Moor Hall (with gates and outbuildings), 96 Killyleagh Road, Ballybredagh, Killinchy, Co. Down, BT23 6TR

Moor Hall is a large, single-storey gabled house of probable 18th century origin — and possibly earlier, with roots going back to the 17th century — set on a hilltop to the north-east of the Killyleagh Road, approximately two miles south of Killinchy. The site appears to have been inhabited since medieval, or possibly early Christian, times, as evidenced by a mound immediately to the north-west of the house. The property includes an extensive collection of outbuildings to the south, and a pair of iron entrance gates.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

According to tradition, a Scots sea captain named James Moore (or Moor) built a house on this site around 1630, which either he named or which became known as Moore Hall. His descendants remained in possession until at least the 1770s, when it was recorded on Taylor's and Skinner's 1777 road map as belonging to "Mr. Moore". By that stage, folk memory suggests the original 17th century structure may have been largely rebuilt. The present house is clearly shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, and recorded in contemporary valuation records, with the rear return already in place at that time. By then the property was in the hands of a John Morrow, whose family retained ownership until at least 1886.

The house was subsequently acquired by a man referred to as Henry Moore, who reportedly purchased it on account of its name — though this story may be apocryphal. Other evidence suggests he was in fact Henry Morrow, already connected to the family that owned the house. Either way, around 1900 he undertook a comprehensive renovation: adding the entrance porch and flanking bays, refitting the hall with the assistance of Italian craftsmen, installing new marble fireplaces, repositioning or regularising many of the window openings, blocking up the rear door, and probably building the rubble and brick outbuilding complex to the south. Around 1930 Moor Hall was sold to Frank Furey, a farmer from Killyleagh, who was probably responsible for the extension added to the south gable. In 1974 the roof was replaced, resulting in its current overhanging eaves.

THE HOUSE — EXTERIOR

The front façade faces roughly west. The building is long and single-storey with gabled ends, finished throughout in painted lined render with chamfered quoins and a chamfered plinth. The window frames are now almost entirely PVC.

Dominating the centre of the front façade is a large, conservatory-like entrance porch added around 1900. It is five-sided and mainly glazed, with a fully glazed hipped roof topped with a decorative iron finial. The entrance doorway on the west face is also largely glazed. The smaller upper panes incorporate typical late Victorian and Edwardian coloured and patterned glass. The porch's timber mullions carry small console brackets at eaves level supporting the roof overhang.

To the north and south of the porch, a flat-roofed two-sided bay projects from the façade on each side, each with a tall window to either face and simple moulded surrounds. Each bay has a cill course, eaves cornice and short parapet. To the left of the left bay, and to the right of the right bay, the main façade of the house has four windows arranged in two pairs, with each pair sharing a continuous cill. At the far left, the façade terminates in a short rendered wall with a round gate pillar topped by a ball pinnacle, though its gates are now missing. At the far right (south), the house appears to have been extended along the line of the original building, with a panelled door to this extension. The chamfered quoins on the right no longer align with the wall edge as a result of this addition.

The north gable is blank, finished in painted lined render with chamfered quoins and chamfered plinth. The south gable has a panelled door to the left and a square PVC window to the right; at attic level there is a sash window. This gable is finished in roughcast.

At the rear, the ground falls away so that the façade stands generally taller than at the front. Towards the centre-left there is a large two-storey gabled return. The south face of the return has two high-level PVC windows to the left. The north face has three similar windows at a comparable level, though the actual ground is slightly higher on this side; the rightmost window is noticeably narrower than the other two. The gable of the return has a large PVC window at ground level, a smaller PVC window above, and, at semi-basement level below the ground-floor window, a small timber-sheeted doorway with a small PVC window to its right.

On the main rear façade, to the left of the return there is a single PVC window; the render to its left shows the ghost of a low gabled structure — perhaps a small greenhouse — once attached to the building. To the right of the return are four PVC windows and, between the first and second of these, a larger window with central arched tracery, filled entirely with stained glass.

