Walled Garden, corner of Oldstone Road and Seven Mile Straight

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An irregular shaped field bounded partly by brick and stone walling containing two archways.

Exterior face of wall to north side is of roughly coursed basalt rubble with a projecting rendered coping. At the east end a lower uncoursed basalt rubble wall abuts it tangentially, forming the boundary to Muckamore House demesne.

At the west end the masonry is uncoursed and the wall ends with a raking coping of basalt rubble.

Inner face of wall to north side is comprised of hand-made brickwork on low basalt base courses; beyond the main curved expanse of wall, towards the east, the brickwork abuts uncoursed basalt rubble with the brickwork ending in 3-course long and short blocks.

Near the corner of the eastern run with the south wall is a Gothic archway set in a segmental arched recess with basalt reveals.
Exterior of Gothic archway: main walling is of basalt rubble; archway has roughly dressed voussoirs and some cement trim to the edges.

Exterior face of main walling facing east contains some small rectangular recesses.

South walling: interior face is of basalt rubble with projecting roughly shaped basalt coping stones.
Near the centre is a semi-circular archway of dressed sandstone, the arch comprised of three curved blocks, with a projecting moulding at the springing porch of the arch. Archway approached by a set of now derelict sandstone steps, and contains a broken timber gate which has the main posts stop chamfered.
Exterior face of archway similar to interior face.
Exterior face of south wall is similar to interior face.
Beyond the gateway to the south is a flight of stone steps forming part of a previous garden layout, but all is overgrown.

Western boundary formed by modern ranch-style timber fencing.

SETTING: The walled garden stands in a rural area, in the angle between two roads at the northernmost corner of the grounds of Muckamore House. Mature trees beyond the walls to the south and north-east. Within walls the area is now a field with lines of previous pathways now obscured.

Historical information

Built as a walled garden in connection with Muckamore Abbey, the residence of the Thompson family prior to the building of the present Muckamore House. Precise date of walls not known but a walled enclosure, curved to the north, with paths laid out inside it, appears on the OS Map of 1857, although the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s makes reference to garden walls prior to that, as follows: "There are some old walls attached to the garden wall of the present residence of Samuel Thompson Esquire which are said to be the only remains of the abbey … The garden [of Muckamore Abbey], which is a some distance from the house, contains about 1 and a half acres and is well stocked and enclosed by a high wall."
The enclosed area occupies part of the site of an Anglo-Norman Augustinian Priory and contains the stumps of medieval walls below the present ground level, temporarily revealed by excavations in 1973. Part of the garden wall, the portion to the west, was demolished in 1973 due to a road widening scheme. The site is recorded as an historic monument, no.ANT50:76.

References – Primary Sources
1. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Vol 35: Parishes of County Antrim XIII, 1833, 1835, 1838 (Belfast, 1996), pp 56 and 62.
2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 50 (shows walled enclosure with paths laid out).
Secondary Sources
1. Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Committee, Heritage Gardens Inventory (Belfast, 1992), AN/073.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a structure of at least early 19th century date, of some historic interest as part of the development of Muckamore Abbey demesne and for being located on the site of a medieval abbey, but is otherwise of limited architectural interest.