Ashfield House Outbuildings, 42 Killysorrel Road, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1LB

Ashfield House Outbuildings, Killysorrel, Dromore

These are two two-storey agricultural and service outbuildings predating 1830, associated with Ashfield House, a two-storey farmhouse of similar age located to the west. The outbuildings stand to the north of the junction of Killysorrel Road and Villa Wood Road, approximately two miles south-west of Dromore. They first appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and have survived with very few modern alterations, retaining their original character and forming an important part of the Ashfield House group.

Outbuilding 01: Former Stores

This is a two-storey, four-bay former stores building with adjoining livestock accommodation to the side and rear. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate, with cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are roughcast render with partially exposed rubble masonry, brick surrounds to openings, and some snecking (irregular infill stones). Windows are a variety of fixed and sliding sash timber types with either steel or timber glazing bars; there are also timber louvred openings. All windows sit in shallow reveals, and openings are headed by relieving segmental arches. Doors are timber sheeted.

The principal west elevation is asymmetrically arranged. At ground floor level there are three doors; the left-hand door is flanked by a fixed four-pane light to its right and an eight-over-eight timber sliding sash to its left. Two cast-iron pattress plates are positioned between the first and second floors. The first floor has three louvred windows to the right, a loading door to the left, and a nine-pane fixed light at the far left. A portion of a former yard enclosure wall abuts the ground floor on the right.

The left gable is abutted at ground floor level by a single-storey slated lean-to livestock pen constructed of red brick and rubble masonry, with wrought-iron rooflights. The right gable has a timber sheeted door with a fixed light to its right and a fixed nine-pane light to its left, the latter with a replacement concrete cill. The north elevation has a blank rubble masonry bay to the right, a fixed six-pane light to the centre, and two timber sheeted doors to the left. The rear elevation has a set of masonry steps giving access to a single door at first floor level on the left. The remainder of the rear elevation is abutted by a double-height slated lean-to rubble masonry livestock pen, which is under separate ownership; this section has a door to the right flanked by two steel-framed six-pane casement windows and a further door to the right. The right gable is abutted by the north gable return; the left gable is red-brick and has a single window opening, along with a single door at first floor level.

Outbuilding 02: Former Stables with Later Additions

This is a two-storey, four-bay former stables building with later-added coachman's accommodation and an adjoining carpenter's workshop to the rear. The roof is pitched and slated in natural slate, with cast-iron rainwater goods. There is a roughcast chimney with no pots, and a weather vane. Walls are roughcast render with partially exposed rubble masonry and brick surrounds. Windows are a variety of timber louvred openings and fixed lights with steel glazing bars. Doors are timber sheeted or of stable-door form.

The principal west elevation is asymmetrically arranged. At ground floor level there are three modern stable doors in the centre, a fixed light to the left, and a door to the right. The first floor has a central door flanked by a louvred opening to the left and two louvred openings to the right, with a single fixed light at the far left. Steel pattress plates are positioned between the ground and first floors, and an electric lamp in a glass enclosure is located adjacent to the left-hand stable door.

The left gable has a single door at ground floor level to the left and a square-headed loft light with brick surrounds centrally positioned. The rear elevation is abutted by two lean-to additions: a single-storey lean-to to the right and a two-storey lean-to to the left, both with natural slate roofs and masonry walling with brick surrounds. The right abutment has a single door to the right cheek and two windows to its east elevation — a timber sash to the right and a steel casement to the left. The left abutment has four lights at both ground and first floor levels with steel glazing bars and pivoted openings, plus ground and first floor doors to the left cheek. The right gable has a single ground floor window with steel glazing bars and a pivoted opening.

Setting

To the west stands Ashfield House itself, a two-storey, three-bay farmhouse also predating 1830. To the east is a large, rectangular three-storey former hemstitching factory with a pitched natural slate roof, brick chimneystacks, cast-iron rainwater goods, rubble masonry walling to the ground and first floors, and brick to the second floor. To the south of the yard is a single-storey double-pile former coach house with a later added lean-to hen house, of lesser interest. Throughout the site there are various wrought-iron gates and rubble walls. Adjacent to the stores (Outbuilding 01) is a cast-iron water pump with a cover over the well.

Historical Background

According to architectural historian Rankin, Ashfield House was constructed around 1760 and is the oldest house associated with the Lindsay family. The site was originally leased to the Reverend W. Hewig from 1766 and was occupied by his son John Hewig in 1789. In 1792 Maurice Lindsay (1745–1815) purchased Ashfield House. The Lindsays were a family of Scottish origin who first came to Ireland in 1642 during the Irish Confederacy War (1641–53), arriving as part of the army of General Monro, which had been sent to quell the Irish Catholic Rebellion begun in 1641. Following the conflict, the family settled at Tullyhenan and established their first dwelling there. Maurice Lindsay was the son of David Lindsay (born 1710) of Tullyhenan House, which had been the family home for over 250 years.

The Townland Valuation records that Ashfield House and its outbuildings were jointly valued at £15 13s. and were occupied by David Lindsay (1795–1859), a member of this prominent linen family who had also been associated with Tullyhenan House, Moorlands, Balleevy House, and Clanmurry. It was David Lindsay who established the first textile business at Ashfield in 1828, weaving heavy fabrics on hand looms. By 1839 he employed 950 weavers, predominantly producing linens, unions, and cottons from home. The three-storey factory to the northeast of the site was constructed between 1836 and 1859, first appearing on the second edition Ordnance Survey map in 1858. Rankin records that towards the end of the 18th century the Lindsay family played a notable part in the development of the linen industry of the Bann valley, and were connected with many other well-known linen families such as the Crawfords, Mulligans, and Hunters.

David Lindsay died in 1859, whereupon his son Maurice Lindsay took possession. The entire site — comprising Ashfield House, the two outbuildings, the three-storey factory, and a now-demolished gate lodge on Killysorrel Road — was jointly valued at £50 in Griffith's Valuation of 1861. Maurice Lindsay held the land on lease from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who at that time remained the largest landowners in Ireland. Maurice Lindsay died in 1877, and Ashfield House passed out of the family's hands after approximately 85 years of Lindsay ownership. On 26 March 1878 the site was sold by public auction at the Downshire Arms Hotel in Banbridge. A notice published in the Banbridge Chronicle described the house as "nicely situated, and in every way suitable for a Gentleman's residence, is very commodious, substantially built and slated, and in excellent order," while the outbuildings were described as "very extensive, and well adapted for carrying on the Linen Manufacturing business on a large scale."

The lease was purchased by John Moore, who also came into possession of the 21 dwellings constituting Ashfield Village. The 1901 Census records Moore (aged 65, Unitarian) as a linen manufacturer and Justice of the Peace for County Down. The census building return noted that Ashfield House's out offices included a stable, two cow houses, a dairy, piggery, boiling house, barn, forge, and laundry room, situated in the two-storey outbuildings to the north-east of the site. The Annual Revisions confirm that Moore's three-storey factory was used as a hemstitching works; it is first labelled as such on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903.

John Moore continued to occupy Ashfield until his death around 1911, when his daughter Julia Moore (aged 45) took over. By 1914 a Mr William A. McMurray had taken possession of the house, outbuildings, and factory. By 1922 the Coey family had occupied Ashfield, with George H. and Edward Coey recorded as occupants in the Annual Revisions. The site continues to be occupied by a relative of the Coey family. Ashfield House and its outbuildings were listed in 1977.

The two outbuildings have been maintained in an excellent state of preservation, have undergone very few alterations, and retain their original character. Together with the main house and factory, they form a coherent and significant group representing a rural linen manufacturing site of considerable local historical importance.