C of I Parish Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey Italianate school house of c.1850s, probably by Charles Lanyon, now greatly altered, much plainer and used as the parish hall. The building is situated at the north east end of Springvale Road, at the south end of the village of Ballywalter.

The front facade is finished in lined render, the rest of the building finished in an untidy mixture of plain and rough cast render. The roof of the main hall is hipped with Bangor blue slates.

The front W elevation is symmetrical and divided into three bays. The two outer bays each have a grouping of three conjoined sash windows, with horizontal astragals, with decorative semicircular arched surrounds, with keystones to each window head and brackets to the single cill beneath the group. The two outer bays have plain quoins. The centre bay is slightly recessed and contains three full height arched recesses, similar in style to the arched surrounds to the windows on the outer bays. Within each recess is a further arched recess set in each of which is a sash window with a semicircular arched head, horizontal and marginal astragals.

To the S side of the hall is a large flat roofed porch. On the W facade of this porch is a plain sheeted timber double door with plain semicircular arch fanlight, all set within a semicircular arched opening with dripstone moulding with label stops. The S side of the porch is blank but has evidence of two semicircular headed window openings, now blocked. The N elevation has two (now blocked) window openings, with surrounds similar to those on outer bays at front.

To the rear is a large (mainly) lean to extension which is modern, with modern windows to the right, and a small plain door with steps, to the left.

Historical information

This building originally housed the Ballywalter Park or Springvale school and was built c.1850 on land given by Andrew Mulholland, the owner of Ballywalter park. A photograph of the dating from c.1900-1910 (primary source No.2 below) shows that the building had two gabled outer bays with additional roundel windows, a centre arched ‘portico’ and small gabled porch to the south. The arches to the central ‘portico’, which are still partly discernible, originally displayed elements of style similar to the nearby east gate lodge of Ballywalter park by Charles Lanyon, built roughly at the same date as the school.

The school itself closed in 1932 and the building is now used as a parochial hall.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/6/3/12/1 OS maps, Down 12, 1834
2 PRONI VAL/1B/39 First valuation, Ballywalter, c.1834-38
3 PRONI VAL/1D/3/4 Valuation plan, Ballywalter, c.1838
4 PRONI VAL/2B/3/9 Second valuation, Ballywalter, c.1859
5 PRONI VAL/2D/3/10 Valuation town plan, Ballywalter, 1859
6 PRONI OS/6/3/12/2 OS maps, Down 12, 1860
7 PRONI VAL/12B/23/6a-f Annual valuation revision books, Ballywalter, 1866-1929
8 PRONI VAL/12E/84/1 Valuation plan, Ballywalter, 1902-35
9 Photograph of Ballywalter Park school c.1900-1910 reproduced in "The Village of Ballywalter- A brief history" by Derek Patton in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.14' (1990), pp.10-15

Secondary sources
1 Lord Dunleath et al, 'Ballywalter Park' (Belfast, UAHS, 1985).
2 Alistair Rowan, "Ballywalter Park, Co. Down- I, II" in 'Country Life', vol.CXLI, No.3652, 2nd March 1967, pp.456-60: No.3653, 9th March 1967, pp.516-20
3 J.A.K. Dean 'The Gate lodges of Ulster- a gazetteer', (Belfast, 1994) pp.11, 23, 63, 74
4 Derek Patton, "The Village of Ballywalter- A brief history" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.14' (1990), pp.10-15

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Single storey Italianate school house of c.1850s, probably by Charles Lanyon, now greatly altered and used as the parochial hall.