Fruit Hill

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical two-storey, 5-bay farmhouse with early outbuildings pre-dating 1830, and possibly originating from an earlier direct-entry, gable-hearth vernacular dwelling. Rectangular plan form with single bay extension to the south c.1920. Located off Scroggy Lane 2 miles south of Glenavy.

Pitched natural slate roofing with clay ridge tiles; clipped verges to gable ends; rendered chimneys to gable ends; replacement brick chimney centrally located with clay pots (most pots removed). uPVC replacement rainwater goods. Ruled-and-lined walling with long-and-short quoins. 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. Timber replacement door.

The principal elevation faces east on a slight incline and is uniformly arranged five-windows wide; front door centrally located. Left ground floor enlarged double window.

The left gable is abutted by an additional bay c.1920 (probably built on a former single storey stone abutment); brick with first floor window and modern ground floor opening to the gable face. Door to coal shed on west face.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with openings concentrated to the left side. Door located to the left hand side with diminished window immediately to the left; single window to the right with two first floor window. Blank bays to the right. Rough-cast rendered.

The right gable has a ground floor window located to the right and a first floor window slightly right of centre; both diminished. Chimney at gable apex. The far left hand side is abutted by a wall adjoining the single-storey outbuilding immediately to the north.

Setting:

Numerous stone structures comprising outbuildings and piers to the north and west, flanking a historic road which ran through the middle of the farm. A variety of traditional outbuildings have slated roofs and rubble stone walling and original openings, many of which pre-date 1830 with additional blocks added c.1850. Garden to the front of the house; largely surrounded by open rural landscape. Large round gate piers throughout with replacement gates. Gravel access lane across lawn to the front entrance.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Window : Timber sliding sash
RWG: uPVC replacement

Historical information

Ballinderry parish was described by Lewis’s 1837 survey as a fertile agricultural area with some cottage industry, “The land is almost all arable and in a good state of cultivation; the system of tillage is improving. There is little or no waste land; in the north-east and south-west parts of the parish are some valuable bogs. The weaving of linen and cotton affords employment to a considerable number of persons, but the greater number of the inhabitants are engaged in agriculture” (Lewis, p.112) Ordnance survey maps show that the area has remained rural, with scattered farms and small settlements and very little increase in the overall level of development . The most significant change to the landscape has been the arrival of the railway, which runs to the east of the farm, in 1871. The current house is sited within the better arable land in the district, lying between the 100 foot and 300 foot contours, the land below 100 feet being liable to flooding in winter and that above 300 feet running to pasture, furze and rough grazing. The whole area was subject to a decline in population during the second half of the nineteenth century when a drift began from rural districts into Belfast. In many cases, only the older generation remained to work the farmland, although the population began to stabilise around the turn into the twentieth century. (Ulster Folklife Society)

A group of farm buildings is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832 surrounded by a regular plantation of trees, signifying an orchard, as, indeed, are all the neighbouring farms. The orchard is also shown on the second, third and fourth editions, but is no longer present today. The presence of orchards in the neighbouring parish of Glenavy was noted in the OS Memoirs c1832. “Their orchards are profitable sources of emoluments to the farmers, and, except in the south of this county, rather novel to the north of Ireland. Every farmer has an orchard of a greater or less extent, and on average this will produce him at the rate of 12 pounds annually per acre. The orchard is rented by an ‘apple man’, who takes the fruit to Belfast and sells them to persons who export them. The quantity of fruit formerly exported from this district to England and Scotland was enormous.” (OS Memoirs, p.87)

The 1832 map shows a road running through the middle of the farmyard but this has gradually fallen out of use and is no longer present. In the Townland Valuation the house is the property of James Stewart Esq and comprises a two-storey house 54.6x20.6x13, corresponding to the present dwelling and a single-storey barn/stable 68x19x7 which corresponds to the stable block which is still present, but has subsequently been raised. Dimensions are also given for a potato house, a turf house and byres. All the buildings are thatched and the house is deemed to be old but ‘in repair’. The house and outbuildings are valued at £5.11s.

The second edition OS map of 1857 shows additional structures on the site, in particular an outbuilding which abuts the north-eastern gable of the farmhouse. Outbuildings to the west of the farmhouse appear to have been extended since 1832 and this perhaps accounts for a large increase in the value listed by Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) to £15. The occupier is tenant farmer Thomas McAlevy who leases the farm from local landowner the Marquis of Hertford, later Sir Richard Wallace. The farm itself comprises over 87 acres, a very substantial holding and by far the largest farm in the townland. Thomas McAlevy appears in the pages of the Belfast Newsletter of June 1868 as the winner of a 2nd prize for his Kerry bull at the North East Agricultural show. (Belfast Newsletter) The farm remained in the McAlevy family until 1894 when it was taken over by Edward Mockler who became the owner in fee in 1895. Edward Mockler was a prominent man in the Lisburn area, serving as a poor law guardian and as a member of the Rural District Council. (Belfast Newsletter) He is listed in the 1901 census as a farmer of 45 and is living with his wife and three children of 9, 7 and 5 months. The family have two domestic servants, one described as a ‘nurse’, perhaps a children’s nanny. By 1911 the family had undergone a conversion from Church of Ireland to the Episcopalian denomination. Only the youngest child of the three listed in 1901 was still living, and three further children had been born to the family. Fruit Hill is, at this time, the largest house in the townland, and one of only two that are designated ‘first class’. The house remained in the Mockler family until 1928 (Annual Revisions; owner information)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/63/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832
2. PRONI OS/6/1/63/2 – Second Edition OS map 1857
3. PRONI OS/6/1/63/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-01
4. PRONI OS/6/1/63/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/167 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/8A-E – Annual Revisions (1862-1912)
7. Belfast Newsletter, 19th June, 1868
8. Belfast Newsletter, 20 April, 1899
9. Belfast Newsletter. 10th October, 1899

Secondary Sources

1. Owner Information
2. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Antrim VII, 1832-8, Vol. 21” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1993.
3. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837
4. Ulster Folklife Society “Field Excursions in Ulster, Ballinderry and district, County Antrim” Holywood: Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, 1982

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey, 5-bay (plus one) farmhouse with a variety of good quality early outbuildings pre-dating 1830. Field evidence indicates that the building originated as a lobby entry vernacular dwelling; prior to enlargement (date unknown). In its current state the 19th century external character reflects a good quality two-storey farmhouse, characterised by its modest style, simple detailing and good proportions of wall to openings The quality of the outbuildings and gates add to the main farmhouse's interest as does its setting and the retention of much internal vernacular detailing.