The rear façade and return are both finished in painted lined render. Chamfered quoins appear to the right (north), with a chamfered base to the right half of the façade. The roof is covered in natural slate and has an overhanging eave with plain bargeboards, the overhang dating from the 1974 re-roofing. The return roof rises slightly above the main roofline and has four small skylights, apparently cast iron, two to each side. There are four concrete brick chimney stacks with corbelling evenly spaced along the main house; the southernmost is no longer at the gable due to the southern extension. The return has a similar chimney stack.

Immediately to the south of the house is a low rendered wall with square gate posts and late Victorian iron gates.

OUTBUILDINGS

The outbuildings to the south of the house fall into two distinct groups.

The nearer group includes a two-storey gabled outbuilding that may be mid-19th century in origin, though it appears to have been greatly altered during the 20th century. It is largely cement rendered with chamfered quoins and a chamfered plinth. On its north gable is a moulded pediment with a semicircular-headed niche below, now containing a bust of the Duke of Wellington. The left (east) side of this gable merges into a short wall with a sloping top extending to the right (south) edge of the front façade of the house; this wall is actually the north face of a lean-to attached to the rear of the outbuilding, and is also cement rendered with a semicircular-headed moulding. On the west façade there is a large flat-arched ground-floor doorway with a sliding door, a single window to the left, and four smaller first-floor windows. The ground-floor window has a modern frame; the first-floor windows are part modern-framed and part louvred. The south gable has a small boarded opening at first-floor level. To the east, this outbuilding connects to a single-storey lean-to finished in roughcast with a natural slated roof and two timber-sheeted doors; at its far north side the lean-to rises slightly in height and has a corrugated iron roof.

The further group, to the south, is a substantial complex of outbuildings probably dating from around 1900, all arranged around a cattle yard. They are all built in field stone rubble with red brick dressings. The complex is enclosed on all sides except for an open corner at the north-east and a gap to the south.

The north block is the most impressive and least altered part of the complex. It is mainly single-storey to the north and, as the ground falls, split-level to the south. At its centre is a two-storey entrance section with a hipped roof topped by a bellcote or cupola with an ogee cap. At ground level on the north side of this two-storey section is a large elliptical arch passing straight through to the cattle yard. Above it is a semicircular-headed window opening whose frame is now boarded over with corrugated iron. Directly above that, a curious brick-built dormer with a roundel window rises from the eaves; this dormer has a slightly Jacobean character, with a curved top and small brick end piers. The exposed upper levels of the east and west faces of the two-storey section are entirely in red brick, each with two sash windows positioned either side of the roofline of the lower flanking sections. On the rear (south) face of the two-storey section, the entrance arch at ground floor level has sandstone dressings to its sides rather than brick, unlike its counterpart to the north. At first-floor level to the left is a window with a boarded frame, and sections of the rubble wall along the chimney flue lines are patched in brick; a brick chimney stack rises from the eaves at this side.

To the east of the two-storey entrance section, the north façade has, in sequence: a window, a pedestrian doorway, another window, a large elliptical doorway, and another pedestrian doorway. The doorways are all timber-sheeted with plain fanlights and the windows have dilapidated sash frames. To the west of the entrance section, the north façade has three timber-sheeted stable doors with fanlights.

The south façade to the right of the two-storey entrance section has a dilapidated appearance, with openings largely disused. There are two window openings and two high-level doorways to the right. The windows are boarded. The left doorway retains its sheeted door but has no steps giving access to it. The right doorway, which is larger, is blocked with breeze blocks. Several small openings at ground level below the left doorway are also blocked with breeze block. The rubble coursing on this section of façade is varied, suggesting that part of an older building's façade has been incorporated. The left side of the south façade is abutted at a right angle by the single-storey block to the west of the cattle yard. The east gable has a small boarded upper-level opening and a large crack running down its full height. The west gable is blank. The roof of the entire north block is covered in natural slate.

The west, south and east blocks enclosing the cattle yard are considerably less architecturally distinguished. The south block has a series of stable doors to its inner (north) face. The east block has a very large vehicle doorway at the centre of its inner (west) face with a corrugated iron door, plus various window and door openings to left and right, most either blocked or missing their frames and doors. The west block has been significantly altered in recent times by the addition of a large lean-to-like section to its inner (east) side and the replacement of its roof with corrugated iron, which also covers the lean-to. The block has also been heightened in concrete and sections of the walling appear to have been demolished.