Outbuildings, Dunbarton House, 70 Dunbarton Street, Loughans, Gilford, Co Down, BT63 6HJ

These outbuildings form a large stableyard complex to the rear (north-east) of Dunbarton House, an early Victorian house of around 1845 in Loughans, north-west of Gilford village centre, County Down. The three outbuildings were built in stages: Outbuilding 1 (the former coach house) around 1850, Outbuilding 3 (the stable block) around 1858–60, and Outbuilding 2 around 1885. The whole ensemble is thought to have been designed by architect Thomas Jackson, who was responsible for several houses built for linen merchants in the area during the 1830s and 1840s, including Huntly House, Milltown House and Belmont. The outbuildings have group value with the wider Dunbarton estate, which also includes the main house, the conservatory, a Second World War air-raid shelter, and two gate lodges.

The stableyard is approached from Dunbarton Street along a long sweeping driveway through mature landscaped grounds. The yard itself sits immediately to the north-east of the main house and is entered through an elliptical arch with brick voussoirs and stone quoins set in the north-west boundary wall. The courtyard is enclosed on the south-west by Dunbarton House itself, on the north-east by Outbuilding 1 (the former coach house), and on the south-east by a tall painted rendered wall. The three outbuildings form three sides of a courtyard: Outbuilding 1 runs north-west to south-east; Outbuilding 2 runs south-west to north-east on the north-west side; and Outbuilding 3 runs south-west to north-east on the south-east side. The north-east side of the courtyard is completed by a rubble masonry boundary wall with tall squared brick piers, granite caps and replacement timber sheeted gates. The courtyard surface is cobbled, likely a replacement.

Outbuilding 1 — Former Coach House

This is a two-storey linear block with a hipped natural slate roof (a replacement) and black clay ridge tiles. The walls are of rough-cut rubble masonry laid to courses with brick surrounds to all openings, the brickwork forming toothed quoins and splayed brick headers. Original cast-iron rainwater goods survive.

The south-west (front) elevation is multi-bay. At ground floor level, from left to right, there is: a window opening with a 6/8 former timber sliding sash with single glazing and a stone cill, now fixed; a door opening with a painted timber frame and painted timber sheeted door with a four-pane hopper overlight; large double timber sheeted gate doors with metal hinges; a segmental coach arch with brick voussoirs and large tooled-stone quoins; a window opening with a replacement 6/6 timber sliding sash with slim double-glazing units and a replacement concrete cill; a window opening with a replacement 8/8 timber sliding sash with slim double-glazing units and a tooled stone cill; a window opening with a replacement 6/6 timber sliding sash with slim double-glazing units and a replacement concrete cill; a door opening with a replacement timber door and three-pane overlight; and, at the extreme right, a large opening fitted with replacement double-glazed timber glazed doors with sidelights. At first floor level, from left to right, there are regularly spaced openings with what appear to be concrete cills, consisting of: a 2/4 timber sliding sash window; a 2/4 timber window with hopper to the top panes; a 2/4 timber window with hopper to the top panes; a 2/4 timber sliding sash window; a blank wall section with a modern red brick chimney at eaves level; a 2/4 timber sliding sash window; a 20th-century brick wall-head dormer with a pitched slate roof containing narrow timber glazed double doors behind a modern metal railing; a 2/4 timber window with hopper to the top panes; and a 2/4 timber sliding sash window.

The north-east (rear) elevation has, at ground floor level from left to right: two window openings with replacement 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with slim double glazing; a modern single-storey extension of rustic red brick with a lean-to natural slate roof incorporating velux-type rooflights and a door in the south-east side; a further window opening with a replacement 6/6 timber sliding sash with slim double glazing; and a segmental coach arch with tooled stone quoins and voussoirs fitted with large timber sheeted double doors, metal-sheeted to the bottom half. At first floor level from left to right: a modern window opening with a six-pane window with top-hung top panes and a rendered surround; a 2/4 timber sliding sash window; a 2/4 timber window with hopper to the top panes; a blank wall section with a former window opening bricked up; three 2/4 timber sliding sash windows; and a 2/4 timber sliding sash window positioned above the coach arch. Various modern velux-type rooflights are set into the replacement natural slate roof. The south-east side elevation is abutted by the tall rear wall of the conservatory. The north-west side elevation is a blind elevation of coursed rubblestone masonry.

Outbuilding 1 has been converted in recent years to provide living accommodation. This has involved the construction of a small projection within the stable courtyard, the introduction of a new dormer window to the front elevation, and the replacement of the roof. The former motor house entrance — which records show was introduced around 1934, occupying 17½ feet of the frontage and the full 20-foot depth of the building — has been fitted with glazed doors.

Outbuilding 2

This is a linear, multi-bay, two-storey brick outbuilding with a Westmorland natural slate roof. The brickwork is laid in English garden wall bond with splayed brick headers to the openings and blocked-up openings. The building contains three distinct sections: an open section at the extreme right, a double-height squash court in the central section, and stables to the right side.

