7 Hilltown Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Picturesque one and a half storey house with large gabled dormers to front and overhanging eaves, built in c.1850 as a constabulary barrack but largely reconstructed in 1984-85. The property is set on the N side of the Hilltown Road, just W of Bryansford village.

The front façade faces roughly S. To the right of this façade is a single storey gabled porch with timber sheeted door to W and windows to S and E with PVC frames. The porch roof has an overhang with decorative barges. Natural slates to roof. To the left of the porch are two windows with PVC frames. To the upper level are three large gabled dormers with overhangs and barges similar to porch. Each dormer contains a small window with PVC frame.

The W gable is blank. The E gable has a central window with PVC frame. To the rear there is a very large gabled extension with modern windows to the N and E faces and a glazed door to the W. The rear façade of the main house (to the W of the extension) has a large modern window.

The façade is finished in rough cast. The main roof has natural slate to the front with artificial to the rear and extension. Two tall chimney stacks to main roof (set in front of the ridge). Metal and PVC rw goods.

Historical information

This building was originally a police barrack, probably built c.1850, but possibly based around the fabric of an earlier structure, shown on the OS map of 1834. The barrack is noted in ‘Slater’s Directory’ of 1856 as under the supervision of a Constable McNeilly and in Bassett’s ‘Co Down Guide’ of 1886 as under a Sergeant J. Murphy. The property appears to have been given over to domestic use some time in the early 1900s (no Police station is recorded in the directories after 1900). In 1984-85 it was completely renovated with the main roof (with dormers) and porch rebuilt and the large extension added to the rear.

Many of the
references listed below refer to Bryansford village as a whole, and not necessarily this property in particular.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI MIC.147 Roden Papers
2 PRONI D.465 Roden Papers
3 PRONI D.2647 Roden Papers
4 PRONI T.2647 Roden Papers
5 PRONI T.3438 Roden Papers
6 ‘Taylor’s and Skinner’s Maps of the roads of Ireland’ (Dublin 1777), map 8 (Taylor and Skinner’s map shows a group of houses either side of the road running through Bryansford)
7 Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast News-Letter’ 26th April 1785 (Advertisement concerning lodgings in Bryansford)
8 R. Lewis, ‘The post chaise companion or traveller’s directory through Ireland’ (Dublin 1786)
9 PRONI OS/1/3/43 OS maps 1st ed. 1834, Co Down sheet 43
10 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland vol.3: Parishes of County Down I’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1990)
11 PRONI VAL/1A/3/43 Valuation maps, Kilcoo (c.1836)
12 PRONI VAL/1B/362 First valuation records, Kilcoo (1836)
13 Samuel Lewis, ‘Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’ (Dublin 1837)
14 ‘Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland’ (Dublin 1843-44)
15 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1846), pp.429-31
16 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ])
17 Maps of Lord Roden’s Co. Down estate (c.1855) [Originals in possession of Lord Roden]
18 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), pp.491-93
19 W McComb, ‘Guide to Belfast and adjoining districts…’ (Belfast 1861), pp.160-162.
20 PRONI OS/6/3/43/3 OS maps 1st rev.1859, Co Down sheet 43
21 PRONI Second (Griffith’s) valuation records, Kilcoo (1863) [in print]
22 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), pp.491-93
23 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870)
24 Alexander Knox, ‘History of Co. Down’ (Dublin 1875).
25 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), pp.137-139.
26 UFTM W.A. Green collection WAG 1, 564, 565 Photographs of Tollymore Park etc. c.1900

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.8
3 F. Hamond and T. Porter, ‘A tour of the Mournes’ (Belfast ?1991)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Picturesque one and a half storey house with gables to front and overhanging eaves, built in c.1850 as a constabulary barrack but largely reconstructed in 1984-85 and now with a large modern extension to the rear and PVC window frames throughout.