Stone Tower

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A rubble-stone two-stage folly tower, square on plan with Gothic detailing, probably c.1820s; situated at the east side of the south garden in Hydebank Wood, south of Purdysburn Road in the borough of Castlereagh.

Random rubble stone on plinth with projecting string course and crenellations; (mainly) lime pointing. West-facing, the principal elevation has two pointed-arch openings; that to ground floor has a three-light timber casement window (without glass) with rubble stone voussoirs and projecting sandstone sill. Timber sheeted boarding to first floor.

The north elevation is partially concealed by ivy; to ground floor is a six-panelled double-leaf timber door with Y-tracery transom light in pointed-headed surround, accessed by a masonry step.

The east (rear) elevation was inaccessible.

The south elevation is partially concealed by over-growth. Pierced cross above pointed-headed window opening.

The stonework is in reasonably good condition with minimal evidence of deterioration.

Setting:

Set to the east end of a lawned and shrubbed walled garden, on a slightly elevated soil bank outlined with stone blocks; mature trees screen east elevation. The east elevation forms part of the rubble stone and red-brick boundary wall, which encloses the garden to three sides. Union Jack garden, to designs by Narcissus Batt, to north, accessed via a set of ornate cast-iron round-headed gates.

Historical information

This tower is believed to have been built as part of Narcissus Batt’s improvements to Purdysburn House and demesne, carried out during the 1820s (see below). It is shown on the first edition OS map of 1834 and in the near contemporary valuation it is noted as a ‘gardener’s ho[use] tower’ and valued with the house and other outbuildings at £223.14s.2d in total. Unfortunately it is not referenced as an individual structure in the later valuations, but presumably remained in use as the gardener’s residence until at least 1894, when the demesne and all its structures were sold to Belfast Corporation.

Purdysburn demesne- Historical background The townland of Ballydollaghan was granted by Sir Hugh Montgomery and Con O’Neill to George Sexten of Dublin in 1607. By the 1650s a family named Purdy were established in the vicinity, with one John Purdy of neighbouring Ballycowan erecting a mill around which grew a hamlet called ‘Purdy’s Milltown’, with stream that drove the mill becoming ‘Purdisburn’, later ‘Purdysburn’.

From at least 1708 James Wilson (d.1742) had begun to accumulate land in the area. He is referred to as ‘of Purdysburn’ in a document of 1712, indicating that he had also built or taken over ownership of a house in the district. James married Armanella MacMullan of Drumbeg and their son and heir Hill Wilson (c.1707-73) was to serve to as High Sheriff of County Antrim and Collector of Customs for the Port of Belfast. Relatively little is known of the evolution of the demesne during the early 1700s, but evidence suggests significant works were being carried out by both James and Hill in the later 1730s and early 1740s; oaks within the vicinity have been dated to this period, there is a date stone of 1740 within the summerhouse in the walled garden, and notices in the Belfast News-Letter suggest that a new residence was under construction in 1742, as well the geometric garden itself. Harris, writing in 1744, refers to ‘a house and pretty improvements of Hill Willson Esq.’, and the property was of sufficient standing to be designated on Kennedy’s County Down map of 1755 and that by Taylor & Skinner of 1777. We know that by the 1770s the garden was adorned with at least one statue—‘the figure of Hercules with his club in lead which stood on a stone pedestal’.

Hill Wilson’s son and heir, also named Hill Wilson, choose not to live at Purdysburn, and in 1785 he auctioned off the furniture and shortly afterwards let the house to William Dickson, the Bishop of Down and Connor. The Bishop remained there until 1798, the mansion acting as the de-facto palace for the diocese throughout his stay.

The property was advertised for auction in 1799, but was not sold. For the next decade various parts of the demesne and wider estate seem to have been let for short terms and the house itself appears to have lain vacant. In 1811 Purdysburn was acquired by Belfast merchant and banker Narcissus Batt (1767-1840). In 1825 Batt rebuilt or - more likely given what we know of its appearance - enlarged and remodelled the dwelling in fashionable Tudor Revival Style, seemingly to designs by Thomas Hopper. He is also thought to have expanded the demesne (presumably west of the present Hospital Road). New gates and lodges were added during this period also, along with Tudoresque dwellings in the small estate village at the southern edge of the demesne; as noted above the folly tower is probably also of this era.