The south-east (front) elevation facing the courtyard has, at ground floor level from left to right: a wide opening with a brick segmental arch header and brick infill between the underside of the arch and a steel beam header; a cement-rendered buttress; a door opening with a modern timber door; a cement-rendered buttress; a cement-rendered linear strip above door level containing five small square window openings with rudimentary timber frames, four with single glazing and the leftmost blocked up; a bricked-up door opening; and three tall stable door openings, across the first of which a modern timber staircase has been constructed to give access to the first floor, the middle door being a replacement stable half-door and the rightmost a timber sheeted door with a plain overlight. At first floor level from left to right: a window opening with a 3/6 timber sliding sash window; a blank facade with five bricked-up former window openings; a window opening with a putty-fronted single-glazed nine-pane fixed light; a door opening with a squat replacement timber sheeted door at the top of timber steps; and a window opening with a putty-fronted single-glazed nine-pane fixed light. There is an advanced brick header eaves course and plastic rainwater goods. At the south-west end there is a raised lead parapet with a replacement slate hipped roof behind.

The south-west gable elevation is abutted by the north-west end of Outbuilding 1. The north-east gable elevation is a blind facade with natural stone to the lower half and brick above, finished with a raised cement-rendered parapet, and abutted by the courtyard boundary wall at the east corner.

The north-west (rear) elevation is of rough-cut stone brought to courses with brick surrounds and heads to the openings, and an advanced brick header eaves course. At ground floor level from left to right: three window openings with nine-pane fixed timber windows with single glazing and stone cills; the remainder of the facade has bricked-up window openings (not fully visible at the time of survey). At first floor level from left to right: three window openings aligned with those below — a nine-pane fixed timber window with single glazing on the left, a four-pane window of the same type in the middle, and a nine-pane of the same type on the right, all with stone cills — together with a door opening retaining the remnants of a footbridge formed with steel sections leading to the higher ground level beyond. The remainder of the facade has bricked-up window openings (not fully visible at the time of survey). Plastic rainwater goods are fitted.

Outbuilding 3

This is a thirteen-bay, single-storey brick stable block with a mono-pitched natural slate roof.

The north-west (front) elevation facing the courtyard has, from left to right: four regularly spaced replacement timber stable half-doors between replacement fixed timber multi-paned windows with single glazing and no cills; a small cement-rendered chimney left of centre; and two store openings to the right with timber sheeted doors and the same pattern of windows. A small, simple cast-iron water pump is positioned at the extreme right side. Plastic rainwater goods are fitted.

The south-west gable is a blind elevation of painted brick. The north-east gable is a blind elevation with a lean-to roof profile, built in rubblestone masonry with brick quoins to the left side.

The south-east (rear) elevation is partly blind with no openings on the right side, which is finished in ruled-and-lined cement render with red clay ridge tiles. The left side is abutted by a large modern lean-to shed with a sliding timber barn door. To the south-west side of this lean-to shed there is a single-storey potting shed abutting the rear elevation of Outbuilding 3. The south-east elevation of the potting shed has a central timber sheeted door flanked by twelve-pane timber fixed lights. The south-west gable of the potting shed has a single window opening with a 3/3 timber sliding sash window with margin panes. The potting shed has a natural slate pitched roof with red clay ridge tiles and plastic rainwater goods. An extension of approximately 25 by 16 feet was added to the rear of Outbuilding 3 after 1972 and has been further extended in recent years.

Special Interests and Historical Notes

The outbuildings have particular significance in relation to the Second World War. During the war, Dunbarton House was used as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, and at this time a section of Outbuilding 2 was fitted out as a squash court, the fittings and court markings of which remain apparent. An air-raid shelter and a swimming pool were also constructed on the estate during this period by 297 Company of the Royal Engineers, who were stationed in the Gilford Castle demesne.

A water pump is shown in the south-west corner of the stableyard on the large-scale Ordnance Survey map of 1860, and a pump remains in this position today.

Historical mapping confirms the development of the complex over time. The main house first appears with its current footprint on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, with two ranges of outbuildings already shown to the rear. Outbuilding 3 appears in a partially roofless state on the 1858 map but was roofed over by the time of the 1860 large-scale map, suggesting it was under construction during the late 1850s. By the third edition map of 1901–02, Outbuilding 2 had been added, completing the U-shaped courtyard broadly as it survives today. The 1933 revaluation confirms the present-day dimensions of the outbuildings, and notes that a motor house was introduced into Outbuilding 1 around 1934, occupying 17½ feet of the frontage and the full 20-foot building width.

Throughout the complex, materials include original and replacement natural slate roofing, rough-cut stone walls with brick detailing, and a mixture of historic and replacement timber sliding sash, fixed-pane and hopper windows. Rainwater goods are a combination of original cast iron and replacement PVC. While 20th-century alterations have taken place, much original historic fabric, some original plan form, and some original interior detailing survive.