Old farm house,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Site to the E of the Ballydrain Road, 2 miles SE of Comber of a former farm house, demolished c.1990 with new larger building in place.

The whole former Quarry Farm complex now a visitor centre associated with the surrounding Castle Espie Wetlands and Wildfowl Conservation Centre. The site of the former farm house is now occupied by a fairly recently constructed, two storey building which has been built in the style of a traditional farm house with Georgian paned sash windows etc., but has an off centre front entrance, a bay window and slightly contrived looking render which is meant to simulate rubble construction. The new building contains the caretakers residence and offices. To the E and N sides of the farmyard what appear to be original outbuildings have been renovated and extended and now serve as a visitor centre, shops, stores etc.

The original farm house was described in the survey of December 1973 as ‘Single storey cottage with attic projection at back and with main building in two sections. N addition has slated roof and gable end wall rough cast and whitened and with cast iron door on W face. Main cottage has corrugated asbestos roof and gable ends, walls rendered and white painted. Brick chimneys. W front has three drop hung [i.e. sash] windows, horizontal astragals and doorway between 2nd and 3rd windows, door panelled, plain fanlight. Inscribed stone slab not now attached to cottage alongside door. Condition fair to poorish…Formerly a cottage now a garden store’.

Historical information

The house formerly on this site used to have a datestone which read ‘1724- Hugh Dickson’. When surveyed in 1973, this date stone was not physically attached to the house but had been placed next to the main entrance. Thus it is difficult to say whether the stone belonged to the building then surveyed or an earlier house.

What is clear, however, is that there was a house on this site in 1834 whose plan matches that demolished recently and that this house belonged to the Dickson family, presumably the descendants of the aforementioned Hugh of 1724. In fact the whole farm remained within the Dickson family until 1966, when it and the neighbouring quarry lands which William Dixon had acquired in 1912, were sold to a Mr. McCleery. Long before this stage, however, (c.1911-12) the old farm house itself appears to have been vacated in favour of a new large two storey house a few yards to the west.

In 1978 Mr. McCleery sold the holding to Mr. Paddy Mackie who landscaped the quarry site to transform much of the land into a wildfowl and wetland conservation centre. The former farm house was demolished c.1990 to make way for a caretaker’s residence and offices for conservation staff and the former farm outbuildings have been converted to a visitor centre.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS/1/3/10 OS map, 1st ed. 1834, Down 11.
2 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB1991), p.123.
3 Samuel Lewis ‘Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’ (London 1837).
4 PRONI OS/6/3/10/3 OS map, 1st rev. 1858, Down 11.
5 PRONI 2nd valuation, Comber.
6 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), pp.303-305.
7 PRONI OS/2/3/10 OS map, 2nd ed. 1901, Down 11.

Secondary sources
1 ‘Castle Espie: A Short History’ (Pamphlet produced at Castle Espie ?1990s).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Site of former single storey farm house, possibly dating from 1724. The house was demolished in c.1990 with a larger building now in its place.