Lowry's Farm, 26 Orlock Road, Groomsport, Co Down, BT19 6LW

Lowry's Farm is a one-and-a-half-storey, three-bay gabled vernacular farmhouse built around 1858, sitting on the north side of Orlock Road between Groomsport and Donaghadee, set within almost four acres of farmland looking out towards the Copeland Islands. It forms an unusually intact traditional farm grouping together with an earlier direct-entry vernacular dwelling dating from around 1800 and a range of associated outbuildings — a combination that is rare in this area and gives the site considerable historic and architectural interest.

The Main House

The main farmhouse is rectangular on plan with a projecting porch to the front and a small out-shot to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and four regularly spaced rendered chimneystacks carrying tall terracotta pots. The porch also has decorative terracotta ridge tiles. Decorative barge-boards ornament the gables and porch. Eaves project and are fitted with cast-iron half-round rainwater goods. The walls are lime-rendered throughout.

The windows are currently obscured with strand board, though one six-over-six timber sliding sash survives to the attic of the south gable. The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged, with a single window to either side of the projecting gabled porch. The porch has a boarded window opening to the gable; the exposed section to the left is the original entrance, while the exposed section to the right is blank. The south elevation has a window to the centre at both ground and first floor. The rear west elevation is abutted by the small out-shot to the left, with two window openings to the right. The north elevation has a single window at first-floor level; at ground floor it is abutted to the right by later flat-roof extensions of no architectural interest.

The Outbuildings and Earlier Farmhouse

The former vernacular dwelling on the site dates from around 1800. It is a single-storey, three-bay direct-entry dwelling facing south, with lime-rendered walls and a corrugated iron roof. It comprises a central room with an open hearth and rooms to either end, with access to a loft. The interior retains the open hearth — soot remains are still visible — along with lime-plastered walls and floor, a wall plate built up with brick, and a corrugated metal roof. It is connected to the main house by a series of more recent outbuildings of no architectural interest.

To the east of the earlier house is a series of slated outbuildings arranged in a U-shape. These include a barn with stepped ridges and a partial Tullycavey slate roof, external steps, a brick chimney, and original timber-framed windows and doors; a single-storey-with-attic rubble stone and lime-rendered storage house; and a more recent brick and cement-rendered two-storey store with external steps.

Setting

The house is approached down a private lane and is surrounded by farmland. A large paddock lies to the north. The outbuildings and earlier farmhouse form a U-shape to the north-east of the main house. The associated farmland is enclosed by mature hedgerow and wire fence. To the front of the house is a rubble stone and lime-rendered wall with square gate piers having pyramidal caps. Decorative wrought-iron field gates are positioned directly opposite the house and to the north at the entrance to the outbuildings.

Historical Background

Farm buildings are recorded on this site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, and some outbuildings to the north, including what would have been the original farmhouse, survive from that period. The new farmhouse was added around 1858, as confirmed by its first appearance on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of that year, but the earlier farmhouse was retained and may well have continued in use as a dwelling alongside it.

The farm does not appear in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40, most likely because its value did not meet the threshold for inclusion. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1861, it was by far the most substantial farm in the relatively small Townland of Orlock, covering over 130 acres. The house and outbuildings were valued together at £15, and the house itself was described as "new." The farm was occupied at that time by William Aird, who leased it from local landowner David S. Ker.

In July 1876 the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland holds two letters written by Robert Workman to his wife Sarah, who was staying at Aird's Cottage, Orlock. Robert Workman may have been a relative of Thomas Workman, later resident at Craigdarragh House, though the connection is not entirely clear. It is possible that the farmhouse was occasionally let out — perhaps during the summer season — while the Aird family retired to the older house, and that Sarah Workman may have been there to recuperate from an illness.

The two farmhouses together illustrate an interesting shift in priorities over the course of the 19th century. The early farmhouse of around 1800 is very much embedded in the working farm, forming part of the courtyard of buildings with one doorway opening into the courtyard and another facing the approach lane. The later farmhouse is deliberately set apart from the working courtyard and positioned to maximise a spectacular view of the sea — reflecting either increased prosperity, an interest in the letting potential of the property, or both.

William Aird died on 28th February 1875, after which the farm passed to Samuel Aird in 1876 and then to John Aird in 1894. John Aird became the owner under land acquisition legislation in 1910. The 1901 census records John Aird living at the house with his wife, two daughters, a sister, a general servant, and three farm labourers — a sizeable household. By 1911 this had reduced to John Aird, his wife, two daughters, and two farm labourers. An index of exhibitors in Irish art societies and sketching clubs records that a painting of the "Farm of John Aird Esq, Orlock" was made during this period and offered for sale at £15 15s.

In 1910 a corrugated iron hayshed measuring 60 feet by 30 feet by 18 feet was added to the site; once valued in 1917, it increased the overall valuation by £2. When the property was first surveyed in 1973 the cottage was still inhabited and had passed into the ownership of the Lowry family. The farm has since fallen into disuse.