‘Betsy Gray’s Cottage’

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Ruin of a small single storey farm house set on the N side of a country lane, on the SW side of the Upper Gransha Road, S of Six Road Ends.

This rubble constructed building is ruinous and largely covered in greenery and little can be discerned of the arrangement on any facade apart from the front (S) facade which has two door openings, with a window to the left hand side, which appears to have the remains of a Georgian paned sash frame.

There is at least one some small window openings to the rear facade as well a small lean to projection.

The roof is gabled and covered in corrugated iron.

Historical information

Betsy Gray is an almost semi-legendary figure who along with her sweetheart and her brother, accompanied the north Down United Irishmen to the assembley at Creevy Rocks in June 1798, only to be murdered in brutal fashion by the Hillsborough Yeomanry a few miles outside Ballynahinch. Much of the detail surrounding these events, including the actual location of Betsy’s home remains a mystery, however, mainly due to the fact that much of the local tradition that has built up concerning her has stemmed from the novel Betsy Gray, or The Hearts of Down written by a century later by Wesley Lyttle, most of which cannot be readily verified. Thus we cannot be certain if Betsy even came from the Six Road Ends area at all, let alone lived in this house.

The house itself certainly appears to be quite old and is shown on the OS Maps of 1834 and 1858-60, as well as listed in the c.1835 valuation records when it was in possession of a ‘Widow Warnock’ and (along with the accompanying land) valued a £3-16-11.
The building appears to have been derelict for some considerable time and appears to have served as an animal shelter in recent years.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 6.
2 PRONI VAL 1B/31 p.147 1st valuation Bangor parish, Gransha Td., c.1835.
3 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1858-60, Co. Down 6.
4 PRONI 2nd (‘Griffith’s’) valuation, Bangor Parish, Gransha Td., c.1863.

Secondary sources
1 W.G. Lyttle 'Betsy Gray, or The Hearts of Down' (1888, reprinted by the Mourne Observer 1968).
2 ATQ Stewart 'The Summer Soldiers: The 1798 Rebellion in Antrim and Down' (Belfast 1995), pp.226-28.
3 Bill Wilsdon 'Sites of the 1798 Rising in Antrim and Down' (Belfast 1997), pp.135-6, 170-3.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Unremarkable derelict single storey farm house reputed to have been the home of Betsy Gray, a local girl apparently brutally murdered during the 1798 Rising.