6 Kearney Village

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Right hand house in a single storey block containing two vernacular dwellings, of possble pre 1834, this house is very small and the other (no 5 - HB24/01/086A) 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.

This house is attached to the N gable of No.5 . It is a much smaller building, whose roof is set at a lower level. The front (E) façade is asymmetrical. To the left of centre is a partly glazed door. To both left and right of doorway is a single window with modern frame. N gable blank.

To the rear there is a lean-to extension, with timber sheeted door to N face and a window (with modern frame) to W. To the left of the lean-to (to main house) there is a window, as front.

The façade is finished in rough cast and painted. The gabled roof is covered with Bangor blue slates. Stone parapet and rendered chimney stack to the N gable. The lean-to has a felt roof.

Historical information

A block matching the site and shape of the original portion of this and the house next door (No 5 - HB24/01/086A) 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. Main block re-roofed in 1960's

This house was once the home of Mary Ann Donnan, a well known local character.

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
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.