Walled garden at Finnebrogue estate

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively large walled garden dating from 1802, now no longer cultivated but with some mid to later 19th century former garden buildings converted to a dwelling with another dwelling built on the site of some glasshouses. The garden is split into two sections and largely surrounded by a high rubble and brick walls. It is situated roughly a third of a mile NE of Finnebrogue House, two miles N of Downpatrick.

The garden is roughly square in plan (though technically one would describe it as a distorted parallelogram. It is situated on a slight slope descending NW to SE, with a long drainage ditch to the SE. The larger portion of the garden is to the NW. It is surrounded on all sides by a high wall which is largely in fieldstone rubble, but in brick to the inward side of the NW wall. This side of the wall also has curved ends and a full height vehicle gateway to close to its SE end, with recent (post 1995) metal gates. To the intersection of the NW and SW walls there is a small lean-to single storey bothy of perhaps c.1830-40, with gothick windows and doors. To the left (SW) of the bothy is a small brick dressed pedestrian doorway with timber sheeted door. This leads into what was the pleasure garden, but which is now overgrown. Built on this outer side of the SW wall is a small canted summer house, possibly as old as the garden itself but now ruinous.

The SE wall is blank apart from an elliptical arched vehicle gateway with brick dressings and timber sheeted double door. Above this gateway (to the SE side) is a stone panel which is inscribed ‘Built by John Waring Maxwell 20th February 1802’. Built against the inner side of the NE wall there is an overtly modern style two storey flat roofed house with single storey glasshouse like wings. This house is post 1995 and has been built on the site of a row of what appear to have been late 19th / early 20th century glasshouses [?an orangery etc.]. The main two storey portion of the house has a granite base to its front, which must have belonged to a previous building. Built against the outside of this wall is a two storey gabled gardener’s house, dating from c.1840s with rubble façade and brick dressed openings. This building was greatly extended to its rear (W) in the late 1990s and now incorporates a row of single former donkey houses / sheds (which were largely rebuilt, and extended, in the process).

The larger portion of the garden is itself now much overgrown. There is a small pond to the SW of centre of the garden.

The smaller portion of the garden to the SE is bordered to the NW by the wall with the elliptical arched gateway described above and to the NE and SW by similar high rubble walls. That to NW, which has an elliptical arched vehicle gateway much as that as before but without panel above, is much dilapidated to the SE end. To the SW side of the garden is a lower rubble. To the SE side is a drainage ditch with drive to the opposite side. To the SW end of the ditch the there is a low recent looking section of rubble walling with a gateway with square brick and rubble gate pillars, but no gates. Within the garden itself there is a large, roughly H-shaped single storey dwelling to the N corner, constructed post 1995 around some mid to later 19th century potting sheds and glasshouses. This dwelling is largely in fieldstone rubble with a largely glazed transverse portion and a slated gabled roof. The rest of the garden is now merely lawn.

Historical information

As the panel above the gateway states, this garden was laid out in 1802 by John Waring Maxwell, the then incumbent (along with his wife, Dorothea) of Finnebrogue House. The garden is shown on the OS map of 1834, without any of the abovementioned buildings bar the summer house. On the 1858 map the bothy, gardener’s house and potting sheds to the south-east are all shown, with the glass houses etc. present on the 1901 map.

The larger section of the walled garden contained an orchard, with other fruits grown in the glasshouses. In the smaller garden to the SE there were vegetable and flower beds. To the SW was a pleasure garden. Former gardener Dick Kelly recalls that in 1936 the estate had 15 gardeners and foresters employed at 2/6 a week. By the late 1900s the garden served as a commercial nursery. When the remainder of the estate, including the garden, was sold in 1995, the garden buildings, including the gardener’s house, bothy, sheds etc. had been largely abandoned. Since then most of the buildings (bar the summer house) have been renovated with the former potting sheds etc. to the SE converted to a dwelling with another dwelling built around the glasshouses etc. to the north end. The gardener’s house has been restored and extended, with the bothy restored also.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI T.1023, D.1556, D.2480, D.3244, D.3817, D.4218 Perceval-Maxwell Papers, 1606-1969
2 PRONI OS/6/3/30/1 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 30, 1834
3 PRONI OS/6/3/30/2 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 30, 1858
4 PRONI VAL.12B/18/13a-d Annual valuation revision books, 1864-79, 1880-97, 1898-1911, 1912-29
5 PRONI OS/6/3/30/3 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 30, c.1901
6 PRONI OS/6/3/31/3 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 31, c.1901

Secondary sources
1 Anthony Malcomson, ‘The Perceval-Maxwell Papers- Introduction’ (1998) [Available at PRONI]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Relatively large walled garden dating from 1802, now no longer cultivated but with some mid to later 19th century former garden buildings converted to a dwelling with another dwelling built on the site of some glasshouses. The walled garden has group value with the other listed structures on the estate.

General comments

In the first survey this record was numbered HB18/18/002A.