Former steward's house

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large, irregular, part two, part single storey house of c.1855, whose complex appearance may have been the result of a radical re-modelling c.1900. The property is located within Tollymore Park, close to at the Bryansford village entrance to park, and is believed to have originally served as the residence for the former demesne’s head steward.

The front elevation faces W and is asymmetrical. To left and centre, it is double pile (i.e. there are two gabled bays), with a single storey section to the right (S). The main entrance is to the right gable and consists of a panelled timber door with flanking two pane windows (which look like sash windows). To the floor directly above this is a relatively large with a frame which resembles tripartite sash but which appears to be fixed light. The gable to the left of this is taller. It has a window to the both floors, both as first floor right gable. The single storey portion to the right of the right gable has a similar window.

The N elevation consists solely of the N façade of the taller gabled section, referred to above, which appears to be blank. The S elevation is single storey and double pile, with both gables having an uneven roof pitch. To the left gable is a window with tripartite frame, as front. To the right gable is a large modern fixed light window. To the right the right gable merges with a lean-to section which has a timber sheeted doorway to S.

The E elevation consists of the E façade of the lean-to section (to the left) and the E façade of the main two storey double pile section, to the centre and right. The E façade of the lean-to is obscured by bushes but appears to be blank. The (lower) two storey gable to the immediate right of this has two windows to the first floor (both with modern frames) and a four pane window to the first floor (which resembles a sash window). The taller gable to the right of this has a single window to both floors both with sash frames (vertical glazing bars- 2 panes over 2).

The façade is finished in lined render and painted. The roof has an overhang with the barge boards to the N on the lower two storey gabled section cutting across the façade of the taller two storey section to the N. The barges to the E end of the roof of the lower two storey section are pierced, all of the others are plain. Both the two storey sections have tall rendered chimney stacks, with that to the N rising from the eaves and that to the S rising from the roof ridge. The right (E) portion of the double pile section to the S has a small cast iron skylight to its roof. All sections of the roof are covered in natural slate. Cast iron rw goods.

Historical information

The current owner states that this building was constructed around 1855 and acted as a residence for a steward (possibly the head steward) employed within the Earl of Roden’s surrounding Tollymore Park estate. It is shown on the OS map of 1859. The building’s current irregular appearance may have been the result of a radical remodelling, perhaps in the late 1800s or early 20th century, when the single storey section to the south may have been added.

TOLLYMORE PARK
In late Medieval times Tollymore and the townlands surrounding it were under the lordship of the Magennis family of Upper Iveagh. In 1611, Brian MacHugh Magennis received royal confirmation of his ownership of the area when he was given a grant of seven and a half townlands (including the land which now contains the park), from King James I. Tollymore remained in the Magennis male line until c.1685, when Bernard Magennis died childless and the estate passed to Bernard’s sister, Ellen.

Ellen was married to William Hamilton and on her death her inheritance passed to their son James. His son, also called James (who inherited the estate in 1701), was created Viscount Limerick in 1719 and Earl of Clanbrassil (of the second creation) in 1728. James, who is popularly remembered under his initial title of Lord Limerick, initiated the development of Tollymore as a naturalistic landscape demesne in c.1720 by enclosing much of the land to form a deer park, commencing large scale tree planting and building a hunting lodge and the ‘Old Bridge’. He also rebuilt the parish church at Bryansford, the small estate village to the north of the park (named after his ancestor, Brian Magennis). In c.1750 he began the construction of a larger house, probably taking advice on its design from his friend, English architect Thomas Wright, who visited Ireland in 1746-47, staying at ‘Tullymoor Park’ in September of the former year. Dr. Pococke, in his ‘Tour of Ireland’ of 1752, comments that his lordship had completed two rooms of his new ‘pretty lodge’ by that date and had also built ‘a thatch’d open place to dine in’ on the south side of the Shimna River. Just to the north of the house the ‘Clanbrassil’ Barn was added in 1757, with the Horn Bridge built (to the south) around the same time.

Lord Limerick died in 1758 and was succeeded by his son (also named James), who extended the new house and continued the tree planting begun by his father. In the 1780s he erected the Barbican gate at the eastern entrance of the park, the gothick gate at the Bryansford entrance, the hermitage, the gothick follies and steward’s lodge on the Hilltown Road, and a number of bridges within the park including Ivy Bridge, Parnell’s Bridge and Foley’s Bridge, the last named after his wife, Grace Foley. These additions (which also appear to have been Thomas Wright influenced), as well as the planting, made Tullymore one of the most attractive estates in Ireland. Bernard Scalé’s 1777 map of Tollymore gives some indication of the picturesque appearance of the park during this period with a rolling landscape, much planting, meadows, rivers, streams, and walks through the woods. An advertisement offering lodgings in Bryansford village from The Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785, made much of the lodgings ‘most pleasing prospect of the Right Hon. Earl of Clanbrassil’s much admired demesne, which is beautiful to the sight and extensive to the bounds’ and whose wholesome air and ‘herbage on which the goats feed makes it much frequented by ladies and gentlemen for the recovery of lost health’.

