Ashfield

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A polychromatic two-storey three-bay symmetrical Edwardian farmhouse erected c.1905. Rectangular plan form with a series of abutments. Located immediately to the south of Royal Down Race Course and the end of Gravehill Road, approximately 4 miles east of Moira.

Pitched natural slate roofing with clay ridge tiles; replacement slates to rear pitch. Yellow brick chimneys with decorative cornice coursing. Replacement uPVC barge and fascia boards; uPVC rainwater goods. Flemish bonded red-brick walling with yellow brick detailing to quoins and porch. 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal glazing bars and horns; stone cills; some uPVC replacement windows to the rear and gable elevations. Timber front door; four raised and pointed panels; rectangular fixed light over; cast-iron ironmongery.

The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged. Flat roofed red brick porch abutting the central bay; yellow brick corner pilasters with decorative cornice courses. The north face of the porch has a round-headed arched window with coloured margin panes; front door to the west face. Paired windows flanking either side of the porch with matching diminished openings to first floor level; single centrally-located window over porch.

The left gable is rendered and abutted by a single-storey gable-ended, pitched roof extension; paired windows to the north face; blank gable; uPVC windows to the rear with large roof lights to the rear pitch.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged; centrally abutted by a double-height lean-to extension; and a single-storey pitched roof extension to the far right; uPVC windows throughout. Windows to first floor replaced with uPVC; 8/8 timber sliding sash window located at ground floor right hand bay, adjacent to extension.

The right gable has a single window opening to the right hand side at first floor level; uPVC replacement.

Setting:

Bounded to the west by a rendered wall with large squared piers at the entrance of the driveway accessed from the west; gardens to the north and west with various types of mature trees and vegetation. Hedges and fences bounding the north of the site beyond which is a large race course complex. The south and east of the site are historic brick outbuildings and modern agricultural units with open rural landscape beyond.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Flemish bonded red brick
Windows: Timber sliding sash/uPVC replacement
RWG: uPVC replacement

Historical information

This site is historically significant as a stable-ground which has been associated with the adjoining Maze Racecourse since at least c. 1830; the racecourse itself dates from the late-seventeenth century and is an important site in the social history of the region. (Barry, p. 8)

The current house at Ashfield first appears on the fourth edition Ordance Survey map of 1919 - 20, however, an earlier farmhouse, which is situated meters from the racecourse, first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 where it was depicted as an L- shaped building situated along the Gravehill road in the townland of Maze. The first edition map shows the house together with a large number of office buildings (a number of which have since been taken down); however, the farmhouse did not appear in the contemporary Townland Valuation of c. 1830.

The first recorded occupant of Ashfield was a Mr. Robert Faughenden who let the farm from Hercules Bradshaw, the Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Co. Down, in 1861. At that time the house was valued at 10 shillings, however its many offices were worth £3 10s. Between 1863 and 1879 the property passed to a Mr. James Cheyne who was recorded as occupant until 1883. The Annual Revisions did not record a house at the site but indicates that these buildings were used as stables where horses were presumably reared for the adjoining Maze racecourse.

In 1883 a Mr. Adam Phoenix took over possession of the farm and stables which he possessed until 1927. Adam Phoenix was employed as a farmer; the 1901 Census tells us that he resided at the stable-ground with his wife Sarah and their five children, living in a small 2nd class dwelling which consisted of only two rooms. By 1911 Phoenix had constructed the much larger house which now stands; the census building return of that year tells us that it consisted of 11 rooms and that Phoenix was the owner of an extensive farm which consisted of over 20 farm buildings. The third and fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1902-1920) depict a large number of out offices surrounding the house; the 1911 Census out office return recorded that Phoenix possessed eight stables as well as two cow houses, a piggery, a boiling house, a barn, two potato houses and two fowl houses.

Phoenix continued to occupy the farm, which was first named ‘Ashfield’ on the 1919-20 Ordnance Survey map, until 1927 at which time a Mr. Fred Dougherty came into possession of the site. A large outbuilding located on the entry to the Maze racecourse (which first appeared on the 1834 map) had been taken down by 1920; it is likely due to its proximity to the racecourse that this outbuilding housed many stables recorded in the 1911 Census. The only surviving stable at Ashfield is a small building situated to the east of the house which appeared on the earliest maps. A two-storey farm building to the south side of the house also survives although it is uncertain whether this was used as a stable block.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/43 – Griffiths Valuation 1861
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16/A – Annual Revisions 1863-1879
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16/B - Annual Revisions 1880-1888
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16/C - Annual Revisions 1889-1905
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16/D - Annual Revisions 1906-1914
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/16/E - Annual Revisions 1915-1929
11. Census of Ireland – 1901 / 1911

Secondary Sources
1. Barry, J., ‘Hillsborough: A parish in the Ulster plantation’ (3rd ed.), Belfast, Universities Press., 1982.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A two-storey three-bay symmetrical gable-ended Edwardian farmhouse erected c.1905. Set adjacent to the Royal Down Racecourse and on the site of the original stable-ground, originally dating back to c.1830. Externally much of the early 20th century historic fabric and features of interest have been retained with some alterations and additions to the rear. The outbuildings to the rear, altough altered, may be earlier than the house itself; possibly surviving from a period when only stables and agricultural buildings occupied the site. Representing the late 19th/early 20th century period in the development of the racecourse, it is of interest but not of sufficient architectural and historic interest to merit listing.