‘Balloo House’ Pub and restaurant

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Long, two storey gabled block set on the E side of the Comber Road at the junction of Beechvale Road (Balloo cross-roads). This building has housed a pub and restaurant for some time and has been greatly altered both internally and at the rear on successive occasions.

Front W facade is extremely long and has a number of doorway and various window styles. The commonly used entrance is to the right of the block to the right of this is a sash window with horizontal glazing bars. To the far left end of the ground floor is a recent flat roofed porch/conservatory section. To the immediate right of this are three PVC windows made to resemble sash. To the right of these are two large windows with Victorian looking three light frames with semicircular arch heads. Between these is a doorway which is now boarded up, but which still has its timber sign board over. Directly above the two Victorian looking windows are two similar sized tripartite sash windows with Georgian panes. To the right of this are two sash windows with horizontal glazing bars, with six more to the left. The upper floor sash windows to the left are set at a slightly lower level than those to the right. Projecting timber sign to far right on first floor.

The S gable is blank.

The rear has been altered on successive occasions. To the far left on the first floor are three sash windows as front, but a large flat roofed modern section has been added to the ground floor. To the right of this the facade is recessed and is dominated by a large and sprawling extension which now looks quite modern but which may incorporate some earlier outbuildings.

The facade of the main block is finished in plain render and painted. The main roof is gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates with five yellow brick chimney stacks. Metal and PVC rw goods.

Row of single storey outbuildings to S (possibly as old as the main building).

Historical information

The age of this building is not certain, but its sheer length and differences in fenestration suggests various phases of construction. The current (Feb 2023) restaurant website speaks of a ‘400-year old history in hospitality’ suggesting that in part at least, it is of the early 17th century, and has acted as an inn of some kind since that time.

It is difficult to verify any of this. The present Comber-Killyleagh road to which the property is orientated was cut in 1749, so it appears unlikely that there was a hostelry located here prior to that date. This does not necessarily preclude the building having existed since the 1600s in some other capacity, however, such as a farmhouse, which subsequently took on an additional role with the arrival of the new road.

The crossroads at which the building is sited appears for the first time on James Kennedy’s County map of 1755, and at the same time the placename ‘Ballow’ (as well as nearby ‘Killinchy Bridge’) begins to be mentioned more frequently in newspaper notices. A structure of some kind on this site is first depicted on Taylor and Skinner’s road map of 1777, appearing also on James Williamson’s 1810 county survey. Based on this evidence, therefore, it is likely that the present building has its beginnings in the mid-18th century and may well owe its existence to the establishment of the current road.

A building of roughly similar planform to the current, minus the various rear appendages and the relatively recent front addition, (and with a detached block similar to that of today to the immediate south), is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834. In the first valuation of c.1837 the former is noted as consisting of a slate-roofed house measuring 49ft x 22 x 14, with an ‘addition’ of 17 x 22 x 10, an ‘office’ (i.e. outbuilding) of 20 x 22 x 10, and a barn amounting to 51 x 19 x 6½. These figures suggest that at that point the dwelling probably consisted of the approximately 49ft section to the north as demarked by the first and third chimneystacks, with the slightly lower ‘addition’ to south of this probably stretching as far as the line of the current fourth chimneystack. The outbuilding would therefore have made up the southern end of the block, whilst the barn was undoubtedly the detached structure to south again.

The valuation book notes the occupant at that time as Samuel Hay but makes no reference to the property also serving as a stop for travellers, though such omissions in the early valuations are not unusual. From other contemporary sources we know that there was indeed an inn at Balloo from at least 1819, and that if local tradition is correct, it was contained within this building. This was in the possession of David Lowry in the former year, and ‘Mrs. Lowry’ by 1828. This pair may be the David (d.1827) and his wife Margaret Lowry (d.1856) who built the private residence further to the north in 1809 (present day no.15 Comber Road – see HB24/17/019). If indeed the same couple, then the Samuel Hay noted in the valuation may have been a manager / caretaker who also lived on the premises. Interestingly a ‘Belfast News-Letter’ report of January 1833 refers to ‘that long-established and well-conducted inn…belonging to Mrs. Lowry’, suggesting that it was considered to be of some age at that time.

