Ballywilliam House,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Ballywilliam House is a fairly large and slightly rambling two storey farmhouse nestling in a hollow between the Ballygowan and Old Ballygowan Road, c.1.5 miles South of Comber. The property, appears to be based around a modest two storey house of the 1780s, extended and renovated c.1850 with later extensions of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The main original section of the house is to the S. Its front (S) façade is symmetrical. To ground floor centre is a large flat-roofed, mainly glazed, porch added some time after 1858. The front face of the porch has a central timber panelled double door reached via two stone steps. The door is flanked by large four pane windows/ sidelights encased with panelled pilaster jambs. The sides of the porch have similar glazing. The porch is topped with a cornice and blocking course.

To either side of the porch is a sash window with vertical glazing bars. Both windows have simple moulded surrounds. To the first floor are three similar, but shorter, windows all resting on a cill course.

The E gable has a window, as ground floor front but without surround, to the right on the ground floor. To the right on the first floor is a sash window with Georgian panes. This gable merges with the E façade of a long two storey return set into a slope so that its N end actually only contains a single level (added c.1925) which is actually part of the first floor. To the left of the ground floor of this façade of the return are two sash windows with Georgian panes (8 over 8), with two more, slightly smaller, directly above to the first floor (with less panes). To the right of this façade there are first floor windows only. One of these windows (to the left) is large with a mullioned and transomed frame, whilst that to the right is an oriel window with a hipped roof and similar frame. The N gable of this return is single storey and has a projecting hipped roof conservatory/ porch with mullioned and transomed windows and glazed double doors.

The W elevation of this house is complex looking. The W gable of the main front section of the house is to the right. This gable has a single storey lean to cloakroom attached (added c.1925) with modern metal windows to its W face. This cloakroom section has a wall attached to its N face, a wall which is linked to a large two storey gabled ‘housekeeper’s’ section (itself ultimately attached to the W face of the long rear return), thus enclosing a small yard. Above the shed (to the gable proper) is a sash window, with Georgian panes, to the right on the first floor. Above this is a small sash window at attic level.

The small enclosed yard is bounded on the S by a short section of the rear façade of the main house and on the E by a section of the W façade of the long return. This portion of the return façade has two sash windows, with Georgian panes, to the ground floor with a timber sheeted door between. To the first floor are two similar, but shorter, windows. To the N the yard is enclosed by a two storey gabled extension linked to the W façade of the return and to the E façade of the ‘housekeeper’s’ section (see above). The first floor (S façade) of the gabled extension has a small (bathroom)window with modern frame. To the ground floor is a timber sheeted door with four pane fanlight. This door leads to a small store. To the left of this door is a fight of stone steps which lead to an intermediate level doorway which in turn leads into the ‘housekeeper’s’ section. The S façade of the ‘housekeeper’s’ section has several metal casement windows, whilst the N façade (which, like the return, is built into the slope of the ground), has a curious hipped roof half-dormer/ oriel window with mullioned and transomed frame. To the N gable of the extension between the ‘housekeeper’s’ section and the return is a small-ish mullioned and transomed window with small loft opening above this. To the N of this gable is the rest of the W façade of the long return which has two large mullioned and transomed windows.

The façade of the house (excluding the ‘housekeeper’s’ section) is finished in lined render with moulded quoins to the front façade. All sections of the roof are covered in Bangor blue slates. The roof to the original front section of the house has an overhang to the gables with shaped barges. This section has two yellow brick chimney stacks with two rendered (and older looking) stacks to the return and a brick stack to the ‘housekeeper’s’ quarters. Cast iron rainwater goods.

To the NW of the ‘housekeeper’s’ quarters is a former dry closet (built between c.1834-58), now used as a shed. It is rubble built with a Bangor blue slated gabled roof, a timber sheeted doorway to the E gable and a small window opening to the S façade.

To the S of Ballywilliam House is a drive with a gate screen consisting of a low curving wall, simple gate pillars and plain mid 19th century looking wrought iron gates.

To the S and W of the house is a large collection of outbuildings, probably dating from the early to mid 1800s, with a large two storey section to the SE (along the W side of the entrance drive) in rubble and brick, dating from the later 19th century. Large portions of the outbuildings are currently in the process of being converted to offices.

Historical information

In the garden of Ballywilliam House is an inscribed stone which reads ‘D B 1781’. This ‘D B’ probably stands for David Boyd, a member of a family who lived and farmed on this site up until 1925. Whether the inscribed stone refers to the building of a house at this date is uncertain, however, a building matching the plan and positioning of the main front section of the present dwelling is shown on 1834 OS map and marked ‘Farm Hill’. At this stage Farm Hill was in possession of a David Boyd, who was probably a son or grandson of that of 1781. It is noted in the valuation records of consisting of a ‘house, offices and flax mill’ (the mill was situated further to the west) and had a rateable value of £11-14-0. By 1858 the return appears to have been added and the drive to the front laid out, so that by the time of the 2nd valuation (c.1863), the rateable value of the property had risen to £16.

In 1925 the property was bought by a relative of the present owner who extended the return, and added the cloakroom to the west gable. It is unclear whether the porch was added at this stage and whether the ‘housekeeper’s’ quarters were built or simply refurbished. The decorative barge boards and yellow brick chimneys may also predate the 1920s alterations.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654 Londonderry Papers. [Ballywilliam townland was once part of the Londonderry estate.]
2 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
3 PRONI VAL1B/316C, p.49 1st valuation Comber parish 1834.
4 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp. 35.
5 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
6 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863.
7 George Henry Basset ‘Co. Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), p.282.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Large two storey gabled farm house whose main front section appears to be of pre 1834 origin and may conceivably (in some form), date from the 1780s. The rear return was probably added between 1834 and 1858 and extended c.1925.