Farmhill, 41 Farmhill Road, Cultra, Holywood, BT18 0AD

Farmhill is a substantial two-storey-with-attic, five-bay symmetrical mid-Georgian farmhouse, built around 1735 to 1740 and significantly altered around 1870 and again in the late 1930s. It stands on a slope to the east of Farmhill Road, Cultra, overlooking Belfast Lough. The house replaced an earlier, more modest 17th-century dwelling, the remains of which survive in the mews house located to the south-west of the site.

EXTERIOR

The building is rectangular on plan, with a single-storey extension to the east that has a conservatory at the rear, and a conservatory to the west with an attached annexe abutted by a garage. The roof is pitched natural slate with stone verges and black and blue slate ridge tiles. Chimneys are simple painted render with a plinth and terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are profiled cast-iron on moulded masonry eaves. Walls are finished in painted smooth render with raised quoins and a plinth, and a continuous sill course runs along the first floor.

The principal elevation faces north and presents five openings to the first floor. At ground floor level, a central bolection-moulded four-panelled door is set beneath a plain transom light with moulded Doric pilasters and an entablature, flanked by projecting bay windows fitted with twin sash windows, Doric pilasters to the jambs and mullions, and an entablature topped with lead flashing. Windows to the north elevation are 1/1 timber-framed sliding sashes in lugged moulded surrounds with keyblock detail. There are three modern skylights to the roof. Abutted to the east is a recessed single-storey extension with a uPVC door, uPVC windows and a skylight; to the right (west) is a uPVC conservatory, which in turn is abutted to the rear by an annexe and garage. The east elevation is concealed by trees.

From the north, the house gives the appearance of being Victorian in character, but the rear elevation has retained its Georgian fenestration and detailing. The south (rear) elevation has asymmetrical fenestration comprising a central bay with a tall round-headed stairwell window, with a lunette above and below, and bays to the left and right containing a variety of 6/6 sash windows. There is a uPVC door to the right. The roof here has four modern skylights, and a timber conservatory abuts the single-storey extension to the right. The west gable has two uPVC windows to the second floor and a 1/1 sliding sash window to the left at first floor level.

INTERIOR

The original floor plan survives and the internal detailing is of a good standard throughout. The accommodation, as recorded in a 1930s valuation, comprised two reception rooms, an office, kitchen, scullery, pantry, and on the first floor three bedrooms and two dressing rooms, with a bathroom, WC and two attics above. Some bedrooms were inter-communicating with no other means of access. The offices were described as extensive. The house was supplied by gas and by water from a well with a pump.

SETTING

The once-substantial grounds have diminished considerably, with a small housing development now to the north and two individual properties to the east. Farmhill retains a large mature sloped garden to the north and a contained walled yard and traditionally landscaped Georgian garden to the rear. A gravelled drive to the south-west is accessed via an entrance comprising traditional cast-iron gates on painted masonry piers with stone caps.

HISTORICAL NOTES

According to local historian Tony Merrick, there has been a farm on this site since the early 17th century, with the original house now surviving as the mews cottage. Merrick notes that the main house "has many features which suggest a date of about 1730–40," a view apparently supported by the valuer's notes of 1935.

Nothing is known of the earliest owners. By the time of the Townland Valuation of 1826 to 1840, the house and offices were listed as the property of Joseph McCartney, valued at £27 3s. The property is also shown captioned "Farm Hill" on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834. The McCartney family appear to have been people of some leisure and means: a letter of 7 October 1840 from John Sinclaire of Ballantrae to George McCartney at Farm Hill anticipates a visit for hunting game — "I hope you have a good dog as nothing else will do here the birds of every kind are so shy" — and Joseph McCartney's son was educated at St Paul's School in London. An 1867 maritime directory lists a Joseph McCartney of Bangor, County Down, as a shipowner.

In Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864, the house was occupied by Henry N Smyth, attorney, and leased from the representatives of Robert J Kennedy. It was recorded as a house, offices, lawn and garden valued at £25. The valuer remarked: "A very old and infirm house, expensive to keep in repair. Good situation."

By 1863 Alexander Mitchell was listed as the occupier of the main house, the property then appearing as two separate residences, one of which was possibly the mews cottage. Mitchell (1780–1868) was a civil engineer born in Dublin who studied at the Royal Belfast Academy and in 1800 started a business in Belfast as a brick manufacturer and builder. He became totally blind at the age of twenty-three, having contracted smallpox as a child, which led to amaurosis, a disease of the optic nerve. He retired from the business in 1832, having invented a number of machines to improve manufacturing processes. He is best remembered for his invention in 1833 of the screw-pile and screw-mooring systems, which provided foundations for lighthouses and beacons on mud or sandbanks and enabled ships to moor. He patented his inventions and established "Mitchell's Screw-pile and Mooring Company" in Belfast and London. The screw-pile was first used in the foundations of the Maplin Sands lighthouse and subsequently in Fleetwood lighthouse, which Mitchell himself designed and constructed. Further applications followed: Carrickfergus Bay (1844), a jetty on the Wexford coast (1847), lighthouses in Dundalk Bay (1849) and near Cobh in Cork harbour (1852). The screw-pile eventually aided the spread of fashionable seaside piers at British coastal resorts, the first to employ Mitchell's system being Margate (1853 to 1856). Mitchell lived at Farm Hill following the death of his daughter Mary, but died at Glen Divis near Belfast.

During Mitchell's residence, the Greenfield family became lessors of the property. By 1880 Henry M Charley was in residence; other members of the Charley family appear to have been involved in shipping. In 1887 Thomas Greenfield took possession. Brett records that the grandparents of Tony Merrick lived in the house from 1909 to 1914.

After 1933 the house was occupied by Edmund Graham and leased from John Crosbie Smith. It was valued at £32, later raised to £55 and then reduced to £48 on appeal. Following an appeal in 1935, the valuer noted: "In order to secure rent of £50 landlord had to install electricity and repaper and paint throughout. Paper had to be put on asbestos sheeting as there is no damp course in walls and paper would not hold otherwise. House is said to be 200 years old...The bedrooms in some cases are inter-communicating with no other means of access. The offices are extensive and only about half are in use. There is no range and water supply is said to be unreliable."

In 1939 the house was occupied by William S Atkinson. Improvements were made leading to a revaluation of £50. An extension was added to the north façade and a conservatory to the rear at this time; the porch and bay windows to the first floor also appear to have been altered. The plans of these alterations also show a motor house and a greenhouse on the southern façade. The house was considerably restored in the 1990s by Dr Nixon and has changed hands several times since.

Farmhill is an unusual and noteworthy example of its type — a good illustration of the influence of polite Georgian architecture on the ordinary vernacular farmhouse.