Ashfield

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey with attic stone and brick house, origianlly built c.1760, with 19th century modifications, polychromatic brick porch added c.1910 and single-bay two-storey rear return. Rectangular on plan facing south located at the end of a long lane on the north side of Ballinderry Road crossing the Lisburn to Antrim railway line. Range of single and two-storey rubblestone outbuildings enclose an elevated yard to the rear.

Hipped natural slate roof with rolled lead ridges and pair of symmetrically-placed yellowbrick profiled chimneystacks with dog-tooth detail and clay pots. Replacement ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to redbrick eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Galleted rubblestone walling with brick linings to all openings. Square-headed window openings formed in redbrick (painted white) with original 6/6 timber sash windows, cylinder glass and painted masonry sills.

Symmetrical front south elevation is five windows wide abutted by central polychromatic brick entrance porch. Square-plan porch built in yellowbrick laid in Flemish bond with black and redbrick moulded plinth course, black and redbrick course at impost level and moulded black brick continuous hood moulding. Single window opening to the right cheek, pair of window openings to the front and door opening to the left cheek all being segmental-headed with stop-chamfered reveals and black and redbrick keystones. Single-pane timber sash windows with coloured margin lights, ogee horns and a shared masonry sill with decorative detail. Replacement timber panelled door with segmental-headed overlight opening onto stone step. Polychromatic brick cornice to stone coping with decorative cast-iron grille over and surmounted by a timber-frame conservatory with hipped natural slate roof.

West side elevation is two windows wide with a single square-plan bay window having fixed-pane timber window and diminutive hipped slate roof.

Rear elevation abutted by off-centre single-bay two-storey part rendered return and single-storey rubblestone former dairy to the east. Original 6/6 timber sash windows to the first floor, paired single-pane timber sash windows to the west bay (ground floor) with a segmental-headed redbrick opening to the centre having replacement paired 4/4 timber sash windows on concrete sill. The return has horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows to the left cheek at first floor level and a replacement timber glazed door to the right cheek opening into a sunken gravel rear yard.

East side elevation is two windows wide.

Setting:
Located on the north side of Ballinderry Road at the end of a long lane within its own grounds. Landscaped front lawn with gravel front area leading along the west side elevation to an elevated rear farmyard lined with single and two-storey rubblestone outbuildings having pitched natural slate roofs, redbrick window linings with original timber casement and sash windows and sheeted doors. The two-storey north range has a windbreaker entrance porch with an early flush timber door. The single-storey range to the west has been re-roofed in natural slate with an original yellowbrick chimneystack to the south gable matching those to the house. The bitmac driveway curves to the southwest with a pair of decorative cast-iron gates on rendered piers and pyramidal capstones and the front garden enclosed by rubblestone wall.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement cast-iron
Walling Galleted rubblestone
Windows Original 6/6 timber sash

Historical information

The first Ordnance Survey map for the Ballinderry area (1832) depicts a small square building in the location of the current house. The former dairy and barn at the rear of the current house first appear on the 1832 map as a large oblong building extending north from the back of the house. The northern length of out offices also appears on the map as an oblong structure. The (c. 1835) Townland Valuation records that the house and its offices were valued at £13. 14s; the house measuring 52 ft by 27 ft, suggesting that the house was enlarged at some stage before the Townland Valuation.

In 1859 Griffith’s Valuation recorded that a Mr. Robert Frazer came into possession of the house and its offices. At that time the house was valued at £18 and appears much enlarged from the 1832 Ordnance Survey. At that time Frazer had converted the northern stretch of outbuildings into four separate dwellings which were valued between £0. 10s. and £1; these have since been returned to use as farm buildings but between 1863 and 1929 they were occupied by a large number of tenants who presumably worked the farm for Frazer.

In 1890 Frazer was replaced by his son William John Frazer who bought the farm and the attached outbuildings. The two-storey return at the rear of the house was built some time before 1900 as it first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map (1900-01). The 1901 Census tells us that William Frazer, a 47 year old Presbyterian farmer, lived at Ashfield with his wife Anna Maria (35) and their two sons. A 1st class dwelling consisting of 10 inhabited rooms; Ashfield possessed a large number of out offices including the dairy house. In 1905 a Mr. Hugh English briefly came into possession of the farm but by 1909 a Mr. William Henry Quinn occupied the house with his wife Charlotte and four children. William Quinn, a local Guardian for Ballyscolly, occupied the farm until 1919 when a Ms. Judge became the final occupant of the building to be recorded in the Annual Revisions which ended in 1929.

Field inspection suggests a late eighteenth century construction date, based on the typology of the area, and surviving early interior elements; however the rear outbuildings could predate the house. The Edwardian porch was installed c.1910 and the house maintains an Edwardian character in parts. One of the current farm buildings to the north of the house still retains features of its former use as a labourers dwelling such as a small entrance hall and an exterior porch. Ashfield House and its rear return were listed in 1985; since that time renovations have been carried out in 1988 and again in 2003.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/63 – Field Map c.1830
2. PRONI VAL/1/B/167 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
3. PRONI OS/6/1/63/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832
4. PRONI OS/6/1/63/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1857
5. PRONI OS/6/1/63/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-1901
6. PRONI OS/6/1/63/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1921
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/55A – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/1 A – Annual Revisions 1863-1879
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/1 B – Annual Revisions 1880-1888
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/1 C – Annual Revisions 1888-1901
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/1 D – Annual Revisions 1902-1912
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/1 E – Annual Revisions 1913-1929
13. Ulster Towns Directory (1910)

Secondary Sources

1. NIEA File – HB19/03/037.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey with attic, stone and brick house, mainly constructed c.1860, with 19th and early 20th century alterations, located on the north side of Ballinderry Road. A robust stone and brick house embellished during the early twentieth-century and with a combination of classical style and Edwardian internal features together with a good quality gate screen. The recent renovations have retained much of the original fabric with sympathetic elements added. The impressive range of outbuildings to the south yard enhance the overall grouping as a prosperous rural farm holding and the buildings are of considerable architectural interest with a history spanning over 150 years.

General comments

HB19/03/037B has been incorporated into this record.