Ardnaveigh

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey courtyard development formerly built as a stable yard but now partly converted for use as a house. The main entrance to the courtyard is on the east side, and the wing used as a house is on the west side.

West elevation of house wing: hipped roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; walling of basalt rubble with granite quoins; PVC downpipes; entrance is a rectangular timber 8-panel door with radial fanlight and 3-pane sidelights set in an elliptical arched opening with smooth cement render to arch; one window to right of doorway is a rectangular timber sliding sash, 6 over 9, with horns; the rest of the windows are modern fixed lights and top-hung vents, all set in modern rustic brick surrounds; modern rustic brick chimneys.

South end of house wing is of similar materials, with a 20th century glazed timber side door.

East elevation of house wing, facing into the courtyard, is of similar walling except for stone block surrounds to windows, including wide elliptical arched openings now closed up with modern timber small-paned windows.

Other wings within courtyard are in basalt with block surrounds to windows and doorways, and include wide elliptically arched openings, all in a partially derelict condition.

The east wing contains the main entrance into courtyard, through an elliptically arched coachway, with anthemion-ornamented acroteria on the outside face; to the right of that is incorporated a smooth rendered original house with a later gabled red brick projection, in a partially derelict condition.

Outbuildings include a small single storey detached block to the west, of snecked blackstone with sandstone block dressings to openings, now completely derelict, and a pair of gabled single storey blocks to the east, one in roughly coursed basalt rubble with rounded brick dressings to openings, the other in painted snecked basalt with granite dressings and elliptical arched doorway now blocked up, with its gable surmounted by an Italianate bellcote in sandstone.

SETTING: The building stands in a rural area on an eminence, formerly surrounded by farmland and reached by long lanes from the public road, but now with an extensive modern school built in its grounds immediately to the south.

Historical information

Built c 1838 for Thomas Montgomery as the stableyard and offices of Birch Hill House which was later re-named Ardnaveigh. Birch Hill House was built c 1785 by a Mr Bristow; after having several owners it was taken over by Thomas Montgomery who owned it in the 1830s. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs in 1838 referred to the office houses as "only recently finished. They form a handsome square and are very superior in their finish and design". North and west portion shown on OS map of 1832; the rest shown by 1857. Ardnaveigh House was demolished c 1943 after a fire during occupation by forces during the war; part of the stableyard was then converted into a house.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1832, Co Antrim 50.
2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 50.
3. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 29: Parishes of County Antrim XI, 1832-3, 1835-9 (Belfast, 1995), pp 20-21, 50.
Secondary Sources
1. UAHS, West Antrim (Belfast, 1970), p 14.
2. J.A.K. Dean, The Gate Lodges of Ulster (UAHS, Belfast, 1994), p 5.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a partly 18th century and partly 19th century complex built originally as a stable court and outbuildings but now partly residential, which retains some of its original features but has lost a number of others in the course of later alterations.