Outbuildings to Glynn Park, 102a Prince Andrew Way, Carrickfergus, BT38 7TU

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Location & Setting: (Note – to be read in conjunction with Site Plan, refer to Maps section)
Glynn Park and outbuildings are located off the northern side of Prince Andrew Way, approx. 2.5km north of Carrickfergus Castle.
The stable yard is located on the North-East side of Glynn Park (HB22 15 004A), a substantial former country house with a grand front façade with 19th century fenestration. Glynn Park Close, a modern housing development (c.2004), has been constructed on the SW side of the former estate, and the former Gatelodge to Glynn Park (HB22 15 004B) has been separated from the estate by the construction of Prince Andrew Way.

The stable yard is accessed through a pair of tall, painted brick piers. The left-side pier abuts the SE corner of Outbuilding 4 and has a decorative painted timber hood on the front face of the pier and flat concrete coping stone. The right-side pier no longer has the painted timber hood and has a concrete eagle on a flat concrete coping stone, and a modern metal post box attached to the SE side. The pier is abutted by the SE wall of Outbuilding 4, which extends to meet the pier. Gates are modern metal replacements.

The stable yard consists of four outbuildings (Nos 1, 2, 3 & 4) which are arranged to form a rectangular yard running SW-NE, the largest of which was formerly a Coach House (Outbuilding 1). Two large 20th century steel, concrete & timber-clad sheds have been constructed to both the NW and NE sides of the stable yard, enveloping the rear and gable elevations of Outbuilding 1, and the eastern side of Outbuilding 4.

The stable yard is separated from Glynn Park main house at the SW end of the yard by Outbuilding 3 and a set of wrought iron gates and railings.

The long shed on the NW side is entered through a pair of painted roughly rendered brick/stone piers located on the left (SW) side of the yard (pier on right side abuts the stable block at the SW end of Outbuilding 1). Both piers have painted brick and exposed corbelled brick beneath a rough concrete coping. Both piers indicate remnants of a brick wall which ran between the piers, now truncated.

The larger shed on the NE side is entered between Outbuildings 1 and 4, with the shed roof projecting beyond both outbuildings, so that both are partially covered by the shed roof.

Outbuilding 1
Linear, storey-and-a-half, painted roughly-rendered stone, natural slate pitched roofed former Coach House abutted by single storey stable block at SW end. Facing SE into stable yard. Immediate
setting altered with the construction of two large modern sheds of steel construction with concrete bases and timber cladding, the larger of the two abutting the NE gable and a longer shed abutting the rear NW façade. No chimneys.

Front (SE) elevation - L to R: Large paired window openings beneath exposed timber lintel with metal hook to centre. Visible brick surrounds beneath paint, appearance suggests this section was original coach arch which has been infilled; centrally located door opening with stone carved head over, and one step up; three relatively evenly spaced window openings with painted brick window surrounds, last window on right is below roof overhang of adjacent shed;

Gable (SW) elevation - Plain gable wall with clipped eaves, no openings, abutted by single storey stable block with pitched roof.

Rear (NW) elevation - Exposed stone wall, loosely brought to courses, now fully abutted along its entire length by modern steel shed so that rear elevation is now effectively internal; some patches of red brick infill and some areas of lime wash/paint over stone.
L to R: One window opening approximately halfway along rear wall with a replacement timber framed window with double-glazed panes, facing directly into shed; evidence of some blocked up openings along rear façade, including two circular former window openings with red brick surrounds; two metal flues on rear stone wall rise vertically, extracting through shed metal roof; three small square ventilation openings at high level on extreme right side, into attached stables.

Gable (NE) elevation - Exposed stone gable wall (partially limewashed/painted) with clipped eaves, and one opening with uPVC window at first floor level; modern shed built within approx. 600mm of gable wall.

