Walled garden and shell house,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Quadrilateral-plan walled garden divided into two sections with brick structures to the North West end of the garden and a semi-octagonal single-storey former shell house on the East wall. Built c1830, as part of Hillsborough Castle, the walled garden is now in use by 'Praxis Care' as a care centre and garden centre.

The south, and west walls of the garden are 9-10ft high constructed of rubble stone set in lime mortar. The internal walls are generally handmade redbrick, generally laid in Flemish bond with lime mortar and brick or cement coping. Some repairs to the walling have been carried out at various times and buttresses added to the centre part of the north wall after part of the wall collapsed. There are 3 gates; a rectangular opening with a replacement timber door to the East wall; a segmental-arched opening to the north wall with a replacement double gate and a rectangular opening with timber replacement door to the south wall.

There are existing remains of the heated wall of the pinery and two of the original garden structures, although these have been altered as stores and a childcare centre.

The most intact structure is the 'shell house' on the East wall originally used as an entrance to the garden. It is a semi-octagonal redbrick building with hipped natural slate roof, slated ridges and cast-iron guttering on iron brackets. Handmade redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with lime pointing. Square-headed door and window openings with red sandstone hood moulding and sills having original bipartite ogee-headed fixed-pane timber windows. Replacement vertically-sheeted timber door and red sandstone step.

A shallow elliptical dressed stone/rubble stone arch forms a formal entrance to the garden from the estate. It is located outside the gate on the East wall and remains in ownership of the Hillsborough Estate.

Setting
Located to the southwest of Hillsborough Castle and accessed via Moira Road, forming part of the greater Hillsborough Castle Demesne.

Garden wallling: Generally rubble stone and redbrick

'Shell House'
Roof: Natural slate
RWG: Cast-iron
Walling : Redbrick
Windows: Bipartite ogee-headed timber

Historical information

"The garden is extensive, in it are green houses, hot houses and a pinery.’ The ‘garden’ referred to is the walled garden, which was cultivated until the 1970s." (Register of Parks and Gardens)

The large walled garden and brick structures including a pinery with a heated wall, glasshouses and the ‘shell house’ are shown, uncaptioned, on the first edition OS map of 1833. The structures to the North West of the garden are shown on earlier estate maps, although it is not possible to discern the 'shell house' . The 'shell house' is captioned ‘Gate Lodge’ on the second edition of 1858. The Townland Valuation (1828-40 lists a ‘gateway as shed’ which may be the current building, and dimensions are given, but the structure is not otherwise mentioned in valuation records.

On field inspection, the 'shell house' appears to have once been covered with shells internally and may also have been covered with shells externally although it is not possible to determine this with certainty.

A plaque on the wall of the building bears the following inscription, “The Shell House was named after the shells placed in the walls. The shells have long gone. The indents they made can still be seen. There is also graffiti from 1927 and 1947. A pair of boots hang in the window. Tradition has it that these were hung by a gardener, who after long service, retired and left them. The shell house was the original way that the owners would have come through to survey the garden. A very grand entrance for a garden gate”.

Shell collection was a popular pastime for the landed classes from the eighteenth century, Lord Donegall being said to have spent £10,000 on shells. Contemporary accounts contain complaints about Irish beaches being stripped bare of their shells. Shells were often used to decorate garden grottoes and other garden structures in this period, two fine examples still remaining at Curraghmore, County Waterford and Carton, County Kildare, both of the mid-eighteenth century. Shell houses are, however, rare survivals as the decoration is very vulnerable to damage, and the shells at Hillsborough have now gone. (Howley, p.34-5)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI D671/M/8/2 – Map of Hillsborough, 1771
2. PRONI T3153/1 – Map of Hillsborough, 1788
3. PRONI D671/M/8/25 – Map of Hillsborough c.1800
4. PRONI D671/M/8/57 – Map of Hillsborough 1803
5. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
6. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
7. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
8. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-20
9. PRONI VAL/1/B/344A-B – Townland Valuation (1828-40)

Secondary Sources

1. Howley, J “The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland” New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993
2. Reeves Smyth, T "REGISTER OF PARKS, GARDENS AND DEMESNES OF SPECIAL HISTORIC INTEREST" NIEA, 2007

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Irregularly-shaped rubble / redbrick walled garden and garden structures including a former shell house forming part of the Hillsborough Estate, built c.1830. The current use as a care centre and garden centre has partly returned the walled garden to its original use. The former shell house has been restored sympathetically resulting in an intact garden complex on this historic Demesne. The walled garden has group value with the other listed structures at Hillsborough Castle.

General comments

This record has been re-allocated. Originally HB19/05/081.
Additional listing criteria apply-R-Age, S- Authenticity