Springmount,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Springmount is a large, two storey, double gabled, late Georgian farm house which appears to have been built in two stages, the gabled section to the rear probably the original dwelling. The house is pleasantly set to the W of the Springmount Road, just over a mile W of Ballygowan.

The front (E) façade has a central timber panelled door with semicircular fanlight, now filled with early 20th century stained glass. The doorway and fanlight have a moulded architrave itself encased with fluted pilasters supporting an unusual pediment which is broken at the base. This outer surround has an odd ‘Mannerist’ feel. [Is it original?]. Three steps to the door.

To the left and to the right of the doorway is a double sash window with unsuitable louvered shutters, added recently. Originally there were two single sash windows to each side of the doorway (this was confirmed by the current owner who remembers the markings of the original windows when his father stripped the render). These windows, and those to the first floor have what appear to be Georgian panes, however, this is an illusion created by the present owner who has placed simulated ‘glazing bars’ on the inside of the panes.

To the first floor are five single sash windows.

The S (double gabled) façade has a window to the ground floor with one directly above it to the right on the ‘rear’ gable (i.e. near the centre of the façade as a whole). Both windows are similar in size to those at first floor front but have modern frames made to simulate sash with Georgian panes.

The N façade has windows in an equivalent position as the S, with a sash frame to that to the first floor and an overtly modern frame in that to the ground floor, this latter window is slightly larger than the former.

To the ground floor on the rear façade is a long single storey extension which covers most of the ground floor apart from a section to the right. The central portion of the extension appears original (or at least the oldest section). It has a slated hipped roof and was probably originally four sided. To the left and right of this section are flat-roofed portions which are probably of a much more recent vintage. Each section of the extension has a modern window of some description, though that to the ‘oldest’ section probably amounts to a modern frame in an original opening. The section to the left has a partly glazed door adjoining its window.

To the right of the extension (on the main rear façade) is a small window with a modern frame. To the first floor are two small outer windows with modern frames designed to simulate the original sash. To the centre is a larger stairwell window, with Georgian panes.

The front, N and S facades of the house are finished in lined render with chamfered quoins and a high base to the front. The rear and extensions are finished in rough cast. The main roof and that to the ‘oldest’ section of the extension are covered in Bangor blues. There are four chimney stacks (one to each gable) all of which are rendered. Parapets to front section of roof. Mixture of PVC and cast iron rw goods.

The pitch of the roof to the rear gable is marginally steeper than that to the front, perhaps further reinforcing the conjecture that the rear portion is indeed the older.

The left hand section of the rear extension is also attached to the S façade of a fairly recent looking, single storey outbuilding, which in turn is joined to the N wing of a courtyard of original two storey rubble-built outbuildings (now somewhat altered with the inclusion of some new openings, pan tiles etc.).

Historical information

Springmount House is shown on the OS maps of 1834 and 1858, much the same as today. The house appears to have been built in two stages, as revealed in the unusual layout of the interior, the differing floor levels and the fact that the house is ‘double gabled’.

The area contained within the rear gable is undoubtedly the older portion, originally probably a small-ish two storey house possibly one room deep. The ‘new’ front section was added at some point afterwards (possibly c.1831-3- see below), more than doubling the size of the property. The owners were able to confirm much of this hypothesis, believing the ‘new’ portion to have been the work of a Peter Barry, who may have been a one time army Captain. They also stated that recent renovations had revealed the one time presence of two small windows in the wall between the kitchen and the sitting room, a wall which would once have been the front of the original house. The fact that the first floor level drops noticeably in the rear section is also an indicator of a building built in different stages.

The exact dates of the original house and the changes are uncertain, but reasonable estimations can be made. The earliest mention of the actual farm occurs in a deed of 1739 when the lands were acquired by a man named Kyle, who in turn sold them to a Gillespie in 1753. Thus the original house could therefore have conceivably have dated from the mid 1700s, or even earlier. The dating of the extension is somewhat easier to pin down. Peter Barry acquired the farm in 1831. As the present plan of the house is shown on the OS map of 1834 and Barry is said to have given the building its this form, the extension would appear to date to some time between 1831-34, a date not inconsistent with the late Georgian appearance of the property.

Springmount remained in Peter Barry’s possession until his death in 1867, after which it appears to have been acquired by a Thomas Fitzsimons. In c.1912 the house and the land associated with it were bought by the Co-operative Society, with Springmount serving as the farm manager’s residence. In 1925 the Co-op sold the property to the present owner’s father.

The ground floor windows to the front have been altered at some point as originally there were two single sash windows to either side of the doorway. When this was done is not certain, though the owner states it was not within his memory, which would place the change some time prior to c.1935.

References- Primary sources
1 Deeds in possession of present owner.
2 PRONI D.354 Mussenden Papers. [These papers include documents relating Mussenden family property to 1831 (including Tullygarvan), however they have not been catalogued in detail.]
3 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 16.
4 PRONI VAL1B/316B, p.143 1st valuation Comber parish 1834.
5 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.38.
6 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 16.
7 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863.
8 George Henry Basset ‘Co. Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), p.282.

Secondary sources
1 R.S.J. Clarke ‘Gravestone Inscriptions…vol.1 Co. Down’ (UHF ?1970), pp.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Large, late Georgian, two storey double gabled farm house, built in two stages, the area encompassed by the rear gable being the original (possibly mid 18th century) dwelling, with the new front portion added probably c.1831-4. The interior with its differing first floor levels reveals something of the building’s two main stages of development.