Mrs Lowry continued to run the business until at least 1849. By 1861 it was in the hands of David Henry, who is noted in the second valuation of that year as holding the lease from Samuel Murland of Annsborough, Castlewellan, (who by that time had also acquired the freehold of the attached neighbouring property to the north (present nos.3-5 Comber Rd). The valuation describes the property as a ‘house (shop), offices and land’, and quotes the same dimensions for the dwelling as recorded in c.1837 but also notes a newer section of 22 x 26 x 17. The latter measurements appear to match the main two-storey section of the rear return, which does indeed appear on the revised OS map of 1859-60. This map also shows the present alignment of the road, which was redirected slightly further west, thus creating the forecourt in front of this property and its neighbour.

David Henry died c.1876, and the lease passed to Mrs Eliza Henry, presumably his widow. In or just before 1878 a ‘new house’ is noted by the valuers, whose construction increased the rateable value of the building from £7 to £17. The valuers do not give any further details about this, but later evidence suggests it involved the rebuilding of the ‘addition’ noted in the 1830s, and (judging from the larger upper floor window openings), may also have involved alterations to the original dwelling. The valuation books indicate that another new section was added to the south in or just prior to 1890 raising the value to £23, probably the present southernmost section between the fourth and fifth chimneystacks. This all suggests that a significant amount of the present structure is late Victorian.

The second extension seems to have been built just before or after the death of Mrs Henry, and shortly after its completion the property was divided, with ‘internal communication cut off’, between the dwelling house and the ‘licensed public house’. At some point in the 1890s (some sources say 1893) the leases of both were acquired by James McConnell, who in the 1901 census was occupying the dwelling with a housekeeper, Jane McIlwrath. Mr. McConnell bought the freehold of the dwelling in c.1909, while continuing to rent the pub – which from c.1905 is named in notices as ‘Balloo House’ - from Samuel Murland's successor as landlord, Joseph Reid. He retained both properties up until his death in early 1934 after which it seems to have passed to a relative, John McConnell, who appears to have retained the whole block into the 1970s.

The course of the 20th century witnessed various additions and alterations to the rear of the building, as well as the addition of the flat-roofed projection to the front.

The building was advertised for sale in late 1981 and was reported to be undergoing ‘extensive renovations’ in February 1983. The present owners acquired the property in 2004.

References- Primary sources
1 Map of County Down by Oliver Sloan – 1739
2 Harris, Walter, ‘The antient and present state of the County of Down’, (Dublin, 1744) [Includes map of County Down – 1743]
3 Map of County Down by James Kennedy - 1755
4 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ – 14 September 1750, p.3; 5 March 1830, p.4; 18 January 1833, p.4; 2 February 1836, p.2
5 'Taylor’s and Skinner’s Road Maps of Ireland' (Dublin 1777), map 281.
6 Map of County Down by James Williamson - 1810
7 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ – 2 April 1819, p.1; 30 May 1828, p.1; 20 January 1934, p.5
8 ‘Belfast Commercial Chronicle’ – 25 February 1826, p.4; 27 August 1834, p.4
9 OS map, County series, Down sheet 17 - 1834, 1859-60, 1902, 1920; IG sheet 186-4 - 1974
10 PRONI VAL1B/335 First valuation, Killinchy parish – c.1835-38
11 ‘Northern Whig’ – 1 December 1849, p.2; 13 August 1875, p.1;3 July 1905, p.1
12 PRONI VAL2B/3/33 Second valuation, Killinchy parish – 1861
13 PRONI VAL12B/18/14A-E Annual valuation revision books, Killinchy ED – 1864-1930
14 ‘Belfast weekly news’ – 7 October 1876, p.5
15 NAI Census of Ireland -1901, 1911 (online National Archives: Census of Ireland 1901/1911)
16 ‘Irish News and Belfast Morning News’ – 24 February 1908, p.3
17 ‘Belfast Telegraph’ – 14 July 1961, p.4; 2 December 1981, p.23; 10 February 1983, p.17

Secondary sources
1 J.T. Fulton 'The roads of Co. Down 1600-1900: The evolution of the road system of an Irish county' (QUB PhD. Thesis 1972)
2 C.E.B. Brett 'Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of East Down', (UAHS 1973), p.44.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Long two storey block now containing a bar and restaurant, sections of which may be of pre 1834 origin, but which appears to have assumed its present form in the later 19th century. The unplanned nature of the front facade demonstrates something of the building’s complex past, but little can be discerned from the rear which now sports large, mainly modern, extensions. The interior still retains some late 19th century detailing. Alterations and extensions have removed some of this building character such that it is not of special interest.