In 1840 the property passed to Narcissus Batt’s son Robert Batt (1795-1866), who was subsequently succeeded his son, Robert Narcissus Batt (1844-1891). By this point the demesne was a noted local feature, Bassett’s 1886 County Down Guide stating that ‘The chief attractions of Purdysburn are the mansion and demesne… . In the demesne are three miniature lakes and yews of immense size. The great charm of the place is the glen through which the burn runs. It is tastefully planted with trees and shrubs and has most inviting walks.’ This description was in many respects the site’s swan song, for in his will RN Batt directed that the entire estate should be left to the Belfast General Hospital ‘for whatever use they saw fit’, and in 1894 it was purchased by Belfast Corporation for £29,500.

By 1900 the Corporation had decided to establish a new asylum just beyond the demesne on the eastern side of the estate, which was intended to supersede the old County Antrim Asylum off the Grosvenor Road, Belfast. The new complex itself was built on the ‘Villa Colony’ principle on the advice of the then Medical Superintendent, Dr. William Graham. The buildings were designed by George T. Hine, the Consulting Architect to the English Lunacy Commissioners, ‘on a scale for 1,500 patients’, with Belfast Architects Tulloch and Fitzsimmons overseeing the building work itself. On Scoot Hill to the west of the asylum, Interdenominational and RC churches were also built for the use of patients. Now ‘Knockbracken Healthcare Park,’ the complex has been much added to during the course of the last century and remains in use.

Whilst the mental health of citizens was to be taken care of on one side of the grounds, on the opposite side, to the west of what is now Hospital Road (within the demesne proper), physical health was being catered for in the form of a new Infectious Diseases Hospital, the city’s first municipal hospital. Built to designs by Young and McKenzie, this opened in 1906; later known as the ‘Purdysburn Fever Hospital’ and later still ‘Belvoir Park Hospital’ it continued in use until 2006.

The main portion of the demesne, around the house, remained largely untouched until 1965, when the dwelling itself (which had previously been used by both patients and asylum staff) was demolished. To the immediate east of its site new modern-style government office blocks were built in the early 1970s, with a prison, Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre and Prison added to the site in 1979, and a Territorial Army base constructed to the north of this c.1988. Having lain abandoned and overgrown for several decades, the walled garden was restored in 2018 to serve as the Northern Ireland Prison Service Memorial Garden.

References - Primary Sources
1 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 1742, 19 July 1773, 12 May 1979, 12 May 1999
2 Harris, W., ‘The Antient and Present State of the County of Down, Dublin’, 1744, p.72
3 Map of County Down by James Kennedy, 1755
4 Taylor and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland, 1777
5 PRONI OS/6/3/9/1-7 OS Maps 1834-1938
6 PRONI VAL/1/B/321 First valuation c.1836
7 Lewis, Samuel. ‘A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland’, London, S. Lewis & Co., 1837.
8 PRONI VAL/2/B/3/29 Second valuation (1861)
9 PRONI VAL/12/B/20/7A-F Annual valuation revisions (1864-1929)
10 Bassett, G H, ‘County Down One Hundred Years Ago: A Guide and Directory 1886’, Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1988
11 PRONI VAL/12/F/4/9/3 – Annual valuation revisions (1930-35)

Secondary Sources
1 Brett, C.E.B. ‘Buildings of North County Down’, Belfast, Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2004
2 Simon, B (ed) ‘A Treasured Landscape – the heritage of Belvoir Park’, Belfast, 2005
3 Reeves-Smyth, Terence and Smith, Philip, ‘An Early Eighteenth Century Garden Bosquet at Purdysburn, Co. Down’, (Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Trust Occasional Paper, No.5, 2015) [Available online http://www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Purdysburn-Patte-d%27oie-Garden.pdf ]

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed
Not listed

Evaluation

A rubble-stone gardener’s house/folly tower, square on plan with Gothic detailing, most likely c.1820s, built adjacent to the walled garden in the former Purdysburn Demesne; now the grounds of Hydebank Wood Prison. The stonework, although heavily overgrown with ivy, appears to be in reasonably good condition, and the setting is largely unspoiled; however, the internal planform of the house, along with the roof and windows, has been lost. The building, while retaining its function within the landscape as a folly, has lost its original role as a dwelling and is therefore no longer significant as a good early example of a folly/dwelling building type.
The building has lost its integrity and ability to convey its significance due to the extensive loss of its original fabric. It does not meet the test to be considered special and worthy of Listing.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply-R-Age, S-Authenticity.

BUILDING RE EVALUATED AS RO - 30.07.25 SEE ARCHITECTS COMMENTS BELOW