Church Hill

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Eclectic, rambling, roughly ‘U’ shaped, two storey gabled farm house of c.1740, but with many additions of the later 19th century and the 1930s. The property is set at the head of a long driveway, on a slight rise, to the E of Church Hill Road.

The front (E) façade is asymmetrical. The façade is composed of four sections which are delineated by the position of the chimney stacks. Bay 1, to far left, appears to be single storey but in fact comprises of a high ceilinged drawing room with a bedroom (partly within the roof structure) over. This bay may date from the late 18th century. Bays 2 and 3 (to the centre) would appear to be the original, mid 18th century, portion of the building while bay four is a later addition (possibly after 1860). Bays 1-3 all have the same ridge line. Bay 4 is two storey but is set a lower level and well set back from the line of the elevation. The three potless chimney stacks are rendered and in the upper portion of each the individual flues are set at an angle of 45 degrees (in plan).

The decorative entrance porch was added in the 1930s and is set to the left of centre. It has narrow, half glazed, double doors with glazed side panels and timber apron panels. The segmental arched roof is supported on turned wood columns (which look like table legs). Above the doors is a segmental arched radial fanlight. The semicircular facia has a scallop decoration to both the upper and lower sides. The doorway was originally further to the right.

To the left of the porch (bay 1) is a tall single storey, canted bay with hipped roof. The hipped roof appears to be sheeted with a polymer roofing material. To each face of the bay is a Georgian paned sash window (six over six). The windows rest on a cill course and above the window heads is a fine string course.

To the ground floor to the right of the porch (bays 2-3) are four tall, unequally spaced, sash windows (four over four). To the first floor are five unequally spaced, similarly sized, sash windows (four over four). These windows are relatively tall for upper storey openings and they touch the eaves. To the far right (bay 4) there is a smaller sash window to the ground floor (horizontal glazing bars- two panes over two). Security bars over this window. To the first floor are two smaller sash windows (vertical glazing bars- two over two).

The S elevation is double pile and has a canted two storey bay to each gable. The bay to the left sits slightly forward of that to the right and is shorter and broader. It has three eight over eight Georgian pane sash windows to the first floor with a similar window to each side of the ground floor and a double French door to the front face. Above the French door is a radial fanlight. The bay to the right has three six over six Georgian pane windows to the first floor. To the front and right side of the ground floor are similar but taller sash windows. Between the bays is a small three sided sun porch with Georgian-like panes to the side panels and the French doors. The porch is flat roofed and is entered internally through a door (former window) to the left of the bay to the right. A chimney stack, as before, sits within the roof valley. Each gable has a projecting cope stone to the verge.

To the far left on the N elevation is the exposed section of the N gable (which probably originally fully exposed). This has a small sash window to both floors (vertical glazing bars- two over two). To attic level on this gable is a tiny fixed light window. To the immediate right of this is a gable (the gable of bay 4 referred to above). This has one sash window to the first floor left (vertical glazing bars- two over two). To the first floor two sash windows (four over four), which are set at slightly differing levels. To the left this gable merges with a tall, harled, garden wall with arched pedestrian gate. To the right the gable is abutted by a long two storey return. This has three sash windows to the first floor (three over three). To the ground floor are four windows, then a timber sheeted door, and, to the right of this, a further window to the far right. The first, second and fourth windows (from left) have sash frames with Georgian panes whilst the third and fifth windows have modern frames (with Georgian-like panes). The openings to this side of the return have a random layout. The W gable of the return has a lean-to garage attached at ground floor level and two windows to the first floor. The larger window has a modern frame, with a sash frames to the smaller (vertical glazing bars- two over two).

The S façade of the return has three sash windows to centre and right on the first floor. The first and second windows have three panes over three, the third (though smaller) has four panes over four. To the centre and right of the ground floor are two widows with a timber sheeted door in between. The window to the right appears to have a modern frame (with Georgian-like panes), that to the right has a sash frame with Georgian panes (six over six). The left hand portion of this façade (and the S face of the lean-to garage) are largely obscured by plant growth. The right hand side of the façade projects forward, and to the intersection of the projection and the main façade there rises a tall rendered chimney stack.

