19 Crewe Park Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey, two-bay vernacular direct entry cottage with outbuildings predating 1830. Located off the Crewe Park Road approximately 2miles south west of Glenavy.

Pitched natural slate with skews and clay ridge tiles; cast-iron rainwater goods. Yellow brick chimney stacks over the gable ends. Rough-cast rendered walling with smooth rendered plinth. 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal glazing bars; stone cills with smooth rendered surrounds. Timber 1940s style front door inset to flat-roofed projecting porch; smooth render surrounds.

The principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. The front entrance is located left of centre with ground floor windows either side. Three first floor windows directly over ground floor openings.

The left gable is abutted by a gable-ended single-storey two-bay extension; two windows to the north face; timber sheeted door to the left side of the gable; single window to the far left of the south face; two chimneys located along the axis.

The rear elevation is symmetrically arranged; timber sheeted rear door centrally located flanked by enlarged ground floor casement windows.

The right gable is largely obscured from view.

Setting:

Small front garden to the north bounded by a hedge with a small wrought iron pedestrian gate. Yard and outbuildings to the east accessed comprising; pitched natural slate, rendered and timber sheeted door; pitched corrugated tin, concrete block and double height corrugated tin dutch barn with abutting single-storey lean-to brick and stone. Open rural landscape to the south and west. Large round piers with iron gates located at the entrance and in the yard.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Rough cast render
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The parish of Glenavy comprises a low-lying fertile agricultural area to the east of Lough Neagh, with the upper part of the parish giving way to hilly pasture. (Parliamentary Gazetteer, p.264) The first edition map of 1832-3 shows the area dotted with cottages and farmsteads and it has remained largely agricultural up to the present day. Lewis’s topographical survey of 1837 found that ‘the soil is well cultivated, and there is very little waste land or bog’. A quarterly fair in Glenavy town was principally ‘for horned cattle and pigs’ and there was also access to additional income from the cotton and linen industries, ‘[In Glenavy] is a large cotton-mill, and much flax is spun and woven in the cottages.’ (Lewis, p.658)

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 and in many cases, only the older generation remained to work the farmland. (Ulster Folklife Society)

There is a rectangular structure, echoing the plan form of the current house, shown on the site on the first edition OS map of 1832. This building was not sufficiently substantial to be listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40). The current dwelling is shown, somewhat extended to the east, on the second edition of 1858 together with an outbuilding to the north which is captioned, ‘Dispensary’ and has survived to the present day. The house may have begun life as a single-storey vernacular dwelling which was later raised. If so, it is likely to have been raised prior to 1858 and the addition of outbuildings to the east gable. There are changes to the number and orientation of outbuildings with subsequent editions but the house itself remains unaltered in plan form.

The house is not listed in the printed Griffith’s Valuation book (1862), apparently in error, but appears in the first Annual Revisions fieldbook dating from 1869. Nelson Reid leases the house from the Marquess of Hertford, later Sir Richard Wallace and it is valued at £3.10s. The dispensary is also valued at £1.10s but is exempt. Nelson Reid appears to have been prominent in the local community, giving a very long period of service as a poor law guardian for the Lisburn Union, as well as running the dispensary. He is first listed as a guardian in the Belfast Newsletter of April 1852 and the last reference to him is in April 1878. (Annual Revisions; Belfast Newsletter) Henry Smith becomes the occupier in 1893 and John Waring in 1892. Waring purchased the farm in 1893, probably by means of land purchase legislation that allowed tenant farmers to buy out their freehold. By 1884 the dispensary is deleted and by 1901 the building that housed it is included under the valuation of the farmhouse. The 1901 census tells us that John Waring was a farmer of 37 and lived with his 26-year-old wife. The building could not be identified in the 1911 census and there are no further changes in Annual Revisions. (Annual Revisions; 1901, 1911 census) According to the current owners, the house has been vacant for the last 25 years.

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 1858
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/12/B/8/4A-D – Annual Revisions (1869-1929)
6. Griffith’s Valuation online, 1862
7. Belfast Newsletter, 19th June, 1868
8. Belfast Newsletter, 12th April, 1852
9. Belfast Newsletter, 1st April, 1878
10. 1901 census
11. 1911 census

Secondary Sources

1. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837
2. “Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland” Dublin, London & Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co, 1846
3. 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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey, two-bay vernacular direct entry house with an extension to the East and outbuildings predating 1830. The external appearance largely represents early 20th century modification of an earlier building; however, the general proportions and scale are still representative of a vernacular farmhouse. There are no inappropriate additions or extensions although it appears that the interior has undergone significant change. The associated outbuildings, yard features and entrance gates and pillars date from various periods, and add to the architectural interest of this group. The house is further enhanced by the unspoiled rural setting. Buildings of this type illustrate how vernacular buildings have been adapted over time to suit changes in lifestyle, and although once common, relatively unspoiled examples like this are becoming increasingly rare.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; and S - Authenticity also apply to this building.