Ardilea House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively large, sprawling, irregular, part single, part two storey house, believed to date originally from the 1740s, but possibly significantly altered in the later 1700s, again in c.1857 and with some 1970s additions. To the SW is a two storey hipped roofed section with full height canted bay and gabled entrance porch, whilst stretching from this to the NE side is the long, plain single storey gabled wing. The building appears with roughly the same plan form as today on the 1834 OS map, but evidence indicates that there were more two storey sections. The sheer irregularity of the composition and its lack of any recognisable style, combined with extensive recent internal renovations, have rendered it difficult to discern any sequencing of the development, however.

The house is located on the N side Ardilea Road 1½ kilometres SSE of the small village of Clough. To the NE there is a large collection of single and two storey outbuildings.

The front entrance is positioned in a small gabled porch which is on the SW face of the two storey block. To the left of the NW side is the main front four-panel door. To the SW and SE faces of the porch are matching six paned casement windows. The gable overhangs the SW elevation and has a decorative fretwork barge board. The porch roof is covered with natural blue/grey slate

Directly above the porch is a large semicircular headed sash window with coloured leaded panes. The arch head of the is window and its present frame were both added c.1979. The SW elevation of the main house is otherwise blank.

To the centre of the SE face of the two storey portion is a full height, three sided (chamfered) bay. To the ground and first floors of each face is a modern top hung window with Georgian-like panes.

The SE elevation has a small single storey bay set to the right side. This has a modern top hung window to each of the three faces, all with panes as before. The bay has a hipped and slated roof. Directly above the bay is a small top hung window, as before.

The ground floor of the NW side of the two storey portion has a full width lean-to extension. To the bottom left is a small six paned-fixed window while to the far right is a multi paned corner window with top openers. Above the lean-to roof (to main façade),is a small six-pane window casement with side opener

To the NE side is the long single storey gabled section. To the SE elevation of this there are four widely spaced windows with multiple paned modern frames as before. The NE gable is blank and is separated from a single storey outbuilding by a narrow gap.

The NW side of this section has a top hung window, as before to the extreme right side. The remainder of the elevation is obscured by a long single storey flat roofed extension. There are three small windows with modern frames and two modern panelled doors arranged alternately window / door etc. The NE side of the flat roofed section abuts the side of a large two-storey hipped roof outbuilding.

The walls are largely rough cast rendered, but Ivy like creeper covers much of the external walls of the two-storey section. The roofs (with the exception of the flat roof) are covered with natural blue/grey slate. To the apex of the roof of the two storey portion is a wide pot-less chimney stack. The rw goods appear to be mainly cast iron.

Historical information

This house, originally called ‘Belville’ is mentioned in Walter Harris’s 1744 account of the history and topography of County Down. The date of construction and the person responsible for it are uncertain. The property may have been extended (or possibly largely rebuilt) in 1748, for this date is said to have been inscribed on a portion of the house demolished in c.1857. The building is indicated on Taylor’s and Skinner’s 1777 road map of the Dundrum / Clough area, though it is not mentioned by name.

In 1770 Belville is known to have been occupied by a Hugh O’Neill. After O’Neill the building is said in later accounts to have been home to a Captain Hoey and then Edward Southwell Ruthven. We do not know the exact dates in which either of these were in residence. We do know, however, that the property was put up for let (by landlord David S. Ker), in September1789, and that Ruthven, who was born in 1773, moved to lands he inherited at Crossgar in 1813 and thence to London (where he died), may have lived there immediately prior to the latter date, but, judging from his age, probably not before the mid 1790s. After the departure of Ruthven ( and how long after is uncertain), the lease of Belville was acquired by the Rev William Annesley, who remained there until c.1840s.

The house is shown with much the same plan as today on the OS map of 1834, but with a larger portion on the site of the present two storey hipped roof outbuilding to the north-east, and a slightly longer wing taking in the present position of the porch. The near contemporary valuation returns record that the building, (which the valuers indicate was largely 18th century), was made up of several two storey portions- one 31½ft x 29 x 20, another 28½ x 20 x 20 and another (which apparently contained the kitchen and servants’ quarters) at 31 x 22½ x 17½- as well as sundry single storey sections. It is impossible say where the other two storey sections stood, but the apparent discrepancies between the present and 1834 plan form are no doubt of significance.

Some time prior to 1846 Rev. Annesley built himself a new residence on the rise some yards to the west of his existing home. This he named Ardilea House. Belville itself is believed to have lain vacant for a time and in 1857 a wing of the property, (with the aforementioned date of 1748 upon it), is said to have been demolished. The extent of this wing is not known, and, strangely, the 1858 OS map shows the building much as 1834 but with a broader section to where the porch now stands- almost as if something had been added rather than taken away. However, this apparent anomaly could be partly explained if what was removed in 1857 happened to be the upper floor of one of the two storey portions mentioned in the 1830s valuation, thus leaving the plan form largely unchanged. Whatever the case, it is clear that the construction of Ardilea House meant a downgrading in status for its neighbour- so much so that the older property is not even named on the 1858 map.

Like much of the early history of the house, its fate in the later 19th and early 20th centuries is obscure. Rev. Annesley appears to have died in c.1860 and Ardilea House itself occupied by David S Ker, whose family held the freehold of the townland. Alexander Knox, in his 1875 ‘History of Co Down’, states that Ardilea had passed from Ker to a Mr Hastings and that the latter’s family still held it at that date. He also states that the ‘old mansion of Belville’ remained ‘undisturbed’, suggesting that much of the older building was still intact but vacant. This may have remained the case until at least 1886, for while Bassett’s directory of that year lists Ardilea as the home of one James Taylor, Belville is not mentioned.

During the mid 20th century a reversal of fortunes occurred for both Ardilea House and its neighbour. For the former residence fell into decay and was eventually demolished [?c.1965], its name eventually adopted by the still largely intact older house.

The present owner acquired the ‘new’ Ardilea House in 1968, from a Mr Campbell, who had in turn bought it from a Mr Kennedy in 1961. In 1978-79 the owner added some extensions to the north-west side and completely renovated the interior.

References- Primary sources
1 Walter Harris ‘The ancient and present state of the County of Down’ (Dublin 1744, reprint 1980s),
2 ‘Taylor’s and Skinner’s maps of the roads of Ireland’ (Dublin 1777)
3 Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast News-Letter’ 16th Sept. 1789
4 PRONI OS/6/3/44/1 OS map, Down sh 44, 1834
5 PRONI VAL/1B/387 1st valuation, Loughinisland, 1836
6 PRONI OS/6/3/37/2 OS map, Down sh 44, 1858
7 PRONI 2nd valuation, Loughinisland, c.1860 [in print]
8 Alexander Knox ‘History of County Down’ (Dublin 1875)
9 PRONI OS/6/3/44/3 OS map, Down sh 44, 1901

Secondary sources
1 “House of the month” in ‘Northern Life’ Sept 1982 [Magazine article concerning the renovation of Ardilea House.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Relatively large, sprawling, irregular part two, part single part two storey house, believed to date originally from the 1740s, but possibly significantly altered in the later 1700s, again in c.1857 and with some 1970s additions. Despite the many alterations the house still retains definite architectural and historic interest.