Boundary Wall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Part of a whinstone rubble and brick boundary wall delineating the perimeter of Seacourt(HB23/14/005A), a grand classical house built c.1865. The entire wall encloses an area of approximately 250 x 100m. The north side runs parallel to the Bangor-Belfast coastal path and it is part of this section which is of interest. It is crenellated; the outer face is rubble, the inner face is English garden wall bonded red brick; this section is punctuated by a round archway and a three stage castellated lookout tower, also in whinstone rubble and bowed to north side. The arched gateway is formed by a triple header arch and is inset with a modern steel gate. The tower has replacement hardwood casement and fixed pane openings with brick dressings and projecting stone sills; the entrance door to south face is covered with aluminium sheeting.

The remainder of the wall has soldier coping, and is defined by square piers to the corners. The east section bounds Maxwell Lane, which gives access from Maxwell Road to the coastal path, and has some replacement sections. The former entrance to Seacourt is located at the south side, from Maxwell Road. The gate piers are separately listed under HB23/14/005C.

Setting

Seacourt is set in extensive grounds to the south of the listed portion of this boundary wall, the grounds of which are now mostly occupied by modern housing developments. A formal walled garden remains to south-west (HB23/14/005B) and there is a lawned terrace with tennis court to the east. The original entrance avenue has been blocked and entrance is now via a modern cul-de-sac (Maxwell Drive) from Maxwell Road. The original gate piers (HB23/14/005C) remain as the entrance to a separate cul-de-sac (Seacourt Gardens) at east.

Walling: Rubble stone and red brick

Historical information

The boundary wall appears to be contemporary with the main house and is shown on the third edition OS map of 1901. An aerial photograph of uncertain date shows the boundary wall together with two towers on the seaward side. The more easterly of these towers, which is captioned on the fourth edition OS map of 1919-26, does not appear to have survived. (Haines, p.2)

‘Seacourt’ was built c.1865 for Foster Connor, a Belfast linen merchant. The architect is unknown but James Hamilton and Charles Lanyon have both been suggested. The builders were Henrys who also built the Albert Bridge in Belfast. (Patton, p.165, Information Leaflet)

The house is not listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) but does appear in the first fieldbook of Annual Revisions dating from 1866, giving a probable start date for construction of c.1865. It is listed in the Annual revisions of 1866 as a house, with outoffices and gate lodge added later, buildings initially valued at £80. By 1870 this has been revised to £180, suggesting that the house and outbuildings were under construction during this period. (Patton, p.165, Information Leaflet)

The next owner of Seacourt in 1895, Samuel Cleland Davidson of the Sirocco Works, also carried out some repairs and alterations, and as a consequence the valuation of the property was raised to £285 in 1915. This was lowered to £260 following an appeal. Patton refers to a tower ‘set in a bank of tall windswept trees at the bottom of Brompton Road, [which] was built at the turn of the century to watch the yacht racing’. (Patton, p.165) A ‘tower’ is captioned at the north-west corner of the walled garden from the third edition of 1901 and is still present as a bowed projection with crenellations. A further tower is set into the boundary wall and may have been used for the same purpose. (Annual Revisions; Patton, p.165)

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/2/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
2.PRONI OS/6/3/2/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-26
3.PRONI OS/6/3/2/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
4.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/7A-K – Annual Revisions (1866-99)
5.PRONI VAL/12/B/23/9A-S – Annual Revisions (1900-1930)
6.PRONI D3642/A/3/3 – Diary recording purchase of Seacourt by SC Davidson in 1895
7.PRONI Will of Foster Connor died 5/12/1881
8.Hunt’s Yachting Magazine, Vol 18, 1869, p.483
9.Journal of Society of Arts, Vol 8, Issue 365-416, p.201, 1860

Secondary Sources

1.Haines, K “North Down Memories, Photographs 1860s-1960s” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000
2.‘History of Seacourt’, Information leaflet dated October 1976
3.McCormick, T.J. and Bleakley, Nancy “Sir Samuel Davidson and Seacourt” in Patterson, D.C. ed.“Bangor Life, An Historical View of People, Places and Events in North Down, Volume 1” Bangor Historical Society, 2008
4.Patton, M, “Bangor, An Historical Gazetteer” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Part of the north side of an extensive rubble stone and brick boundary wall running parallel to the Bangor-Belfast coastal path defining the boundary of Seacourt (HB23/14/005A), a grand classical house built c.1865 for Foster Connor, a Belfast linen merchant. The entire boundary wall encloses an area of approximately 250 x 100m and is a prominent feature both from Maxwell Road and from the Bangor to Belfast coastal path. The portion of interest is distinguished by distinctive embellishments, including crenellated copings and a look out tower to watch yacht racing. It is stylistically coherent with the former walled garden at Seacourt (HB23/14/005B), and forms part of an important group of structures associated with the house; the gate screen is separately listed under HB23/14/005C. The boundary wall remains mostly intact and is indicative of the status of this important house, which was part of the historical coastal development of Bangor in the prosperous latter half of the nineteenth century.

General comments

Please note this record has been numbered previously HB23/14/007