Whitevale

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A detached two-storey four-bay farmhouse built c.1880 and incorporating an earlier single-storey dwelling and stable-block (c.1850) to east; located east of the Ballymaconaghy Road in the borough of Castlereagh. Rectangular-plan with projecting gabled porch to front and two-storey return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and bracketed timber eaves to gables; three rectangular chimneystacks with tall clay pots. Aluminum ogee rainwater goods on projecting timber eaves Walling is ruled-and-lined painted smooth render on a smooth rendered plinth (deep stepped plinth to west gable); roughcast painted render to rear elevation. Windows are replacement timber-framed casements with projecting masonry sills, in segmental-headed surrounds to first floor.

The principal elevation faces north; chimneystack to right of centre at ridgeline divides the façade into two sections; left section is three windows wide to each floor; right section has a window to first and ground floor centre; to left is the projecting gabled porch with overhanging eaves, having four-panelled timber door surmounted by dog-tooth frieze and transom light; accessed via half-round masonry step.

The east gable is abutted by the single-storey former dwelling.

The south (rear) elevation is abutted to right of centre by the two-storey return. Three windows to first floor, at left side of return; one window to first floor, right of return. Diminutive window and multi-paned window to ground floor, at left side of return. Four-paned window to right of return. Two-storey return has a window to first and ground floor of gable; west elevation has a narrow timber casement window; east elevation has a window at first floor right and to centre at ground floor.

The west gable has a multi-paned window to ground floor left.

The single-storey former dwelling has replacement windows throughout and cast-iron half-round rainwater goods. Replacement timber-sheeted entrance door to centre; window to left; two windows to right. East gable is abutted by the single-storey stable-block (at a lower level). Rear elevation has modern timber-panelled door to right and two windows at left. Stable block is partially of mud-walled construction; having two timber-sheeted half-doors to north elevation.

Setting:

Set on a large mature site east of the Ballymaconaghy Road, in a once rural location, now substantially developed. Bounded to all sides by mature trees and hedgerow. Original entrance to west has two Ulster gate piers with pointed caps. Secondary shared entrance to northwest. Large landscaped garden to north with mature trees and paddock to east. Small lawned garden to rear.

Roof: Pitched natural slate roof
Walling Ruled-and-lined painted render and roughcast render
Windows: Replacement timber frames
RWG: Aluminium

Historical information

The current house was built c1880 and incorporates an earlier dwelling on the plot dating from pre-1834. It is situated in a rural area that has changed little in the years since the first edition of 1834.

A collection of buildings around an open courtyard, one side of which is formed by a ‘fort’ or rath, is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834. The farm is not identifiable in the Townland Valuation and by the second edition of 1858 the site has radically altered – the buildings to the north of the site, together with the ‘fort’ have gone and the course of the road changed, but the dwelling to the south of the site has remained. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) notes that the farm is the property of John White who leases it from the Marquess of Downshire. The farm is situated in over 35 acres of land and the buildings are valued at £4. White pays an annual rent of £37. Dimensions are given for a rectangular house of 1½ storeys, slightly decayed but in repair, and two single-storey outbuildings, not in good repair.

The house remained in the White family at least until 1957. Henry White took over between 1864 and 1867 and in 1882 he built a new house on the plot, adjoining the former dwelling, bringing the valuation up to £7. The 1901 census shows that Henry White was living in the house with his wife Sarah and his adult children Teresa and William. There were two young male farm servants also living at the house. Henry White died in June 1903 and his will makes clear that, in addition to farming the land at Ballymaconaghy and at a further farm in Ballylenaghan, White was also a pawnbroker and carried on two ‘partnership’ businesses, one with his son John White in Cromac Street, Belfast and another with his son Edmund Henry White at 110-112 Falls Road, as well as a business on his own account in Divis Street. A further son held a farm in Knockbracken. Henry left his two farms to another son, William Rogers White but was concerned to provide for his widow and unmarried daughters and asked that they should have the use of a Parlour and two Bedrooms with the ‘furniture and effects therein’ and the garden in front of the house in Ballymaconaghy. Henry also bequeathed the pianoforte at Ballymaconaghy ‘to such one of my daughters as shall be last unmarried’.

Pawnbroking in Belfast was a flourishing trade in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1811 there had been 3 pawnbrokers in Belfast. In 1836 there were 41 and in 1880 over 100. Whilst a marker of the rapid expansion of the town during this era, they also speak of the marginal existence led by many working people in a town in which wealth was very unevenly distributed. (Haines, East Belfast; Commissioners Report 1836)

William Rogers White is listed in the 1911 census as living with his wife Mary (known as Minnie) and his two young children. His father’s widow, William’s stepmother, remained in the house under the terms of her husband’s will. William became the owner in fee in 1913 under land purchase legislation, but died the following year in January 1914, in his late thirties. The house passed to his widow Minnie White in 1916 and she sold off much of the farmland surrounding the house in 1940. Minnie White remained resident until at least 1957. It is not until the OS map edition dating from the 1960s/70s that the house is captioned ‘Whitevale’. The house remains in use as a domestic dwelling.

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/9/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/9/2 Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/9/3 Third Edition OS Map 1901-2
4. PRONI OS/6/3/9/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI OS/6/3/9/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1920-31
6. PRONI OS/6/3/9/7 Seventh Edition OS Map 1938
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/321 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/18D Griffiths Valuation (1861)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/3A Annual Revisions (1864-1885)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/4A Annual Revisions (1923-30)
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/6E-G Annual Revisions (1898-1927)
12. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/8 First General Revaluation (1936-57)
13. 1901 census online
14. 1911 census online
15. Street Directory 1880
16. Street Directory 1907
17. PRONI Will of William White, died 28th January 1914
18. “Third Report of the Commissioners for inquiring into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland” London: HMSO, 1836

Secondary Sources

1. Haines, K “East Belfast from Harbour to Hills” Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Whitevale is a detached two-storey four-bay farmhouse built c.1880 and incorporating an earlier single-storey dwelling and stable-block (c.1850) to east; located east of the Ballymaconaghy Road in the borough of Castlereagh. The asymmetrical arrangement and attached single-storey former dwelling and stable block are indicative of the development of the house. The Ulster gate piers to the original entrance are of interest. The building retains its vernacular character along with a moderately well-preserved interior, however square headed timber replacement windows in round headed openings, and recent modifications both internally and externally, detract from its overall character.