Roadside House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey three-bay vernacular dwelling and outbuilding predating c.1830; possible origins from an earlier single-storey three-unit, hearth lobby type dwelling. Located immediately off the Crewe Hill Road 3miles south east of Glenavy.

Pitched natural slate roof; partial asbestos replacement; clay ridge tiles. Rendered brick chimneys. Cast-iron rainwater goods (mostly removed). Heavily eroded lime rendered field stone walling with evidence of brick alterations/additions. Windows blocked up.
Timber sheeted front door.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged. The left bay and first floor appears to have been added at a later date. Three ground floor windows with first floor windows over. Far right ground floor window was a former entrance now partially infilled with concrete blocks. Porched entrance with lean-to corrugated roof to the far left.

The left gable is abutted by a single storey stable-block; pitched corrugated tin roof; stone walling with upper brick courses; various openings to the east and west face. South facing gable-end is blank.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged; partially obscured by temporary container. Single timber sheeted door to the left.

The right gable is blank.

Setting:

Located directly on a narrow road and largely surrounded by double height agricultural buildings and modern dwellings. Cobbled surface adjacent to the principal elevation. Plant yard to the rear of the building. Views over open rural landscape.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Lime rendered (partially exposed)
Windows: N/A
RWG: Cast-iron

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 in a largely agricultural setting.

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 building on the site, occupying the same plan form as the present dwelling, is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832. However, this building is not listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) being insufficiently high in value.

The house is listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1862) as the residence of tenant farmer James Horner, who leases it from the Marquess of Hertford. The house and outbuildings are valued at £1.5s and are accompanied by over fourteen acres of farmland. The farm remains in the Horner family throughout the period covered by Annual Revisions and they become the owners in fee in 1894.

The 1901 census shows that the house is the residence of William James Horner, farmer, and his wife Catherine. The house has, by this time, assumed its present form and is said to have six windows to the front facade and five rooms, making it one of the larger farmhouses in the townland. The 1911 census shows that there are seven outbuildings associated with the house, two cow houses, two piggeries, a stable, a coach house and a fowl house. There are no further changes in Annual Revisions. At the time of writing the house had been uninhabited for some years. (Annual Revisions; 1901, 1911 census)

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/8/1A-E – Annual Revisions (1863-1929)
6. Griffith’s Valuation online (1862)
7. 1901 census online
8. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837
2. Ulster Folklife Society “Field Excursions in Ulster, Ballinderry and district, County Antrim” Holywood: Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, 1982

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A roadside two-storey three-bay vernacular dwelling and outbuilding predating c.1830. Possibly originating from an earlier single-storey two-bay, hearth-lobby type dwelling. Although the style and proportion of the building has been retained, alterations including infilling of window openings and replacement of natural slate, detract from its vernacular character and it is not considered of special architectural interest.