Reading Room

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey two-bay corner-terrace former Victorian Reading Room for the adjoining workers cottage built c.1855. Located on the north side of the main Belfast to Bangor Road opposite the entrance to the Clandeboye Estate.

Pitched artificial slate roof with clay ridge tile. Replacement red brick chimney. Cast iron rainwater goods; half circle gutters; circular downpipes; uPVC SVP to rear. Smooth rendered walling; projecting plinth and corbel course. Replacement timber side-hung single-glazed casement windows; moulded sandstone surrounds and flush chamfered cills. Diagonal timber sheeted front door in Tudor-arched opening with chamfered surrounds.

Principal elevation faces south and is asymmetrically arranged. Front door located on left accessed through integral open Tudor-arched porch with moulded sandstone surrounds. Two single windows located to the right with bipartite first floor windows over. Faux date and signature stone located over porch. Lateral single-storey buttress located left of porch.

The west facing gabled elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Open porch located on left hand side with mullioned quadripartite to the right at ground floor. Tripartite and single window to first floor, rising above eaves level.

The rear elevation is red brick English wall garden bond; abutted on the right by 3 Clandeboye Cottage (HB23/10/001C). To the left hand side are new openings with concrete lintels at ground and first floor.

The right elevation is abutted by 2 Clandeboye Cottages (HB23/10/001B).

Setting

Garden on steep sloping site to front. Yard to rear shared with adjoining building (HB23/10/001C). No rear access prior to conversion to dwelling. To the west of the site is rural landscape; south is a busy dual carriageway; modern housing development to the north and east.

Roofing: Artificial slate
Walling: Smooth render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The reading room is situated in a terraced row of estate cottages belonging to the Clandeboye Estate and bearing the date 1867. The terrace has offered something of a puzzle to researchers because of its appearance on the second edition OS map of 1858. However, the datestone currently visible on the wall of the former reading room is not in its original position and it is unclear whether it originated with this building or elsewhere on the estate. The first survey photograph of the terrace clearly shows a window where the datestone is now positioned and first survey information indicates that in 1973 the datestone was detached and lying in a back yard of one of the houses. Given that the terrace appears on the 1858 OS map, there appears to be a strong possibility that the datestone derives from another structure on the estate. (First survey information) The possibility cannot be discounted that the building was added to the map at a later date, but although this practice was commonplace with regard to railway lines and their ancillary buildings, houses beyond the immediate curtilage of the railway were not usually treated in this way.

The terrace is not listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64), however this is not conclusive evidence that it was not in existence at this time, as estate buildings were often included in the valuation of an estate without being separately identified. When the buildings first appear in Annual Revisions in 1866, they are listed as vacant, perhaps indicating that they were newly completed internally. A date of mid-1850s seems to best reconcile the conflicting evidence and is consistent with field inspection of the terrace. (Griffith’s Valuation, Annual Revisions)

The terrace, consisting of thirteen dwellings with outbuildings to the rear and a reading room, is situated on the northern edge of what was then the Clandeboye Estate. To the north is a shelter belt of trees, the ‘Walmer Screen’ and to the east a wooded area, ‘Walmer Grove’, Walmer being the name of a Cinque port of which Lord Dufferin was warden. (Patton, p.22) The architect responsible is unknown, but Benjamin Ferrey and William Henry Lynn were both working with Lord Dufferin during the 1850s and 1860s and are therefore possible candidates.

The ‘reading and news room’ is listed in Annual Revisions from 1866, leased from Lord Dufferin and Clandeboye and valued at £5.10s. In 1874, this valuation is raised to £6. All the dwellings in the terrace were raised in valuation at this time, indicating improvements to the structure as a whole. The reading and news room continues to be listed in Annual Revisions up to 1930. (Annual Revisions) According to the Clandeboye estate office, Lord Dufferin furnished the reading room with books and poetry readings were occasionally held there. One of the current residents of the terrace recalls attending parties in the reading room and remembers that it was lined with books. Each resident brought their own cup for refreshments. (Information from estate office, resident information)

The architect responsible is unknown, but Benjamin Ferrey and William Henry Lynn were both working with Lord Dufferin during the 1850s and 1860s and are therefore possible candidates.

The ‘Reading Room’ is captioned on the ordnance survey map of 1901, and continues to be so captioned through ordnance survey editions up to 1939. (Patton, p.22) Current residents recall that the reading room was in use as a communal area until 1986 when it was converted into a domestic dwelling. It was perhaps at this time that the monogram DC, signifying Dufferin and Clandeboye and the date 1867 was added to the south facade. The current residents have lived in the house since it was converted 24 years ago.

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
3.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
4.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
5.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99)
6.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/8A-C – Annual Revisions (1894-1923)
7.PRONI D1071/A/K/1/B/19/1 – Correspondence between Lord Dufferin and Mortimer Thomson Jan to Dec 1869
8.First Survey information

Secondary Sources

1.Information from residents
2.Information from Estate Office
3.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey two-bay corner-terrace former Victorian Reading Room for the adjoining workers cottages built c1855. Although modernised Although modernised, its detailing survives and is integral to the group value and interest of the terrace. The terrace is a good example of this type of estate workers housing and one of only a few such terraces in the Province. It is also of significance as part of the Clandeboye Estate and its links to the Dufferin family.

General comments

This record has been renumbered. It was previously HB23/10/001BB.
Please note this record has been renumbered and split, it was Originally recorded under the one reference HB23/10/001