6 Purdysburn Village

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-storey end-terrace, built c. 1830, located in Purdysburn Village to the north of Ballycoan Road. End terrace in a group of three houses comprising a symmetrical central one-and-a-half storey block aligned east-west, abutted at east and west by single-storey L-plan terrace house of similar style and detailing. No. 6 (HB19/23/024C), is a single-storey L-plan end terrace at west.

Roof is pitched natural slate with blue/black clay ridge tiles, small cast-iron roof light at south; deep overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends; painted bargeboards supported on exposed timber corbels. Single rectangular redbrick chimneystacks with two decorative clay pots to east gable. 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 timber casement windows at rear).

Principal symmetrical north elevation contains central replacement timber sheeted entrance door flanked by single window at each side.

East gable is abutted at left by single-storey return with pitched natural slate roof; exposed section is blank. Single-storey return north elevation contains one window; east gable is blank.

Rear elevation contains replacement timber glazed door at right (east return); two timber replacement windows at left.

West gable is abutted by one-and-a-half-storey block, No.5 (HB19/23/024B).

Setting:

The terrace is part of Purdysburn village, located to the north of Ballycoan Road. Vehicular access is at east and pedestrian access is possible also at the south-east through an area of modern development. This house has a small enclosed garden at north and south enclosed by timber fence at north and painted mild steel railings at east.

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

Historical information

No. 6 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 three cottages (HB 19/23/024A-C). The contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833 tell us 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 tells us 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 tells us 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 tells us 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).

No. 6 Purdysburn Village is one of two single-storey cottages which abut No. 5 (HB 19/23/024B), the villages former post office. Together with nos 1 to 11, No. 4 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. 6 Purdysburn Village preserves its original layout and character although the doors and a number of the original lattice windows have been replaced.

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

Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single-storey end terrace estate cottage, built c. 1830, located in Purdysburn Village to the north of Ballycoan Road. Located in a group of three houses of similar style and detailing, the central one comprising of a symmetrical one-and-a-half storey block. The building retains many original features externally including original lattice glazed windows at north and remains largely unchanged from its original form and layout, except for some minor alteration and replacement windows and doors at south. As a former farm labourers cottage for the Purdysburn estate, it has group value with No.5 (HB19/23/024A) and No.6 (HB19/23/024B) and the other estate terraces on the street, HB19/23/022 and HB19/23/023, which as an intact group make a significant contribution to the character of Purdysburn village.

General comments

In Purdysburn Area of Village Character.
This record is part of a group. (Refer to HB19/23/024A and B)
This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Criteria U, R & S also apply.
In the first survey numbers 4-6 were recorded as numbers 13-15 Purdysburn Village.