Scrabo Isles

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large two storey formal house (now a nursing home) of c.1870s-80s situated in the midst of a modern housing development on the western outskirts of Newtownards. In recent times this building has been greatly extended.

Front SE facade has central doorway encased with fluted pilasters and cornice hood on brackets with curved blocking course above cornice. Plain fanlight with flush panel door. Extending from above the fanlight is a corrugated PVC porch roof which is itself an extension of the roof of a large modern conservatory which now covers the whole of the ground floor of this facade to the left of the doorway, and continues around to the SW facade. To the right of the door are paired sash windows with simple moulded surrounds and cill course. To the first floor are three evenly spaced similar single windows, also on a cill course. There are steps to the front doorway with a recently added concrete ramp with metal rails (for disabled access) to the right of the steps.

The NE facade has three windows as first floor front to the first floor, except for the middle window which has a modern frame and no moulded surround. To the ground floor is another window as front. To the immediate right of this window is a recently added large single storey hipped roof extension with concrete tiles and modern bay windows. This extension is also attached to a return whose NE facade is flush with the NE facade of the main house. To the first floor of the return are four windows. The window to the far left is a very narrow sash window with a surround as front, next to it is a larger window with the same surround but a modern frame. To the right of this are two modern windows without surrounds. To the ground floor left and centre are two windows with surrounds as front but with modern frames, and to the right are two tiny modern single pane windows.

The NW gable of this return is blank.

The SW facade of the return has two modern windows to the first floor with a flush panel door (reached via a metal fire escape which stretches across the rear of the main house). To the ground floor is a modern window to the left, two modern doors to the right of this, with two further modern windows to the right of the doors.

The rear of the main house has a large projecting bay which stretches from the left to centre. On the ground floor of this bay is a recent looking doorway with modern glazed door and sidelights. To the right of the doorway is a sash window. To the first floor are two sash windows with a large tripartite window to the left with coloured glass. To the far right of the rear facade of the main house the facade is set back. To the ground floor of the ‘set back’ (NW facing) facade is a modern door, adjacent to this (on the short SW facing face of the rear projecting section) is a sash window.

Extending from this W corner of the original house there now extends a very large recently built single storey extension which covers most of the ground floor of the SW facade as far as an original full height canted bay in the centre of this facade. To the right of the ground floor of the SW facade the recently added conservatory continues (from front facade) until it meets the canted bay (and the extension). To the first floor of the SW facade is a sash window to the left (as front). In the centre is the canted bay with a sash window to each face. This bay has a hipped roof.

The entire facade is finished in lined render. Chamfered quoins to original house and extensions, but not the rear return. The render to the NW end of the rear return looks much fresher than the rest, as if it had been extended at some point. The roof of the original house is hipped and covered in Bangor blue slates, with two small skylights to the rear and two centred yellow brick chimneys with corbels. The return has a gabled roof also with Bangor blue slates. Cast iron rw goods.

Rubble built single storey outbuildings, with brick dressings, to N of house. A two storey former outbuilding with rubble walls and brick dressings, just to the W of the house, has now been converted to a private dwelling.

When first surveyed in 1972 this former gentleman’s residence stood isolated with large fields all around. But today the house is a nursing home and has been greatly extended, whilst the fields have been filled to their brims with modern housing developments. Even the outbuilding just to the west of the house is now a dwelling. The modern Scrabo Isles is an island no more, it now sits in the middle of a brick and concrete jungle.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS Map of 1834 and on that of 1858-60. On the latter map the site is marked ‘Scrabo Isles’. The 1st valuation records of 1833 state that the house present at this date was in possession of a John McBlain. By 1863 the property (now named ‘Scrabo Isles’) and its lands had been acquired by William Mayne, the then owner of near by Mountpleasant, and that Mayne was renting the house to one John Ferguson. The present ‘Scrabo Isles’ was probably built in the 1870s or 1880s, though the former outbuildings to the rear could well be survivors from earlier in the century.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL 1B/322 p.23 1st valuation, parish of Newtownards, townland of Ballycullen, 1833.
2 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps 1st ed. 1834-5, Co. Down sheet 5.
3 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down sheet 5.
4 PRONI 2nd (‘Griffith’s’) valuation, parish of Newtownards, townland of Ballycullen, 1863.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Large two storey hipped roof farm house of c.1870-80, built on the site of a house pre 1833 origin. The building is now a nursing home and large modern extensions have been added and the interior altered somewhat.
Until recently, this dwelling was surrounded by fields and undoubtedly possessed a pleasant semi rural aspect, but it is now surrounded by modern housing developments and possesses almost no aspect at all.