Old court house

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Unusual, gothick two storey court house of c.1820-22 set on the W side of the Church Road in the tiny hamlet of Kilmood (c.2.5 miles NW of Killinchy village). To the roadside this building appears single story but the ground slopes appear sharply from the road to reveal a lower level.
Front E facade is symmetrical with the openings at roadside (i.e. first floor) level. In the centre is an eccentric, ‘gabled’ bay which contains the panelled entrance with pointed arch fanlight and simple blocked pilaster surround with plain archivolt. The bay culminates is a crow step-like gable with ‘finials’ to each step and a small hipped roof ‘bellcote’ at the apex. The ‘gable’ contains a decorative roundel which is inscribed ‘Florida Manor Court House- Date of Patent 1638’. The entrance is reached via a gently sloping walkway/path (which spans the sharp change of level at roadside) with low rendered walls.
To both left and right of this bay are two pointed arch windows with sash frame with horizontal astragal.
The N facade has two small windows to the ground floor and two (slightly larger) to the first floor, both with modern single pane frames (as to all the rear and side windows). Partly attached to the right side of this facade (an partly to the rear) is a full height hipped roof extension. The N face of this extension has a timber sheeted door with a pointed arch window to the right. To the left on the first floor is a smaller square window. To the W face is a first floor pointed arch window.
Much of the rear appears to have been extended in lean to-like fashion. To the first floor of the full height lean to section are three narrow-ish windows. To the ground floor left are two squat windows, with a pointed arch window to the far right. The S face of the lean to section has a timber sheeted door at ground level.
The far right hand portion of the rear facade (beyond the lean to) has a pointed arch window to the ground and the first floor.
The S facade has two small, narrow, pointed arch windows to the ground floor.
The facade is finished in lined render to the front, plain render to the N, plain and rough cast to the rear and rough cast to the S. Chamfered quoins to front.
The main roof is hipped and all sections have Bangor blue slates. Metal rw goods.

Historical information

The manor of Florida was created in 1638 by King Charles I and presided over by the then proprietor of the area, Sir James Montgomery. By the mid 1700s the manor lands had passed to Robert Gordon, via marriage to Ann Crawford, whose ancestor had acquired them from the Montgomerys in 1692. It was undoubtedly Robert’s son, David, who commissioned this court house which was probably built around 1820-22, at the same time as David’s other gothick buildings in Kilmood and the Florida demesne. The building is shown on the OS map of 1834 and marked ‘Sessions House’ and later in the century the petty Sessions were noted as taking place on the last Monday in each month.
The building ceased to serve as a court house in 1922 and afterwards became a private dwelling. In recent times (?c.1985), the building was converted to a restaurant, at which point the rear appears to have been extended. The building has now reverted to a dwelling house once again.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.4204 Gordon Family Papers- ‘Copy of a translation of a Patent Grant to Sir James Montgomery, 13th year of the reign of King Charles [I] (1638)’. [This extensive collection of documents relating to the Gordon family, Florida Manor and the surrounding townlands were recently deposited at PRONI by a descendent, Mr. Archie Hugh-Gordon of Saintfield. At the time of writing (August 1998) the collection had not yet been catalogued, however, the writers were given special access to some of the documents by PRONI.]
2 The Montgomery Manuscripts ed. Rev. George Hill (Belfast 1869), pp.2, 210-211.
3 PRONI D.4204 Gordon Family Papers- Indenture signed William Montgomery, James Montgomery to James Hamilton (deed of Florida Manor) 1691.
4 PRONI D.4204 Gordon Family Papers- Deed of partition of Florida Manor, Hamilton to Crawford, 1691.
5 PRONI D.654//R/3/1-99 Londonderry Papers- Documents relating to Florida Manor [?]1684-1892.
6 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 16.
7 PRONI VAL 1B/320 p.17 1st Valuation, Kilmood parish, Kilmood td., c.1835.
8 PRONI OS Maps 1st rev. 1859-60, Co. Down 16.
9 PRONI 2nd Valuation, Kilmood parish, Kilmood td., c.1861.
10 George Henry Bassett County Down guide and directory (Dublin 1886).

Secondary sources
1 C.E.B. Brett Court houses and market houses of the province of Ulster (UAHS 1973), p.71.
2 C.E.B. Brett Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of East Down (UAHS 1973), pp.44-46.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Unusual gothic court house of c.1820-22, with crow stepped gabled entrance bay to front.