Materials:
Windows uPVC top-hung replacement, other than rear timber multi-pane double-glazed window on rear NW wall
Cills painted stone/concrete
Door uPVC
Walls painted roughly-rendered stone, painted brick infilled areas
Roof Natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles
Rainwater goods PVC & cast metal

Outbuilding 2
Natural slate pitched roof with black concrete ridge tiles. Profiled metal rainwater goods.
Front elevation (onto courtyard) – painted brick walls with painted brick plinth with openings along stable yard.
L to R: replacement timber half/half stable door; window opening with timber multi-pane casement window; large opening with timber sheeted doors hung on wheels from iron/steel lintel; two half/half stable doors, top leaf timber sheeted, bottom half replacement timber sheeted; window opening with multipane timber window; timber sheeted door.
Gable elevation (NE) – plain gable, no openings, painted roughly-rendered stone, clipped verge.
Rear elevation (SE - onto driveway into Glynn Park (HB15-22-004A) – walls are mixture of random rubble stone and red brick, natural slate roof, replacement black ridge tiles, clipped eaves.
L to R: flush Perspex rooflight, small high-level opening with brick surround and no window, stone/brick buttress/pier, small cement-faced lean-to with profiled metal sheet roof, sloping random rubble stone buttress/pier.

Outbuilding 3
Pitched natural slate roof with painted rendered walls, three wide stable door openings with timber half/half doors, roof overhang to stable yard with modern rafters exposed.

Outbuilding 4
Pitched natural slate roof to SW side only, rest of pitched roof is missing and the outbuilding is now largely subsumed beneath the higher roof of the large attached modern shed. Painted smooth-rendered walls, metal rainwater goods, single opening to SW face with 3/3 timber sliding sash window, two door openings to NW face with half/half timber-sheeted stable doors.

Historical information

Glynn Park House appears to have been built prior to 1807 by James Craig, possibly around the remains of a much earlier structure [see below.] The house was ‘improved’ in c.1825, and is shown in much of its present form on the OS map of 1832 along with the coach house to the east. The stable yard itself was not present at this stage, the main arcing drive from the south leading directly to the east of the house.[Ref 16] The yard was created at some point before 1857 by then owner John Legg, and is shown on the revised OS map of the latter year along with the block on the south side and a narrow addition to the west side of the existing coach house. In order to accommodate the construction of the yard, Legg redirected the main drive further to the south, and it is likely that the terrace immediately in front of the house was created as part of this scheme.[27]

At some point before 1902 another structure was added to the east side of the yard; the latter was extended to the rear (east) before 1921 and a square block, on the west side of the yard and directly abutting the house, had been built by this date also.[36, 40] This arrangement appears to have remained largely altered until some point after 1981 when the southern and western blocks were extended enclosing the southwest corner of the yard.[52] The large equestrian centre was constructed to the east side in or shortly after 1998.

The ownership of the stable yard and its buildings remained with the main house until 2018, when the former was sold as a separate property. Since then the coach house has been converted to a dwelling. The long shed to the north appears to have been added at this time also.

HISTORY OF GLYNN PARK Variously known in the early 1800s as ‘Glyn Park’, ’Glen Park’ and ‘Glenpark’, the early history of Glynn Park is difficult to trace. It is mentioned by name in a newspaper notice of January 1807, but nothing is shown on the site on Williamson’s County Antrim map of the following year, suggesting that whatever was present at this stage was relatively modest and quite likely considerably smaller than the building we see today.[Refs 3-4, 7] This idea is supported by the quirky organic nature of the design, which suggests a house that has evolved over the years, an assertion supported by the fact that its setting - right next to what (until relatively recently) had been a minor public road - is rather odd one for a relatively grand residence. The present owner believes the house may incorporate part of a ‘medieval’ structure, whilst a recent estate agent’s brochure refers to it as ‘dating back to the 1600s.’[55] Given the antiquity of many sites in and around Carrickfergus, it is possible that there was a structure or structures here prior to the early 19th century; however, the documentary evidence for the presence of something considerably older in this particular vicinity is lacking, and whilst elements of the physical evidence are intriguing and may point to something earlier than 1807, these have not yet been examined in detail. There is also said to be a ‘tunnel’ to the south of the building which may indicate previous activity on the site, but this too has yet to be assessed.[60]

