9 Purdysburn Village

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half-storey, two-bay mid-terrace, built c.1830, located in Purdysburn Village to the north of Ballycoan Road. Mid-terrace in a symmetrical group of four houses of similar style and detailing (two end-terraces are single-bay).

Roof is pitched natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles; deep overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends; painted bargeboards supported on exposed timber corbels. Two rectangular red brick chimneystacks, that at west, abuts No.8 (HB19/23/023A). Rainwater goods are replacement u-profile uPVC. Walling is smooth rendered. Windows are painted lattice casements within square headed openings with plastered reveals and painted projecting masonry sills, (replacement uPVC casement windows at rear). Original timber sheeted entrance door at north, replacement uPVC door at south.

Principal north elevation contains principal entrance at left, flanked by three equally spaced windows at right; window at right is surmounted by wall-head dormer with natural slate pitched roof and timber bargeboards, window at left surmounted by dormer window with natural slate pitched roof, each with original lattice casement window.

East gable is abutted by No.10 (HB19/23/023C).

Rear elevation is abutted at right by single-storey return with cat-slide roof (interior access was not granted so it could not be determined if this was part of No.9 (HB19/23/023B) or No.10 (HB19/23/023C), window detailing suggests this is part of No.9 (HB19/23/023B); exposed section at left contains two replacement windows.

West gable is abutted by No.8 (HB19/23/023A).

Single-storey return is detailed as main block; south gable is blank, west cheek contains replacement timber panelled and glazed door.

Setting:

The terrace is part of Purdysburn village, located to the north of Ballycoan Road. Vehicular access is at south through an area of modern development, pedestrian access is possible also at the east and west. Small enclosed garden at north, concrete driveway and small forecourt at south, enclosed by timber fence.

Roof Natural Slate
Walling Smooth render
Windows Lattice glazed casements
RWG Replacement u-profile uPVC

Historical information

No. 9 Purdysburn Village first appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for the Parish of Drumbo (1834) where it is depicted as one of a terrace of four cottages (HB 19/23/023A-D). The contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833 record that Purdysburn Village was located at the south wall of the Purdysburn estate which was occupied by the Landlord Narcissus Batt at that time; the memoir state that this village was predominantly a protestant settlement in which 120 out of a population of 125 persons were of the protestant faith (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down II, Vol. 7, 1833, p. 60); the 1844 Parliamentary Gazetter records that Purdysburn Village originally consisted of 28 single-storey cottages. There was little alteration to the site over the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps; in 1886 Bassett’s Co. Down Directory recorded the village in similar terms, consisting of ‘about 30 houses, occupied chiefly by farm labourers’ (Bassett). An unknown newspaper cutting, held in a collection of the Purdysburn Estate at Downpatrick Library, records that the village was originally constructed to house those servants and farm labourers that worked on the adjoining Purdysburn Estate.

Rankin states that the Purdysburn Estate had lain vacant for a number of years before it was purchased in 1811 by Narcissus Batt. Dean records that a Mr. Thomas Hopper constructed three gate lodges at the Purdysburn Estate c. 1825 and it is possible that the village may have been constructed at a similar time although this cannot be confirmed. Purdysburn House continued to be occupied by the Batt family until it was sold in 1895 and established as a ‘lunatic asylum’ (Rankin, p. 95; Dean, p. 90).

Together with nos 1 to 11, No. 9 Purdysburn Village is one of the original labourers cottages associated with the Purdysburn Estate; however in the mid-1970s the village came into the possession of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive which expanded the site with the construction of 19 new cottages (Belfast Telegraph – 10 January 1977). No. 9 Purdysburn Village continues to be occupied and is in a good state of repair, maintaining its original plan layout and character despite the addition in recent years of some replacement uPVC windows. The current owner reported at the time of the survey that the house was orignally a post office; as this record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland this has not been verified.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/9/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/9/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/9/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1901-1902
4. PRONI OS/6/3/9/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-1921
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/25C – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Down II, Vol. 7, 1833
7. Parliamentary Gazetter (1844)
8. Bassett’s County Down guide and directory (1886)
9. Belfast Telegraph (1977)

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2. Rankin, J. Fred, ‘The Heritage of Drumbo’ Ballycairn Presbyterian Church, 1982.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A one-and-a-half-storey, single-bay end terrace, built c.1830, located in Purdysburn Village to the north of Ballycoan Road. End terrace in a symmetrical group of four Purdysburn Estate worker's houses houses of similar style and detailing (two houses at centre are larger). The buildings all retain many original features externally including original lattice glazed windows at north and on a whole remains unchanged from its original form and layout. Despite minor alteration and replacement windows and doors at south this house retains much architectural and historic interest contributing to the Area of Village Character. It has group value with the other listed buildings in this terrace.

General comments

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