Allan Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Compact two storey late Georgian style hipped roof house of the mid 1800s (perhaps post 1860), with tidy ‘doll’s house’ appearance and idyllic leafy
setting. The property is situated back from the roadside to the E of the Newcastle Road in the centre of Seaforde, with a relatively large garden to the front and high walls extending from the N and S sides of the house, enclosing the rear yard and garden.

The asymmetrical front façade has a central four panel door with semicircular ‘spoke’ fanlight. To the left of the doorway is a sash window with Georgian panes (6/6). There is another identical window to the right and three more to the first floor. The front façade is rendered, but largely covered in thick ivy growth.

Both the N and S facades are rendered and partly covered in ivy growth also, but both are without openings.

To the centre of the rear elevation is a two storey projecting section with a gabled roof. This section is of recent construction and replaced a smaller projection. To the S face of the projection there is a modern window to the ground floor. To the first floor is another modern window, made to resemble the sash windows to front. To the N face of the projection there is partly glazed door to the ground floor. There is a small four pane window to the first floor of the E face of the projection. To the rear façade of the main house left of the projection there are two windows to the ground floor and one to the first floor, all with modern frames made to resemble those to front. To the right of the projection is a window to the ground floor as left, with a sash window to the first floor, as front. The rear façade and the projection are both finished in lined render.

The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate. The present roof is a replacement dating from c.1990. Two central rendered chimney stacks with modern pots. Metal rw goods. The high walls to N and S are both rubble-built. The wall to the S has a gateway with rounded rubble gate piers with ‘cone’ caps. This gateway looks as though it was widened in recent times as the pier to the N looks to have been rebuilt.

Historical information

A building is shown on this general site on the OS map of 1834 and on the valuation map of c.1836-38, however its plan does not match that of the present exactly. The valuation returns of 1836 state that the house in place at that stage was a low two storey dwelling (only 12½ ft to the eaves) of probable 18th century construction, and a naïve drawing of the village (dating from c.1833) shows that there was indeed a markedly different dwelling on site at that stage, with a gabled roof and irregular window and door arrangement to front.

Deeds in possession of the current owners, (which the writers did not actually see), date back to 1836, suggesting that the present house may have built at this time or shortly after. Such a date is supported by the style of the building as well as internal detailing such as the staircase, the fireplace in the dining room (if original), and the fact that a structure more akin to its plan is shown on the revised OS map of 1858. The map to accompany the second valuation of c.1860, however, shows what appears to be a slightly longer house with a later annotation showing a building the shape of that of today- thus perhaps indicating that the property is post 1860. Moreover, Georgian style hipped roof houses of this kind were being constructed throughout Ireland well into the Victorian era. The available evidence for either date is inconclusive, however, and all one can safely say is that the property is ‘mid 19th century’.

What does appear clear however that the house was served as the residence of the bailiff for the Forde estate in the late 1800s and takes its name from the one time bailiff, a Mr Allan. The property was bought from the estate in 1989 by the present owner, who replaced the roof and built the extension.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.366 Forde papers
2 PRONI OS/6/3/37/1 OS map, Down sh 37, 1834
3 Drawings (c.1833) in possession of Mr Patrick Forde of Seaforde House
4 Deeds in possession of the present owner
5 PRONI VAL/1B/387 1st valuation, Loughinisland, 1836
6 PRONI VAL/1D/3/19 Valuation plan of Seaforde, 1836-38
7 PRONI 2nd valuation, Loughinisland, c.1860 [in print]
8 PRONI VAL/2D/3/14 Valuation plan of Seaforde, c.1860
9 PRONI OS/8/152/1 OS plan of Seaforde, 1904
10 PRONI VAL/3G/95/1 Valuation plan of Seaforde, 1935-56

Secondary sources
1 C.E.B. Brett ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings….East Down’ (Belfast UAHS 1973), p.28

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Fine two storey late Georgian style hipped roof house of the mid 1800s , whose tidy ‘doll’s house’ appearance is complimented by its idyllic leafy setting.