The newspaper notice of 1807 indicates that the building’s owner at that point was James Craig, and he is attributed with its construction (dated at ‘about 40 years since’) in the OS Memoirs of 1839. [24] Craig (1759-1833) was a local man who served as MP for Carrickfergus from 1807-12, as well as a burgess and deputy Lord Mayor for the town, and who was described at the time of his death as a man of ‘unsullied political integrity, and unflinching patriotism’, who ‘never hesitated to give his most zealous support to the cause of civil and religious freedom.’[17, 57] In 1792 he purchased ‘Scout Bush’, on the southwestern side of Carrickfergus, and subsequently built a house there on or close to the site of a late 16th / early 17th century artillery fort, part of the ruins of which, incidentally, may in part have been incorporated into the new building itself.[59] Although he appears to have been occupying Glynn Park in 1807, Scout Bush seems to have been his home for most (if not all) of the next two decades, with the former noted as occupied by Stephen Trocke in Ambrose Lett’s 1814 ‘Directory of Noted Places’, whilst in 1819 a Captain Rice was living there, with Trocke listed as the occupant once again in Alexander Atkinson’s 1823 ‘Ireland Exhibited to England…’.[10-11, 13-14] In 1822 James Craig he advertised Scout Bush for let, (finally leasing it to James Willis by 1825), and in 1826 is recorded as being of ‘Glenpark’, remaining there until his death in June 1833.[13, 15, 17]

Samuel McSkimin, writing in 1829, refers to the house as ‘a highly improved villa’.[8] The building is shown roughly similar to today on the first edition OS map of 1832, but the lower two-storey west wing is depicted as narrower, the bow-fronted single-storey projection to the east end is not present; it also appears that some of the return components to to the rear had not yet been built. There was no stable yard to the immediate east of the house and this time, merely the coach house, with the main arcing drive from the south leading directly to the space now occupied by the yard. [16, 21 NOTE: The historical info supplied by the 2011 contractors’ survey did not quote the dimensions supplied in 1836 valuation nor the second valuation of c.1859. These documents will be consulted when PRONI reopens.] The 1839 OS Memoirs describe the house as a ‘small but neat looking edifice…3-storeys high, slated, with wings in front’, occupying ‘a pretty and retired situation.’ The Memoirs further state that the building had been ‘improved 14 years ago’, indicating that Craig probably extended and remodelled the building shortly after he moved back there in 1825.[24] This date equates with its overall appearance, and the odd elements of gothick detailing in particular. It is difficult to say what the property amounted to prior to this date, but fenestration on the front of the main three-storey block has an irregular arrangement (the upper floor openings do not align with those on the ground level for instance) suggesting that this section could well have been radically altered, possibly raised in height.

Glynn Park was acquired in 1834 by John Legg, a prominent local merchant who was at that point High-Sheriff for the ‘County of Carrickfergus’, and who in 1835 let it to Cortlandt Macgregor Skinner. Skinner (1766-1842) was a native of New Jersey, whose father of the same name was a prominent commander of loyalist forces during the American War of Independence, and who himself served in that conflict as a young man. He resided there until at least late 1838, but by the middle of the following year John Legg himself was occupying the property, retaining it up until his death in August 1861.[17, 19, 21, 26, 29]. The 1857 OS map shows that during his tenure, Legg extended the building, adding the single-storey bow-fronted projection to the east and creating the stable yard together with an additional block on the south of this; some of the rear portions may also date from this period. The map shows the main drive had been redirected slightly, terminating directly in front of the house, indicating that the terrace was formed during this time also, and explaining why the basement openings to this side are now all below ground.

