Foley Hill

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay Victorian country dwelling built c.1895 to designs by architects Boyds & Sons. Square plan form with adjoining rear return and single-storey former doctor surgery. Located on an elevated site in a rural
setting, approximately 1 mile south of Lower Ballinderry.

Hipped natural slate roof with clay ridge and hip tiles; single modern roof light; cast-iron ogee moulded gutters fixed to moulded corbel course at eaves level; cast-iron circular downpipes. Cement rendered chimneys with corbelled upper courses; terracotta pots. Ruled-and-lined smooth rendered walling. 1/1 double-glazed, timber sliding sash windows with horns; large rectangular painted masonry cills; chamfered reveals and head. The former principal door; timber panelled with margin pane glazing bars to upper panel; single raised and fielded lower panel; flanked by side lights with an elliptical-arched fan light over with moulded plaster surrounds. The current front entrance is a projected flat-roofed porch with square-headed opening; modern double-leaf timber panelled door with over light; embraced by uPVC moulded details.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. The front door is centrally located flanked by single window; three first floor windows directly over ground floor openings. Modern masonry/timber conservatory abutting the ground floor.

The north elevation is symmetrically arranged with a centrally projected box-bay with tri-partite window. Two first floor windows.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The right hand side is abutted by a single-storey lean-to roof addition; blank north face with a single timber casement window located left of centre to the east cheek. The right hand side is abutted by a two-storey flat roof return; two diminutive first floor windows to the north cheek; the south cheek has a single first floor window and projected flat-roofed entrance porch at ground floor; the east cheek has a single timber casement window to the right and is further abutted by a single-storey, hipped roofed annex (former surgery) matching in detail to the main building with a modern lean-to abutment to the north cheek. The annex is further abutted by a modern flat-roofed garage.

The south elevation is symmetrically arranged with two ground and first floor windows.

Setting:

The house is largely surrounded by rural landscape with extensive views north towards Portmore Lough. The site is bounded by hedge-rows and trees; gardens to the south, west and north. Immediately west of the house is a converted two-storey rendered outbuilding and enclosed rear yard. The site is accessed directly of the Aghalee Road via cast-iron gates hung from robust rendered square piers with pyramidal coping, curved walls and cattle grid.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Windows: 1/1 double glazed timber sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

‘Foley Hill’ first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map for the Aghalee area (1900-01) where it was depicted as a square-shaped building recorded as ‘Aghalee Dispensary’ possessing an attached single-storey extension to the east side of the house; to the north-east of the house an L-shaped outbuilding can also be seen. The Annual Revisions tell us that this house was built c.1898 as the local Dispensary and a residence for Dr. William W. Duff. The valuer records that the dwelling was valued at £22 5s; the dispensary, which was located in the adjoining single-storey extension was valued at £5. In 1897 the Irish Builder recorded that the dispensary and Doctor’s residence were constructed by Boyd & Sons (perhaps James Boyd and Sons, a Belfast based Architects Company) at the estimated cost of £909 for the Lurgan Union Board of Governors (DIA: The Irish Builder Vol. 39, 1 April; 15 Sep 1897, p. 71; 184).

The 1901 Census tells us that Dr. Duff (37) resided at the new house and dispensary with his wife Jane and his three children all of whom were of the Presbyterian denomination. The 1901 Census Building Return described the house as a 1st class dwelling which consisted of 14 rooms. By 1911 the census tells us that the house possessed a stable, a coach house, a cow house, a fowl house and a number of sheds housed within the L-shaped outbuilding to the north-east side of the house. Dr. William Duff and his family continued to occupy the house until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1928. The 1966 edition of the Ordnance Survey map shows that no discernible alteration had been made to the site by that time, when the house was recorded as ‘Foley Hill.’ Changes to the building in recent years include the addition of a modern conservatory to the house entrance whilst a modern garage has been added to the former dispensary and the L-shaped outbuilding to the north-east of the house has been converted into a separate apartment.

The current occupant claims that the garrison stationed at Soldierstown since the early 17th century used the elevated site, on which the house now stands, to fire upon an ancient Church in the nearby townland of Trummery which was occupied by Confederate Troops during the Confederate War (1641-1653). This is a locally held tradition and cannot be verified; however the Ordnance Survey Memoirs confirm that the Church was indeed bombarded and then set alight by Cromwellian forces during the period whilst Brennan, in his Church history of Aghalee, states that the local garrison fired artillery from the hills surrounding Aghalee for target practise and were responsible for the destruction of Trummery Church (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Antrim VII, Vol. 21, 1832-38; Brennan, p. 1).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/62 – Field Map c.1830
2. PRONI VAL/1/B/166 – Townland Valuation c. 1830
3. PRONI OS/6/1/62/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832
4. PRONI OS/6/1/62/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
5. PRONI OS/6/1/62/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-1901
6. PRONI OS/6/1/62/4 – 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 1894-1905
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 D – Annual Revisions 1906-1918
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/9/2 E – Annual Revisions 1918-1928
13. The Irish Builder Vol. 39 (1897)
14. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Antrim VII, Vol. 21
15. Ordnance Survey Map 163 – 1966

Secondary Sources
1. Brennan, S. J., ‘A brief history of Aghalee Parish’ Newcastle: Mourne Observer Press, 1977.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects (http://www.dia.ie/)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A two-storey three-bay Victorian rural dwelling built c.1895 to designs by architects Boyd & Sons, with adjoining former doctor’s surgery. Externally, much of the historic fabric has been retained, however the large conservatory to the former front door, and subsequent new principal entrance to the side, has altered the overall character and proportion of the building. Likewise, the interior has largely retained its character and been sympathetically modified in terms of detailing, however, the alterations to the layout have detracted from the planform. Although interesting, particularily as a former local dispensary, it is not considered to meet the criteria for listing.