding. It is difficult to say whether the former extension to the north-eastern end of the main front block had been added by this stage, however.

As far as the list of residents is concerned, the property was originally occupied by Rev. Charles Wolseley until his death in 1838. He was succeeded by Rev. William Leahy who remained until 1844, followed by Rev. John Frederick Gordon to 1865, Rev. John Wilson to 1873, and Rev. Edward Blanchard Ryan to 1904. In the 1901 census, the Dublin-born Rev. Ryan, 53, was living here with his two young daughters, their governess and two domestic servants, with the house itself noted as a’1st class’ dwelling with 20 rooms in use. In the 1911 census, the next incumbent, Rev. George Walter Capsey, a 33yr-old Kerryman, is recorded as occupying the rectory with his wife, Emily Constance Capsey, their two infant daughters and three domestic servants, with 16 rooms noted as in use.

Rev. William Burton Leslie Smith lived here from 1915 to 1918, Rev George Foster from the latter date until 1935, Rev. William Frederick Frazer to 1946, and Rev. George Kidd until 1957. In that same year the former stable block was reported as having been converted ‘into a centre for holiday-weeks, quiet weekends and conferences for members of the Church of Ireland’

The property is shown on the 1976 OS map with the north-eastern extension, which is described the First Survey of Historic Buildings of the following year as having a ‘shed roof’, whilst the main original block had a two-storey entrance bay.

The house was sold into private hands c.1990. Since that time the matching end bay has replaced the extension to the north-east, the entrance projection has been removed, and a large modern style addition to the south-west side added. Some of this work (at least) appears to have been carried out c.2007. The building presently serves as a holiday let.

*Ballyculter parish church (Christ Church), is located on Drumroe Road, roughly 2.5km south of Strangford. Listed B+, it dates from 1723, with the tower and spire added in 1770 and the nave remodelled in 1881-82.

References - Primary sources
1 ‘The Ecclesiastical Register….’, ed. John C. Erck, (Dublin, 1820), p.23
2 OS Memoirs, Ballyculter parish - 1833
3 OS maps - 1834, 1859, 1901, 1921, 1976
4 VAL1B/370 First valuation, Ballyculter parish - 1838
5 VAL2B/3/72 Second valuation, Ballyculter parish - 1863
6 VAL12B/18/25A Annual valuation revision books - 1864-1929
7 Census of Ireland - 1901 (online at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/)
8 ‘Northern Whig’ - 21 November 1957, p.3; 5 December 1957, p.3

Secondary sources
9 ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’, (UHF, Belfast, 1996)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

An asymmetrical, two-storey, five-bay former Georgian Rectory, built c.1817, located in Strangford Village, Co Down, with a historical association with Christ Church HB18/08/102 in Ballyculter.
Due to refurbishment and extensions which have taken place over many years, this former rectory does not have sufficient special interest to meet the legislative test for listing.