Burns Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-bay, one-and-a-half-storey house, built c.1840, located to the north side of Ballycoan Road, Purdysburn. Rectangular-on-plan facing south with single-storey extension at east built c 1840 and single-storey extension at south built c.1990.

Roof is pitched natural slate laid in diminishing courses, blue/black clay ridge tiles, single (re-built) brick corbelled chimneystack with two octagonal clay pots. Deep overhanging eaves and timber bargeboards with exposed rafter ends supporting u-profile replacement uPVC rainwater goods; walls are Flemish bond red brick; windows are vertically divided lattice lights contained within chamfered smooth rendered banding and projecting moulded hoodmould with label stops.

Principal (gable) elevation faces east and is abutted at right by a single-storey lean-to extension projecting beyond line of east elevation. Exposed section at left is blank; window at centre at first floor.

Left (west) elevation contains two windows.

Rear (north) gable contains single window at ground and first floor.

Right (east) elevation is abutted by single-storey lean-to extension at left; exposed section is blank; low lean-to boiler house to internal angle.

South single-storey extension has artificial slate roof; exposed rafter ends supporting u-profile uPVC rainwater goods and timber eaves boards. Walling is new stretcher bond brick; windows are original (relocated) lattice lights contained within new square-headed openings with brick voussoirs supported on steel lintels and painted masonry projecting sills.

East single-storey extension built c.1820 appears to have been re-roofed at the same time as the south single-storey extension was added. An original window on the north cheek appears to be contained within a new opening. The east elevation is rubble construction.

Setting:

The house is located at the junction of Purdysburn Village and Ballycoan Road on a split-level site. House is bound at west by rubble walling and hedging. North-east elevation is raised above a communal parking area for residents of Purdysburn Village.

Roof: Natural Slate
Walling: Flemish bond red brick
Windows: Vertically divided lattice lights
RWG: U-profile replacement uPVC

Historical information

This one-and-a-half-storey house first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey for the Parish of Drumbo (1858) where it is depicted as an oblong building situated to the west of a terrace of three earlier cottages (HB 19/23/022A-C) which appear on the maps from the first edition in 1834; it is possible that this earlier map may include Burn’s Cottage as part of the terrace, however this cannot be verified. This dwelling, now known as Burn’s Cottage, but never recorded as such on the Ordnance Survey maps, is located at the entrance to Purdysburn Village, a former workers village, constructed to provide accommodation for the servants of Purdysburn House and Estate.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833 tell us that Purdysburn Village was located at the south wall of the Purdysburn estate which was occupied by Narcissus Batt at that time (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).

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).

Field inspection would suggest a build date of c. 1840 and would support the theory that this dwelling was constructed at the same time as the other cottages in the village. Burn’s Cottage continues to be occupied and in recent years (c. 1990) a single-storey extension has been constructed to the south entrance of the building.

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. 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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An attractive detached two-bay, one-and-a-half-storey house, built c.1840, located to the north side of Ballycoan Road, Purdysburn. The evolution of the house is apparent through a series of extensions added however; the plan form of the original 1840’s house remains largely intact. The appealing traditional characteristics of the façade, including proportion and style are largely intact and as a result the house contributes significantly to the architectural heritage of the local rural landscape.

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.