8A, 8C & 8D Kearney Village

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Long vernacular 'terrace' block of single storey dwellings and a two storey 'information centre' partly pre 1834, but with the two houses to the S end reconstructed in the 1980s.

House 8a (HB24/01/088a) is set at the north end of the terrace and has a large 'lean-to' section to its gable end. The front (W) elevation is asymmetrical, with an off centre plain sheeted timber stable door, a sash window to left of door and another to W side of lean to. Similar window to right of door with plain sheeted timber door to far right.

Rear has four windows to main house similar to front with two to right slightly larger. Plain timber door to E (rear) of lean-to with low rendered wall around this side of lean to also. N face of lean-to (to gable of house) has a small window to eaves.

Entire house finished in rough cast render and painted. The roof of the main house gabled and covered with Bangor blue slates. Stone parapet to N gable, two small rendered chimney stacks. Cast iron gutters and down spouts.

To the immediate S of this house is a large two storey former barn which is now a National Trust ‘Information Centre’. The W façade of this building has a timber door to left with two large double timber garage-like timber doors to right (the right hand door is a recent insertion). Between single door and barn doors is rendered flight of steps leading to first floor central timber double door set in gabled half dormer. To either side of this door are two windows, with top sections louvered and six panes to lower sections.

Rear façade has five windows to first floor largely as front, with three windows of varying size to ground floor. The whole façade is finished in rough cast and painted. The roof is gabled and covered with Bangor blue slates. Stone parapets, cast iron gutters and down spouts.

The two single storey houses to the S of the barn are recent constructions on the site of earlier dwellings. House No.8C (HB24/01/088b) has an asymmetrical front façade with an off centre plain sheeted timber door with window to left. There are with two roughly similar windows to far right of door and a small four pane window just to right of door.

House No.8D (HB24/01/088c) has a asymmetric front façade also with right of centre timber sheeted stable door with three windows to left and two to right, all roughly similar to previous house. Gable end of house No.8D has plain timber door to left.

Rear of houses 8C & 8D both have PVC windows roughly similar to front but of varying sizes, with PVC conservatory to rear of 8D. No.8C finished in plain render, with No.8D in rough cast render finishing on bell cast with recessed base. Both houses have gabled roofs covered in asbestos 'slate', with PVC gutters and down spouts and rendered parapets. Two small rendered chimney stacks to No.8D with one (without pot) to 8C.

Historical information

A long 'terrace', matching the size and position of the present block, is shown on the OS map of 1834. However, the 'terrace' we see today is a mixture of structures which could well be pre 1834, and more recent buildings. Both 8A, the north end, and the two storey barn belong to the former category, as both are original buildings renovated in relatively recent times (No.8A in 1985-6). Nos.8C and 8D are c.1970s structures built on the site of earlier dwellings.

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Long 'vernacular' 'terrace' block of single storey dwellings and a two storey barn, now converted to an information centre. It is likely that the house to the north end and the barn are pre 1834, but the two houses to the south are c.1970s reconstructions. Only the refurbished buildings are listed and they also have group value with the other listed buildings in Kearney.