61 Soldierstown Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-storey three-bay stone and brick 19th century farmhouse with possible eighteenth-century origins. Rectangular on plan facing east set perpendicular to Soldierstown Road on its south side with a single-storey rendered former outbuilding attached to the north gable and range of outbuildings to west and south.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles and four symmetrically-placed yellowbrick profiled chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to redbrick eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Random rubblestone walling with square-headed window and door openings formed in painted redbrick with painted concrete sills and replacement hardwood casement windows to front elevation, replacement 2/2 hardwood sash and casement windows to the rear elevation.

Front east elevation is four windows wide with an off-centre square-headed door opening formed in redbrick with replacement hardwood door, sidelight and overlight. Door opens onto front bitmac area within front lawn.

South gable is rendered and abutted by lean-to redbrick carriage house having three-centred arch brick opening with sandstone keystone.

West rear elevation is four windows wide with a square-headed door opening to the left bay formed in redbrick having uPVC glazed door and sidelight opening onto concrete paved rear yard.

North gable is rendered and abutted by single-storey pebbledash rendered outbuilding having sheeted iron roof with its north gable fronting directly onto the road.

Setting:
Located on the south side of Soldierstown Road set perpendicular to the road facing east with a front lawn, redbrick outbuilding parallel to the rear of the house along a concrete paved lane and yard. Further range of rubblestone outbuildings to the south, nearest one with corrugated tin roof and painted timber doors and further two-storey outbuilding to the east with natural slate roof and painted timber doors. Front lawn enclosed by modern timber fence with a pair of original cast-iron gate posts to the road.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rubblestone & redbrick
Windows Replacement hardwood sash and casement

Historical information

The Townland Valuation (c. 1833) records a house and a number of offices on the Soldierstown road occupied by Henry Bullock and then by a Mr William. H. Montgomery. The house, classed as a 2b building measuring 47 ft by 19.6 ft by 18 ft high, was valued at £4. 3s. 10d.

The Ordnance Survey map (1832-33) depicts the house and its barn as an oblong shaped building with a large out office attached giving the building an L-shape. Two similar sized out offices are also depicted and there was no change to this layout on the later editions of the Ordnance Survey map. The total value for the site was £6. 6s. 6d.

In 1859 Griffiths Valuation recorded that the house and its offices were valued at £8. 10s. and noted that Montgomery was still occupying this property. In 1881 Henry Hammond took over residence of the house buying it outright from the Lessor Sir Richard Wallace in 1893. In 1891 the house fell vacant, its value falling slightly to £7. 10., the valuer noting that the property was originally valued too high. Henry Hammond occupied the house from 1881 until the Annual Revisions ended in 1928.

The 1901 Census records Henry Hammond’s older brother Thomas (59) as the Head of the Family. He and his brother Henry were both farmers who lived at this property with their sister Sarah Jane Hammond (45) and three servants. The house on the Soldierstown Road was recorded as a 1st class dwelling with nine inhabited rooms. By 1911 Henry Hammond is recorded as the landholder and Head of Family after his brother retired from farming. His brother and sister still resided with him in the house which is now recorded as possessing ten rooms. The out offices attached to the house include a stable, cow house, calf house, fowl house, a barn, potato house, a workshop and a shed.

Field inspection suggests an evolved house; although a cursory glance gives the appearance of a late nineteenth century house, internal inspection belies earlier origins. Joinery elements suggest late eighteenth century date, as do the thick internal walls, including one which has visibly bowed out. The road layout also indicates earlier origins, possibly plantation, as the road (which leads to the nearby planatation church at Aghalee) sweeps noticeably around the site. Outbuildings were later built out to the road line. The out offices recorded on the Ordnance Survey maps continue to be used as farm buildings; the first survey records that the largest office adjoining the house was formerly used as a barn or stable and still possesses its original coach arch.

The house was listed in 1983 and new windows were installed in 1997 (NIEA File).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/67 – Field Map c.1830
2. PRONI VAL/1/B/166 – Townland Valuation
3. PRONI OS/6/1/67/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-33
4. PRONI OS/6/1/67/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
5. PRONI OS/6/1/67/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900
6. PRONI OS/6/1/67/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1921
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/58 – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 A – Annual Revisions 1863-1879
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 B – Annual Revisions 1880-1894
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 C – Annual Revisions 1895-1905
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 D – Annual Revisions 1906-1918
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 E – Annual Revisions 1918-1928

Secondary Sources

1. NIEA File – HB19/03/017.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached two-storey three-bay stone farmhouse, set perpendicular on the south side of Soldierstown Road. The external appearance of this farmhouse would suggest a mid to late nineteenth-century date due to the brick chimneystacks, however on closer inspection the interior reveals a mid eighteenth-century date due to its intact joinery. Despite having lost its original doors and fenestration, this house is a rare survivor of the eighteenth-century and remains an inportant example of a substantial 2 storey farmhouse.