Manor House Home, Mary Street, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6QH

Manor House, formerly the centrepiece of the Boyd Estate, is a two- to three-storey corner building of Georgian proportions, enhanced by some restrained Victorian detail, dating from around 1730. It occupies a prominent position at the corner of Quay Road and Mary Street in Ballycastle, looking northward over Ballycastle Bay toward Rathlin Island, Islay, and the North Atlantic. The building is ten bays long to Quay Road and eleven bays long to Mary Street, and includes a return wing containing a former coach house with an attached industrial brick chimney known as the "flag turret." The Georgian building with its extensions along Quay Road and the flag turret are considered the main historical survivals on the site and are of special architectural and historical interest. The coach house and flag turret are prominent landmarks on the seafront.

Architectural Description

The principal elevation faces northwest onto Quay Road. It is composed of a central three-storey block, flanked by two-storey accommodation to the northeast and a single-storey wing to the southwest. The central block is three bays wide with a shallow breakfront. Its central doorway is framed by pilasters on each side, each supporting a scroll or corbel that carries a projecting cornice and canopy. Flanking this entrance are narrow vertical windows with moulded architraves, which originally lit the entrance hall. Beyond these, on each side, are double-hung sliding sash windows with two panes, again with moulded architraves and keystones. The first and second floors repeat three similarly detailed windows, widely spaced. The two-storey wing to the northeast has a single, taller double-hung sliding sash two-pane window at ground floor with a moulded architrave, and two double-hung sliding sash two-pane windows at first floor without architraves. The wings to the southwest are windowless, with a change in roof level. There are no chimney stacks across the main building except for a tall stack near the end of the southwest wing, which is clearly a later addition to a boiler house built behind. The walls throughout are rendered and painted. Roofs are natural slate: the three-storey block has a hipped roof, the others are gabled.

The northeast elevation faces Mary Street and is partially screened behind an enclosing wall. It contains the principal entrance to the building as it now stands, approached through a single-storey projection with a hipped roof forming an outer porch to the entrance hall. This is set against a two-storey block six bays long, which extends a further two bays at a lower level and has little architectural merit, though the extended two bays incorporate built-up segmental arched gateways. This two-storey range abuts the principal block of the former Manor House. The two-storey wing of the main block that returns onto Mary Street is two bays wide, each bay gabled; one bay has a two-storey canted bay window with a flat roof. This canted bay has three double-hung sliding sash windows on each floor, all with moulded architraves and stringcourses at sill levels and between floors. The adjacent bay has two double-hung sliding sash two-pane windows at ground floor and two directly above, all with moulded architraves. The bargeboards on the gables are plain with a small overhang.

At the southeast end of the central two-storey connecting link stands a further two-storey block, stone-built and painted, with a mostly irregular arrangement of windows and a number of built-up segmental gateways. This is thought to represent the former coach and outhouses. Quoins and dressings to original openings are in rusticated sandstone. The most prominent feature of this part of the complex is a large chimney constructed in stone and brick. The lower portion, built in rubble, may originally have been the turret from which flags were flown — this identification was suggested by C. Brett in the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society publication on the Glens of Antrim.

Apart from the central block frontage to Quay Road and the short two-bay return to Mary Street, the building complex appears to have been very considerably altered over the past two centuries, and little of the original architecture survives in the remaining parts.

The building sits within a restricted garden bounded by walls on all four sides. Access to the grounds and main entrance is from Mary Street.

Historical Context

Hugh Boyd purchased the village and estate of Ballycastle on a perpetual lease from the Earl of Antrim in 1727 and erected the Manor House around 1730. He was a figure of exceptional local significance: he established the town of Ballycastle, developed its colliery, glass manufactory, soapworks, and brewery, erected the fine Georgian church in the centre of the town, and constructed many of the flanking buildings on Ann Street and Castle Street. Adjacent to the Manor House he also built a brewery, tanyard, soapworks, and estate office. Boyd died in 1765.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record the house in a near-ruinous state in the early 19th century, with paupers residing in it, though it was described as "very roomy and spacious" with "the courtyard offices and garden very extensive." The valuation of 1859 showed the house to be very similar in form to that of 1832, with the addition of single-storey cart or "car" houses, and by this time Alexander Boyd, a descendant of Hugh, was resident.

The annual valuations record no significant change until 1896, when a "new portion measuring 21 by 19 feet over two storeys" and "an added storey of 26 by 25 feet" are noted, accompanied by a record stating that two reception rooms and two bedrooms were added at a contract price of £350, though with some expenditure on internal remodelling including the removal of old walls and roofs, bringing total expenditure to £450. The added storey appears to have been to the north wing and the new portion directly to its rear. It is likely that the Victorian-style window surrounds were added at this time. Despite these additions, Ordnance Survey maps of 1898 and 1904 show a reduced frontage to Quay Road, with new properties to the southwest. In 1902 the valuers noted that part of the ground floor was in use as a rent office.

The Boyd family continued to reside in the Manor House until the death of Kathleen Isabel Boyd in 1942. In 1947 the property was acquired by Dr Barnardo's and converted to a children's home. Around 1985 the then-current owner converted it to a nursing home for the elderly, with internal renovation and the addition of a day room. As of 2004, proposals were in place to convert the building to apartments, though no work had been carried out and the building was vacant at that time.

Planning History

The coach house and flag turret were the subject of a planning appeal in 2003 (reference 2002/A261), following the Department's refusal to permit their demolition as part of a revised apartment scheme. The Planning Appeals Commission overturned that refusal. In its conclusion, the Commission found a tension between two policy considerations: on one hand, the proposal would enhance the appearance of the listed building as a whole and its setting, thereby preserving its special architectural interest, which resides principally in the Manor House itself, and would also visually enhance the appearance and character of the Conservation Area. On the other hand, the flag turret, as a feature of special historic interest, would be lost, and there would be some diminution of the historical character of the Conservation Area. Nonetheless, the Commission was satisfied that the Manor House would remain and its historic connection with Hugh Boyd and the Boyd family would be retained. It concluded that an appropriate scheme of alteration along the lines illustrated by the appellants could be designed, and that on balance the planning gain in terms of the architectural character and appearance of the listed building and the visual enhancement of the Conservation Area would outweigh the loss of the flag turret.

The Commission rejected a submission from the Department that the coach houses should be considered of special interest on the basis that, though altered and extended, they might represent a scarce remnant of the 18th-century industry associated with Hugh Boyd — potentially forming part of his original soapworks, later used as a dyeworks in the 19th century, then as a coach house, before conversion to accommodation in the 20th century. The Commission accepted that there was sufficient doubt as to whether the remaining portion of the east wing was in fact part of the original soapworks, noting the Department's own acknowledgement that it was possible the east wing was a complete rebuild.

The original architect is not known.