5 Kearney Village

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Left hand house in a single storey block containing two vernacular dwellings, of possble pre 1834, the right hand house (no 5 - HB24/01/086B) is very small and this one is over twice its size with a recently added long rear return. The block is set on the NE edge of Kearney Village (c.3 miles SE of Portaferry), close to and facing the shoreline.

Front (E) façade of this house has off centre timber and glazed stable door with a single window to the left and one to the right, both with modern frames.

The S gable has a three sided bay window with modern frame. This gable is flush with the S façade of the long rear return and has four windows and a door (all much as front). There are similar (but slight smaller) windows to the N façade of the return. The W (rear) façade of the original portion of the house has a small flat roofed extension (with is also joined to the return). To the W face of this is a small window with modern frame and a door, much as front. To the left of the extension (on main rear façade) is another window with modern frame.

The façade is finished in rough cast and painted. The gabled roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with two rendered chimney stacks to original portion and one to the return. Cast iron and PVC rw goods.

Historical information

A block matching the site and shape of the original portion of this and the house next door (No 6 - HB24/01/086B) is shown on the OS map of 1834 and all other maps thereafter. It is possible, therefore that both houses are of pre 1834 construction. The long rear return on this house was added in 1994-95. Main block re-roofed in 1960's

KEARNEY VILLAGE
In early medieval times, the townland of Kearney was a possession of the McKearneys, a family possibly distantly related to the O’Neills of Tyrone. During the later medieval period this land came into the possession of the Gaelicised Norman family of the Savages, who appear to have leased much of it to the Smiths, a dependent family of similar origin. A lease from Patrick Savage to Patrick Smith from 1643 mentions what was then one of the most lucrative aspects of Kearney, ‘the mill, mill ponds and watercourses’, from which the landlord received at not inconsiderable income.

By the later 17th century the Savages had leased much of Kearney to the Ross family (of Rosstrevor) who continued in possession of the lands throughout the 18th century. It is from a lease of March 1729 that we have the first indication of a substantial settlement on the site of the present village. This settlement was to grow throughout the remainder of the century, with locals employed on the local farms and the two near by flax and corn mills, whilst supplementing their incomes by salvaging the not infrequent shipwrecks, and perhaps smuggling. Wrecking may have taken place also.

The village probably reached its greatest extent in terms of population and activity in the 1830s, when there were 33 families, two schools (one C of I and Catholic, the other Presbyterian), and a ‘ceilidh house’. Most of the buildings we see today appear to have been present at this time, but as most were exempt from rating, very little is recorded of the village in the 1836 valuation in terms of house dimensions and occupiers*. The only dwellings which are mentioned are three single storey houses, occupied by Hugh and John McNabb and Widow Hasty (who owned the close by windmill).

The slow decline in Kearney’s fortunes began in the latter half of the nineteenth century and by 1900 the population had halved, many seeking more prosperous lives in the towns, or emigrating. By 1938 most of the Kearney farms and cottages had passed into the possession of Hugh Orr, who had established a model farm close by. The decline continued unabated, however, so that by 1945 only three houses were occupied by a total of seven residents. When the National Trust acquired the village twenty years later (with money collected during the Enterprise Neptune campaign), it was practically a ghost town.

Since 1965, the Trust have attempted to restore and reconstruct Kearney based on the plan of the village as shown on the 1834 OS Map, when the settlement had probably reached its zenith. Most of the houses are now occupied as full time homes once more, with a few as holiday residences, with all properties leased from the Trust.

Currently only one of the original dwellings lies vacant awaiting imminent restoration.

*The second valuation poses similar problems for the buildings in the village are not individually numbered on the valuation map, thus making it very difficult (if not impossible) to put the name of an occupant to a dwelling.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.552 Savage/Nugent Papers
2 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32
3 PRONI VAL/1B/38 First valuation, Parish of Ballytrustan, 1836
4 PRONI OS/6/3/32/2 Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st rev., 1860, Down sheet 32
5 PRONI Second valuation, Parish of Ballytrustan, 1861 (in print)
6 PRONI OS/6/3/32/3 Ordnance Survey maps, 2nd ed., 1899-1900, Down sheet 32
7 Admiralty Chart of Strangford Lough, surveyed by Richard Hoskyn Master R.N. 1859-60, with small corrections 1918-38 (HMSO)

Secondary sources
1 The above history was mainly compiled from various articles kindly supplied to the authors by the National Trust, in particular one by Mrs. M.A.K. Garner, charting the early history of Kearney
2 Jim Blaney, "Mary Ann Donnan of Kearney" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.3' (1979), pp.24-5
3 Reta Lyttle, "Kearney" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.4' (1980), p.15

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A vernacular house of pre-1834 that retains sufficient character despite some alterations and has group value with the other buildings in Kearney village.