The rear elevation is very complex and displays all the signs of having been much added to over the years. To the left the façade is abutted by the long return. To the immediate right of this is the only exposed section of what is probably part of the original section of the house (this corresponds to bay 3 to front). This has a small lean-to porch to ground floor with a partly glazed door (to W) and a small modern window to shorter S face. To the first floor are two narrow sash windows (both four over four). These windows are set at different levels.

To the immediate right (S) of this exposed section of the original rear façade is a tall flat roofed stairwell projection which rises well above eaves level. This projection, which probably dates from the 1930s, has a tall sash window at stair landing level (with Georgian panes- six over six). Above this is a similar, but shorter, window. To the immediate right of this projection is a shorter, but broader, flat roofed section (also probably 1930s) which projects even further. This has a sash window (much as previous) to ground and first floor on its W face, and another to the ground floor of the N face.

To the S this projection is attached to the gable of a much larger projection (the W gable of the S elevation- see above), which was added in the 1930s. This has a sash window (as previous) to the left on the first floor of its W face. This face also has a broad, but shallow, projection. This projection allows for an internal arched recess.

The façade of the entire building is mainly finished in rough cast and painted. The gabled roofs all have natural slate. Cast iron roof lights to rear of roof of main front section. Cast iron rw goods.

Single storey white washed rubble outbuildings to N and W. Decorative mid 19th century garden gate to S. The long entrance driveway to the E of the property has simple rounded gate piers with pointed caps. The wrought iron gates match the style of the garden gate

Historical information

Church Hill was built by a James Cunningham in c.1740. The original house appears to have consisted of the central and right two thirds of the main front section of the present building. At some point (perhaps c.1790*) the drawing room section was added to the S end. This was how the house stood when surveyed for valuation purposes in c.1836, measuring 57ft x 21 x 16, with three long rows of single storey outbuildings to south and west, one of which appears (from the contemporary OS map) to have been attached to the house itself. At this point the property possessed a rateable value of £14-18-0 and was still in the hands of the Cunningham family. Shortly after this date ( and prior to 1842), the house was sold to a Miss Elizabeth Small, who remained there until some time between 1863 and 1886.

The next owner of Church Hill was a Mr McKnight, who appears to have added the long rear return to the north side (much of which seems to have been originally used as an outbuilding), and the present outbuildings. In c.1910 Mr Mcknight sold the property to a Dr John Waring Basset, but retained much of the surrounding farm land formerly associated with the building. Dr Basset’s widow sold the property to the father of the present owner in 1933, who, shortly afterwards, added the gabled section and other projections to the rear, repositioned the entrance and enlarged the hallway by taking in the rooms formerly either side of it. The porch was also added at this stage, and the bay to the gable of the drawing room raised in height.

*The 1830s valuers regarded the drawing room section as grade ‘B’, suggesting it was probably well over thirty years old at that point.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/3/43 Valuation maps, Maghera (c.1836)
2 PRONI VAL/1B/364 First valuation records, Maghera (1836)
3 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ])
4 PRONI OS/6/3/43/3 OS maps 1st rev.1859, Co Down sheet 43
5 PRONI Second (Griffith’s) valuation records, Kilcoo (1863) [in print]
6 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886)

Secondary sources
1 EHS Records of the first survey of buildings of historical and architectural interest in Tollymore ward (1972-)
2 P.J. Rankin, 'Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the Mourne area of South Down', (Belfast UAHS 1975), p.46
3 Mark Bence-Jones, ‘A guide to Irish country houses’ (rev. ed. London 1988), p.83

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Slightly eclectic looking, rambling two storey house, originally built in the mid 18th century, but much added to over they years. The long main front section of the building is the oldest and dates from c.1740. This was extended southwards in c.1790, when the drawing room portion was added. In the later 1800s, the long return to the N was built, but arguably the most significant changes to the property occurred in the 1930s, when the front entrance was repositioned and a porch placed around it, large projections constructed to the rear and the internal layout radically altered.