After 1861 although the property remained in the ownership of the Legg family well into the 20th century, it was leased to various tenants. The valuation books tell us that James Meehan [or Mehan] and Henry Blackburne were tenants from c.1862-70; Robert McMurray from c.1870-85; John Shaw Exham, c.1885-94; John B. Pirrie (then Manager of the nearby Barn Mills), c.1894-1902; Lord Burleigh Cecil, c.1902-04; Richard W.F. Cecil, c.1904-09 and William Frederick Coates (the prominent Belfast stockbroker and Lord Mayor of Belfast, 1920-23, 29-31, 1st Baronet Coates from 1921, c.1909-30.)[31-35]. During this whole period the house does not appear to have undergone any major alterations, although increases in the rateable value (rising from £31 to £35 in 1862, £49 in 1907, reducing to £43 in 1918) suggest changes were made at these dates. The 1902 OS map shows a large conservatory to the front of the west wing had been added by this time, as well as a narrow freestanding structure to the rear of the same wing, whilst an additional range add been added to the east side of the yard. By 1921 a small block (abutting the house) to the west side of the yard had been built, and the conservatory had been removed, the loss of the latter possibly explaining the reduction in the rateable value by £6 in 1918. At some point between 1921 and 1945 the west wing was extended, with the end section west of the chimneystack either raised a storey or totally rebuilt in two-storey form.

In October 1922, during the period of troubles immediately following Partition, (and during one of W.F. Coates’s tenures as Belfast’s Lord Mayor), a bomb ‘loaded with coarse black powder, and with a fuse attached, and some flat-nosed bullets’ was placed ‘near the hall door’ of Glynn Park, but fortunately, failed to explode.[41] Following this the Coates family are believed to spent less time there.

The property was put up for sale in 1926 and by 1930 by Major William Baird (1874-1956), the then owner of the ‘Belfast Telegraph’, and his family was living there.[42-43] A Miss M. Blakely is noted as resident in 1932 and W.F. Coates’s’ widow, Lady Margaret Coates, was back again by 1935 [45-46]. The Bairds seem to have settled there permanently shortly after this, retaining it until the 1970s.[49]

Glynn Park was advertised for sale in February 1976 and again in November 1977.[50, 51] In c.1986 a major new thoroughfare (‘Prince Andrew Way’) was created, slicing through the southern edge of the grounds of the property, cutting off the end of the main drive and its gate lodge and necessitating the creation of the present main entrance off the new road itself. At some point after 1998 the large equestrian centre to the immediate east of the yard was constructed; the range to the western side of the yard (abutting the house) appears to have been extended several years before this. The house was put up for sale in 2002, and again in 2013 and acquired by the present owner shortly afterwards. The stable yard and its attendant buildings were sold off as a separate concern in 2018.[52-54, 55, 60]

