Farmyard at Mount Stewart, Mount Stewart, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2RU

Farmyard at Mount Stewart

This large, sprawling farmyard complex dates from around 1816 and serves the Mount Stewart estate. It is situated roughly in the centre of the estate, about half a mile north-east of Mount Stewart house, positioned on either side of an estate road.

The complex is mainly constructed in rubble stone with sandstone dressings and a mixture of Bangor blue slate hipped and gabled roofs. Much was added to in the 1870s with the addition of two large two-storey stewards' houses and the probable rebuilding of the dairy.

The Main Section

The main section, on the east side of the road, is roughly S-shaped in plan with two yards. Generally the buildings are single storey. At the north end is a gabled barn with a stone bell cote to its gable.

The Houses

At the south end are two storey dwelling houses mainly constructed in black stone rubble with brick dressings. The Bangor blue slated roof of the house to the west is gabled, with its neighbour to the east hipped. The house to the east has two adjoining returns, one of which has a felt flat roof. Windows are generally PVC.

The Dovecote

To the east, approximately 30 metres from this grouping, is a two storey octagonal dovecote constructed in snecked rubble with brick dressing. The roof is hipped (8-sided) and alternate slopes have decorative dormers with small openings for pigeons to enter. There is a tall decorative weather vane finial to the roof apex.

The Dairy

To the south and west of the main complex is a small circular dairy. The outer wall of the dairy to the south is circular and constructed in random rubble, abutting the orchard wall which is straight. This gives an overall semi-circular plan form; however, internally the dairy proper is in fact circular. The entrance porch takes up the odd plan shapes. The north facade is incorporated into the orchard wall and is constructed in brick with sandstone dressings to openings. The dairy has a conical roof, recently re-slated using Tullycavey slate, with a large gutterless overhang of approximately 60 centimetres.

The Cottages

To the north of the dairy and within the orchard is a 3-metre high brick wall stretching almost the width of the orchard. To the north side of this wall are two lean-to single storey farm worker's cottages with curved dormers.

Historical Context

The site appears to have been in use as a farmyard since at least the 1780s, its positioning probably chosen in accordance with Robert Stewart's ultimately unfulfilled plans for a new house on nearby Bean Hill. In 1815 there was a fire in the yard. Robert wrote to his son, Castlereagh, describing the devastation: the whole of the sheds, both inside and out of the yard, were quite destroyed, as the lofts were full round with hay and no separate partition wall. Had it not been for the presence of mind of Greenfield, the land steward, who cut off the communication by sawing the timber and making a part of the roof fall in, the barn, the threshing machine, stabling, coach house and all the offices would have been burnt, to which may be added the whole of the haggard containing all the grain, which would have been in a blaze. In 1816-17, the account books reveal that much of the complex "being burned" was rebuilt. Much of the S-shaped section along with the dovecote is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, a form which appears to have remained largely the same until the 1870s, when much of the Mount Stewart farmland was let and Stewards' houses built in the south-west corner by the tenant. The dairy may have been rebuilt during this period also.

Current Status

Today the farmyard is still in use, but the dairy and orchard are largely derelict.