60 Myra Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-storey with attic, two-bay stone-built gardener's house, punctuating the walled garden at Myra Castle (HB18/08/092A), built c.1860. Rectangular footprint, facing west.

Roof is pitched natural slate with angled ridge tiles, and brick gable chimneystacks (rebuilt). Cast iron gutters to exposed rafter tails. Walling is random rubble greywacke with roughly dressed corner stones, and some brick to flues. Windows are side-hung timber casements, each having four panes and retaining a high proportion of original float glass. Dressed stone cills, undressed stone lintels, and wrought iron grilles to front windows.

West elevation is symmetrical with central timber door and a window to either side. Door comprises four Gothic-arched panels over t&g lower portion, with cast iron hoop knocker and brass knob. Chamfered timber frame and stone threshold.

North gable is abutted by the garden wall, and has two attic windows (diminished in size).

East (rear) elevation has a window to either side of a diminished central window at high level. It is screened from the garden by a rubble stone boundary wall terminated by a slender cylindrical pier, enclosing a narrow passage.

South gable is abutted by the garden wall, a lower outbuilding to inner portion, and is lit by an attic window to left side.

The walled garden is irregular on plan, and bounded by a greywacke rubble wall, having curved section to west and curved south-west corner. The wall is 80% intact, having collapsed sections to north and east. It is accessed by a variety of openings, including Gothic arched openings to north and east. Main entrances to west, adjacent to the gardener's house, comprise a cart entrance with heavy stone lintel and timber sheeted doors, and a small square-headed opening leading to a small rubble stone enclosure with vaulted brick-lined roof. Garden structures are derelict, but comprise remnants of melon houses (brick base), peach houses and boiler house, (generally brick bases with remains of heating system, and some timber framing to glass houses, including at least one margin paned half-glazed panelled door). The wall is further punctuated to west by a stone-built store with a double pitch ventilated slate roof. The garden facoingg elevation has a central door and small windows either side - all with pointed arched heads.

Setting:
The gardener's house and walled garden are located to the northern portion of Myra Castle demesne, north of the main house and farmyard, and accessed by a tree-lined lane. There is a well to west, opposite the gardener's house, and a narrow river runs to east, through the walled garden. To north is a metal gate leading to the lough shore and boat house (HB18/08/092E), supported on rubble stone gate piers, also having a wrough iron kissing gate with rubble stone enclosure terminated by neat dressed stone piers. The walled garden contains Walshestown Castle, an intact sixteenth century tower house, and a medieval ecclesiastical site. The
setting is unspoiled and of particularly high quality.

Roof: Slate
Walling: Greywacke rubble
Windows: Timber casement
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

Myra Castle (see HB18/08/092) was constructed in 1844 by Rowland Craig-Laurie; Bell, Brett and Matthew described Myra Castle as ‘a remarkable early-Victorian mansion, built over a period – with many changes of plan – about the 1850s [sic].’ The castellated mansion house was erected to the south of Walshestown Castle, a 16th century tower house. Lewis states that this fort was constructed on the site of an earlier castle built by John de Courcy as part of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Writing in the 1830s, Lewis recorded that Walshestown Castle had been occupied by Captain Richard Anderson’s ancestors since the reign of Charles I in the 17th century (Anderson was Craig-Laurie’s father-in-law) and, prior to his death in c. 1840, Anderson resided at the 300 year old fortification making it the only one of 27 similar examples to remain inhabited during the 19th century. The contemporary townland Valuations (c. 1830) described the fort as a ‘house,’ recorded Anderson as occupant and valued the structure at £25 12s. (Lewis).

The gardener's house at Myra Castle, a single-storey stone dwelling located in the townland of Walshestown along the coast of Strangford Lough, was constructed at some point after 1859 to the southwest of Walshestown Castle. The second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1859) did not record the building but did depict the asymmetrical walled garden that was set out by Rowland Craig-Laurie between the 1840s and 1850s. Craig-Laurie built this private walled garden containing the medieval Walshestown Castle as its centrepiece; the second edition map also depicted a number of other buildings contained within the enclosure, however all of these dated from pre-1834, appeared on the first edition map, and were most likely the outbuildings associated with the tower house.

The gardener's house can first be seen on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for the area (1900-01); the map depicted the dwelling as a small rectangular building situated close to the western wall of the garden. The valuation sources offer no clues as to when the garden house was built or who occupied it throughout its history. Under Griffith’s Valuation (1861) Myra Castle continued to be occupied by Rowland Craig-Laurie who owned the estate outright; the valuer did not individually value the gardener's house but combined the value of the mansion house and all its offices and outbuildings at £130. The subsequent Annual Revisions (1866-1929) and the General Revaluations (1935; 1956-72) continued to combine the value of the entire site making it impossible to determine the individual value of the gardener's house throughout this period. The fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1920-21) depicted the gardener's house along its current rectangular layout showing that no major change has been made to the building since its construction in the mid-to-late-19th century.

Field inspection of the site has found that the gardener's house continues to be occupied as a private dwelling. The associated walled garden possesses approximately 80% of its original walls; however the garden itself is now largely overgrown with many of the outbuildings within lying in a state of disrepair (LQ Files).

References
Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/31/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/31/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/31/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1900-01
4. PRONI OS/6/3/31/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/75 – Griffiths Valuation 1861
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/18/22A-E – Annual Revisions 1866-1929
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/4/7 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland 1935
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/3/41 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland 1956-72
9. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
10. Listing Query Files – HB18/LQ116

Secondary Sources

1. ‘Register of parks, gardens and demesnes of special historic interest Northern Ireland’ (Belfast: Department of the Environment Northern Ireland)
2. Bell, G. P; Brett, C. E. B; Matthew, R., ‘Buildings of Portaferry and Strangford’ (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1969)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A symmetrical single-storey two-bay stone gardener's house, punctuating an irregular walled garden enclosure occupying the northen part of Myra Castle demesne. The gardener's house is of high quality rubble greywacke construction, and retains an original aspect with a high proportion of original fabric intact. Despite an isolated area of collapse, the garden walls are largely intact, and are enhanced by a variety of notable features including handsomely proportioned curved corners, a store and vaulted entrance enclosure. Vestigial garden structures illustrate cultural context, and the walls also enclose two scheduled monuments, including Walshestown Castle, an intact late medieval tower house, and an associated ecclesiastical site. The gardener's house and garden are important in the context of the social and cultural history of the demense, which contains several listed buildings including the nineteenth century Myra Castle (HB18/08/092A). The group occupies a magnificent setting on the shores of Strangford Lough, and forms a remarkably intact cultural landscape. The gardener's house is enhanced by associated features including a well and kissing gate.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; and S - Authenticity also apply.