References: Primary Sources
1 PRONI D2489/4 Documents mainly relating to the Legg family of Glynn Park, 1608-1941
2 PRONI D971/42/A/4-41 Deeds, correspondence and papers about the debts of James Craig of Scoutbush, 1762-1828
3 ‘Taylor and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland’, (Dublin, 1777)
4 ‘A Map of the County of Antrim…by J. Lendrick, 1780’
5 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 31 January 1807
6 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 4 November 1807, p.1
7 ‘A Map of the County of Antrim…by J. Lendrick, 1780’ - revised version by James Williamson, 1808
8 McSkimin, Samuel, ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus…’, (Belfast, 1811, with revised eds 1823, 1829, 1833, 1839)
9 Leet, Ambrose, ‘A Directory to the Market Towns…in Ireland’, Dublin 1814
10 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 25 January 1817
11 ‘Saunders’s News-Letter’, 30 December 1819
12 PRONI D652/829 Lease of land in Carrickfergus from the Marquis of Donegall to James Craig ‘of Scoutbush’, April 1822
13 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 19 October 1822, p.3
14 Atkinson, A., ‘Ireland exhibited to England…’, (, 1823), p.442
15 ‘Dublin Morning Register’, 19 September 1826
16 PRONI OS/6/1/52/1 First Edition OS Map (1832)
17 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 7 June 1833 [James Craig’s death notice]
18 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3 June 1834, p.3
19 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 1 April 1835, p.3
20 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 6 June 1836
21 PRONI VAL/1/B/187 First valuation (1836) [‘Glynn Park’ is recorded in this valuation as consisting of a ‘house, [with a] projection in front, a north and south wing, return, passage, offices and a [barn]’, and valued at £25.12s.15d.]
22 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 5 September 1838, p.3
23 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’, 8 July 1839, p.3
24 OS Memoirs (1839-40)
25 ‘Northern Whig’ 17 March 1849, p.3
26 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 19 November 1851, p.3
27 PRONI OS/6/1/52/2 Revised Edition OS Map (1857)
28 PRONI VAL/2/B/22A Second valuation (1859)
29 ‘Belfast Morning News’, 30 August 1861, p.7
30 ‘Belfast News-Letter, 16 October 1861, p.2
31 PRONI VAL12B/7/5A Valuation revision book, 1861-64
32 PRONI VAL12B/7/5B Valuation revision book, 1865-73
33 PRONI VAL12B/7/5D Valuation revision book, 1874-84
34 PRONI VAL12B/7/5F Valuation revision book, 1884-94
35 PRONI VAL12B/7/6A Valuation revision book, 1894-1907
36 PRONI OS/6/1/52/3 Third Edition OS Map (1901-2)
37 PRONI VAL12A/1/70 Valuer’s office notebook, 1907-18
38 PRONI VAL12B/7/8A Valuation revision book, 1908-20
39 PRONI VAL12A/1/71 Valuer’s office notebook, 1919-22
40 OS map, 1921
41 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 16 October 1922, p.5
42 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 15 November 1926, p.12
43 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ 10 October 1930, p.11
44 Photo of Glynn Park, c.1930
45 ‘Derry Journal’, 29 January 1932
46 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3 August 1935, p.5
47 OS map, 1945
48 OS map, 1968
49 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 18 December 1973, p.13
50 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 10 February 1976, p.17
51 ‘Belfast Telegraph’ 8 November 1977, p.19
52 OS map, 1981
53 ‘The Times’ online https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bargain-of-the-week-hm7snrfn8vq
54 Belfast Telegraph Digital https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/carrickfergus-mansion-priced-at-just-60000-fails-to-sell-29237111.html (accessed 23 April 2020)
55 BTW Cairns Estate agent’s brochure c.2013

Secondary sources
56 McSkimin, Samuel, ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus…’, new edition, (Belfast, 1909), pp.318-19, 420, 503, 505
57 Thorne, R.G. ed., ‘The House of Commons, 1790-1820, volume 1’, (London, 1986)
58 HED SMR file ANT052:035 File on Scout Bush artillery fort
59 ‘Clan Forsyth Society Newsletter', no.28 October 2007, pp.6-8
60 Information from owner [March 2020]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

The significance of the stable yard outbuildings and their special interest lies principally in their group value with the main house, Glynn Park (HB22 15 004A) to which they were formerly associated, and the Gatelodge (HB22 15 00B), separated from the former estate by Prince Andrew Way since c.1986.

Glynn Park House was built prior to 1807 and is shown, along with the Coach House on the OS map of 1832. Changes to the approach to the main house and ground/basementcoach house level were made around the same time as the construction of the Gate Lodge (HB22.15.004B) before 1857. Further structures were added to the yard before 1902, and again between 1902 and 1921.

Whilst the immediate setting of the stableyard has been altered with the addition of large agricultural sheds which abut the former Coach House to both NE & NW sides, the built form of the stable yard itself is largely intact and legible. The oldest of the outbuildings, the Coach House, was converted to a dwelling c.2018-2019. The building retains legibility of plan-form, and reatins some historic detailig and joinery though it has suffered during modernisation, including the loss of decorative joinery and ironwork to stables internally. The stableyard outbuildings are of special local interest having a continued physical and historic connection to Glynn Park.

General comments

This record was previously numbered as HB22/15/004 and was included with the main house.