Farmhouse

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-bay, two-storey vernacular house, built c.1830, located to the south of Crewe Road, Glenavy. Rectangular-on-plan with single-storey lean-to extension at south; single-storey outbuildings attched to each gable.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles, two rectanglar smooth rendered brick corbelled chimneystacks with no pots, half-round uPVC replacement rainwater goods supported on existing cast-iron brackets. Walling is roughcast lime rendered, rubble stone largely exposed at north. Windows to principal elevation are 2/2 horizontally divided timber sliding contained within square-headed opening with painted reveals and painted projecting masonry sills. Combination of timber sliding sash and metal casement at rear. Doors are ledged and braced timber sheeted.

Principal elevation faces south and is two-bays wide; ground floor having central wind-break porch containing sqaure headed timber sheeted door with transom light and corrugated metal pitched roof. Entrance is flanked by single window at each side; three equally spaced windows at first floor.

West gable is abutted by single-storey outbuildings with corrugated metal pitched roof and series of timber sheeted and currugated metal doors.

Rear elevation is abutted at centre by single-storey lean-to extension, flanked at left by nine-pane metal casement window at ground floor and 2/2 timber sliding sash at first floor; area to west of single-storey extension could not be accessed.

Single-storey extension east cheek contains timber sheeted door at left and eight-pane metal casement window at right.

East gable is abutted by single-storey extension with corrugated metal pitched roof and timber sheeted door at south.

Setting:

Set in a rural location with perpendicular replacement dwelling and east-west aligned outbuildings located at south. Accessed by gravel laneway from the Crewe Road at east via decorative cast-iron gates supported on roughcast rendered piers with painted pyramidal caps.

Roof: Pitched natural slate
Walling: Roughcast lime render
Windows: 2/2 horizontally divided timber sliding sashes
RWG: Half-round uPVC replacement

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)

A small rectangular structure is shown on the first edition map of 1832-3 and this has been extended to east and west by the time of the second edition in 1858. A smaller structure, possibly an outbuilding, is shown to the south. No further historic map editions were available at the time of completing this record but more recent maps show that the outbuilding was extended to the west and a bungalow was built on the plot in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Griffith’s Valuation (1862) shows that the occupier of the house, John Clarke, rented his small farm comprising just over 19 acres and the farmhouse from the Marquess of Hertford. The house and outbuildings were valued at £1.15s, a standard valuation for a simple vernacular dwelling. The house presently on the site would appear to be a rather more substantial structure than this valuation suggests and it is possible that the house was raised at some point in the second half of the nineteenth century.

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. Griffith’s Valuation online, 1862

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

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical two-bay, two-storey vernacular house, built c.1830, located to the south of Crewe Road, Glenavy. The building, now in poor repair, retains some features externally including original windbreak porch at south. The building, along with the surrounding traditionally constructed outbuildings, form an interesting group and are an example of how vernacular architecture in the area was adapted to the changing needs of rural life. Despite its interest it does not meet the criteria for listing and there are better examples listed in the area.

General comments

This record was completed without access to primary source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.