Nut Grove

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large two storey hipped roof gentleman’s residence of c.1845-50 with projecting entrance bay to front with partial Italianate features. The building is situated to the SE of Nutgrove Road, c.3.5 miles W of Downpatrick and though a grand abode, sits in a hollow, with a terraced garden bank to the N and little aspect other than trees. The property stands on the site of an earlier Nut Grove House, a large single storey dwelling of probable early 18th century construction. To the W of the house there used to be a large 3-4 storey corn mill, probably dating from the late 1700s, but this was demolished in the 1970s.

The front (N) façade is symmetrical. To the centre is a full height, hipped roof bay. To the ground floor of the bay is the main entrance. This consists of a panelled door with three pane sidelights, with battered and fluted Doric ¾ column jambs to the door and sidelights. These jambs support an entablature above which are three semicircular fanlights, that to the centre (directly over the door), larger. The fanlights have moulded archivolts.

To the first floor of the bay is a joined group of three sash windows each with semicircular arch heads and moulded architraves. Each window has horizontal glazing bars (2/2), and all rest on a sill course with moulded panels below this and another course below again. The bay is bordered by moulded quoins. To the ground floor the façade is finished in rusticated render, the first floor in plain render.

To either side of the bay (to main front façade) there are two windows to the ground floor and two to the first floor. The windows have identical Georgian paned sash frames (6/6) and moulded surrounds. The ground floor windows have a moulded entablature, however, whilst those to the upper floor rest on a sill course with panels etc. as first floor of bay. The front façade is finished as the bay, but with in / out quoins to the first floor.

The short E façade is finished in lined render with in / out quoins. To each floor there are two windows as the main section of the front façade. The window to the left on the first floor is shorter than that to the right. The W façade repeats this arrangement, but with the ground floor windows identical.

The rear elevation is actually made up of three two storey gables, the 2nd and 3rd of which are abutted by a large two storey gabled return. The 1st gable (to left) has two sash windows to the first floor and two to the ground floor, all with windows as E and W facades.

To the right of this is the large two storey return. To the W face of the return there is a partly glazed doorway and modern window to the ground floor and two sash windows (as previous) to the first floor. To the E the return has been extended at some point with the addition of a two storey lean-to, which now gives the gable end of the whole return an uneven appearance. Due to the proximity of tree growth, the E face of the return (i.e. the lean-to section), cannot be seen. However, internal evidence (and the proximity of the trees) suggests there are no openings to this side, bar a flat roofed dormer.

The (S facing) gable of the return has a single storey gabled projection to the left with a small high level window to its gable. To the right of this (to main return gable) there is a larger window to the ground floor. Both windows have modern frames with Georgian-like panes.

The rear elevation is finished in a mixture of unpainted lined render and rough cast. To the front portion of the house the roof is hipped, with gables to the rear. The entire roof is slated. There are four chimney stacks, two rendered one centred on the main section of the roof, a plainer stack to the central rear gable and another to the main gable of the return. Mainly cast iron rw goods.

To the immediate rear of the return there is a former mill race. Beyond this is a large collection of rubble constructed one and one and half storey outbuildings, with slated gabled roofs and various openings.

Historical information

This house was built in c.1845-50, probably by Andrew McCammon, a local miller. It stands on the site of an earlier Nut Grove, a large single storey dwelling probably built by the Cosslet family, who are noted as living there in 1743-44. The Cosslets also built a large 3-4 storey corn mill close to the house, all of which is shown on the OS map of 1834.

The Cosslets remained at Nut Grove until some time between c.1810 and c.1832 (a future Parish Priest of Holywood, Fr Anthony Cosslet, was born there c.1810). By 1836 the valuation returns record that the house (which the valuers regarded as probably at least a century old) ‘was in a state of dilapidation’, whilst the corn mill and surrounding land had been sold to the Forde estate. The mill, the valuers noted had ‘not been in use in the last four years’ and the ‘machinery is all taken away’. Shortly after this the estate leased the land to Andrew McCammon, a local miller, who brought the mill back to working order, built the present house on the site of the old one, and added a gate lodge on what was then the main drive to the east (now Nutgrove Road).

The McCammons remained at Nut Grove until the early 1950s. After this it was acquired by a Mr Gelston and later, a Mr Cowdy. For a period during the 1980s the building housed a restaurant, but has now reverted to a private dwelling once again. The old mill building was abandoned after the McCammons left in c.1952 and was demolished in the early 1970s.

The aformentioned Walter Harris, writing in 1744, appears to suggest that Nut Grove is situated close to the site of a medieval stronghold built by the MacCartans, Lords of Kinelarty. The present house sits in a hollow, suggesting that if a ‘castle’ of sorts were close by, it is more likely to have been situated on the higher ground to the north-west, where the remains of a ‘fort’ are marked on the 1834 OS map.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.366 Forde papers
2 Walter Harris ‘The ancient and present state of the County of Down’ (Dublin 1744, reprint 1980s), p.74 [Harris mentions a Mr Anthony Cosslet living in the Loughinisland area. Though he does not mention Nut Grove by name, local historians have stated that they believe the family where living within the house at this stage. The Cosslets were certainly living there in the later 1700s and the added to the this the 1836 valuers believed the house to be perhaps a century old.]
3 PRONI OS/6/3/37/1 OS map, Down sh 37, 1834
4 PRONI VAL/1B/387 1st valuation, Loughinisland, 1836
5 PRONI OS/6/3/37/2 OS map, Down sh 37, 1858
6 PRONI 2nd valuation, Loughinisland, c.1860 [in print]

Secondary sources
1 E.R.R. Green ‘The industrial archaeology of Co Down’ (Belfast HMSO 1963), p.49, plate 17 [Description and photograph of Nut Grove corn mill.]
2 ‘St Macartan’s Church Loughinisland- Bicentenary 1787-1987 (Local publication, 1987) [Mentions the Cosslet family of Nut Grove.]
3 J.A.K. Dean ‘The gate lodges of Ulster- a gazetteer’ (Belfast UAHS 1994), p.88

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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A good example of a large two storey hipped roof gentleman’s residence of c.1845-50 with projecting entrance bay to front with Italianate features, and a large return to rear. The property stands on the site of an earlier Nut Grove House, a large single storey dwelling of probable early 18th century construction. To the west of the house there used to be a large 3-4 storey corn mill, probably dating from the late 1700s, but this was demolished in the 1970s.