James, 2nd Viscount Limerick and 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil died without issue in 1798 and the park passed to his sister Anne, the wife of Robert Jocelyn, 1st Earl of Roden. Their son, Robert 2nd Earl of Roden, who inherited the estate in 1802, built the Bryansford and Barbican gate lodges (the latter now demolished). He also erected the obelisk monument to the east of the house, in memory of his second son, James, who met an untimely death in 1812. The Earl and his successor, Robert- the 3rd Earl, further developed Bryansford itself, making it ‘a pleasing place of residence for those persons that like a quiet retreat’. A Roman Catholic Church was built at the eastern edge of the village in 1820, school houses in 1823 and 1826, with some labourers’ dwellings and the large dower house (‘The Nest’) around the same time. The 3rd Earl also constructed a water powered saw mill within the demesne, and, in 1865, added another small lodge to the east. He enlarged Tollymore House itself, by adding an additional storey to the wings and a tall (and somewhat incongruous) French chateau style roof to the original central block.

Tollymore Park remained solely in Roden hands until 1930 when the 8th Earl sold two thirds of the land to the Ministry of Agriculture for afforestation purposes. In 1940 the remaining third was bought by the Ministry and during World War II Tollymore House and part of the grounds were used by the Army. After the War the house fell into a state of disrepair and was demolished by Lord Roden in 1952. In 1955 Tollymore, the first state forest to be designated a Forest Park, was opened to the public. It has continued to be developed for timber production, recreation, conservation and education purposes since then, and though the ‘big house’ itself may have disappeared, most of the park’s 18th and early 19th century, gates, bridges and lodges have survived.

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 Walter Harris, ‘The ancient and present state of the county of Down’ (Dublin 1744)
7 Dr. Pococke, ‘Tour in Ireland’ (Dublin 1752)
8 Map of Tollymore Park by Bernard Scalé (1777) [?Original in possession of Lord Roden]
9 ‘Taylor’s and Skinner’s Maps of the roads of Ireland’ (Dublin 1777), map 8
10 Thomas Milton, ‘Seats and demesnes of the nobility in Ireland’ (Dublin 1782-93)
11 Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast News-Letter’ 26th April 1785
12 R. Lewis, ‘The post chaise companion or traveller’s directory through Ireland’ (Dublin 1786)
13 Rev John Dubordieu, ‘Statistical survey of the county of Down’ (Dublin 1802)
14 A. Atkinson, ‘Ireland exhibited to England…’ (London 1823), pp.197-201
15 PRONI OS/1/3/43, 49 OS maps 1st ed. 1834, Co Down sheets 43 and 49
16 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland vol.3: Parishes of County Down I’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1990)
17 PRONI VAL/1A/3/43, 49 Valuation maps, Kilcoo (c.1836)
18 PRONI VAL/1B/362 First valuation records, Kilcoo (1836)
19 Samuel Lewis, ‘Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’ (Dublin 1837)
20 ‘Parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland’ (Dublin 1843-44)
21 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ])
22 Maps of Lord Roden’s Co. Down estate (c.1855) [Originals in possession of Lord Roden]
23 PRONI OS/6/3/43/3, 49/3 OS maps 1st rev.1859, Co Down sheets 43 and 49
24 W McComb, ‘Guide to Belfast and adjoining districts…’ (Belfast 1861), pp.160-162.
25 PRONI Second (Griffith’s) valuation records, Kilcoo (1863) [in print]
26 Alexander Knox, ‘History of Co. Down’ (Dublin 1875).
27 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), pp.137-139.
28 UFTM W.A. Green collection WAG 1, 564, 565 Photographs of Tollymore Park etc. c.1900
29 Robert M. Young, ‘Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the 20th century’ (Brighton 1909), p.201

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), pp.11-19.
3 ‘Tollymore Forest Park’ (HMSO c.1980)
4 Mark Bence-Jones, ‘A guide to Irish country houses’ (rev. ed. London 1988), p.274.
5 J.A.K. Dean, ‘The gate lodges of Ulster- a gazetteer’ (Belfast UAHS 1994), p.97-98

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Large, irregular, part two, part single storey house of c.1855, whose complex appearance may have been the result of a radical re-modelling c.1900. The property is located within Tollymore Park, close to at the Bryansford village entrance to park, and is believed to have originally served as the residence for the former demesne’s head steward.