5 Brookside Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-storey, single-cell rubble stone dwelling with thatch-under-tin; built c.1850 and located to the north side of Brookside Road, Ballynahinch. Rectangular on plan with slightly lower single-storey single-cell extension to west.

Pitched roof, thatched under tin with raised stone verges. No rainwater goods. Walling is random rubble stone with red-brick dressing around door. Windows are replacement timber-framed casements.

The principal elevation faces south. Replacement timber door to left of centre and window to left; between is a rubble-stone infill with stone lintel. To left on axis is single-storey extension (lower) having replacement timber door to centre.

The west gable is abutted by single-storey extension.

The south elevation has large timber sliding door to left. Extension has window at left.

The east gable is blank.

Setting:

Situated in a semi-rural location with modern two-storey dwelling to west having landscaped garden. Set back from the road with gravelled parking area to front; accessed via replacement wrought-iron farm gate with rounded rubble stone gate pier. Bounded to road by rubble stone and loose stone wall. Rear yard is partially lawned and enclosed by modern timber fence. Modern corrugated steel agricultural shed to rear.

Roof: Thatch under tin
Walling: Rubble stone
Windows: Replacement
RWG: None

Historical information

This single-storey originally thatched farmhouse does not appear until the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1859; the house replaced an earlier indistinct structure which appeared on the 1834 map which bears no resemblance to the current structure. The 1859 Ordnance Survey map depicts the house as an oblong building situated in the townland of Clontanagullion west of Ballynahinch. It is unclear from this map whether the office currently abutting the west gable of the house had been constructed at this time however the third edition clearly depicts the office by 1902. A separate outbuilding can be seen from the second edition map located where the modern gate is now situated; it is likely that the rubble stone gate pier is a remnant of this outbuilding which was taken down some time after 1920.

Griffith’s Valuation tells us that a Mr. James Barr occupied the farmhouse in 1861; Barr let the property, which was valued at £1 10s. from a Mr. David S. Kerr (who was the owner of the Northern Banking Co.). James Barr had moved to a different dwelling in the townland of Burren before his death in 1872; however his son James Barr had taken over possession of the farmhouse by that time (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 15 October 1872). By 1901 James Barr’s son, John Shaw Barr (30), also resided in Burren and let the farmhouse to a Mr. Moses Tate, a 44 year old labourer who lived in the farmhouse with his wife Eliza. The census building return tells us that the building possessed a thatched roof and contained two rooms; in 1901 the farmhouse possessed a stable, cow house and a barn which were housed in the adjoining office and the separate outbuilding. Moses Tate occupied the house in 1901; however the 1911 Census tells us that the dwelling was uninhabited in 1911.

Since 1901 the original thatch of the farmhouse has been covered with a corrugated tin roof. It is not known when the house was finally abandoned; however the building is now used as the outbuilding to a modern replacement dwelling which was constructed to the west of the former farmhouse in 1976.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/29/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/29/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/29/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/29/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/68 – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. Census of Ireland 1901 / 1911
7. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1872)
8. Ordnance Survey Map 204 (1976)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A single-storey, single-cell, rubble stone thatch-under-tin dwelling with extension, built c.1850 and located to the north side of Brookside Road, Ballynahinch. An interesting mid-nineteenth century vernacular dwelling in a rural setting with a relatively well-preserved roof structure and fireplace. Although interesting it is not considered suitable for listing, as the windows and doors have been altered and setting has been compromised by a modern dwelling directly to east.

General comments

This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.