'Threshing barn' and site of horse walk at Finnebrogue estate farmyard, at 31 Killyleagh Road, Finnabrogue, Downpatrick, Co Down

This is a relatively large, pre-1834 two-storey rubble-built gabled building, formerly serving as a threshing barn and stables, and now disused with some openings blocked up. It forms part of the large Finnebrogue estate farm complex, located on the south-east side of Killyleagh Road approximately two miles north of Downpatrick. Adjacent to the building is the grass- and shrub-covered site of a former horse walk. The building is of little architectural interest but is of industrial archaeological note, and is recorded as derelict.

The building is entered from the north elevation, where a large flat-arched vehicle doorway with dilapidated timber-sheeted double doors sits to the right at ground floor level. The masonry above this doorway suggests it originally had an elliptical arch head. To the left of the doorway, a long low rubble-built wall projects outward — all that remains of a single-storey shed built in the later 1800s but now largely demolished. A door opening formerly connecting the threshing barn to this shed is still visible. To the far left of the north elevation is a window filled with a crude grille. At first-floor level there are three small windows retaining the remains of two-pane frames, with a possible fourth window between the second and third obscured by thick plant growth. The east gable is blank and partly covered in dense vegetation. The west gable has a small window at the centre of the first floor with a lattice-paned frame, and at ground floor level the outline of a former abutting single-storey gabled building is clearly visible. On the south elevation, a large elliptical-arched vehicle doorway at ground floor level to the left has been blocked up in concrete block. To its right, the ground floor is largely covered in thick plant growth, with only the tops of two openings — probably a doorway and a window — visible. At first-floor level there are four small windows similar to those on the north elevation, with the far-right window largely smothered by vegetation. The walls are constructed in random fieldstone rubble, and the gabled roof is slated.

The farm complex as a whole was built in various stages from perhaps the 1790s through to the mid-20th century. The earliest surviving plan of the farmyard appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, which shows the long range of buildings straddling the boundary wall to the north-west, the large stable to the south-east, a house to the east, a smaller house to the south end of the yard, and the threshing barn with its adjacent horse walk to the east of the long range. The 1838 valuation grades certain buildings 'A' (possibly built within the previous 25 to 30 years) and 'B' (possibly more than 30 years old), indicating the complex developed across several distinct phases. Industrial archaeologist Dr Fred Hammond has suggested that much of the construction may have followed the refurbishment of Finnebrogue House itself around 1795 to 1800, and that the creation of a model farmyard may have been the intention.

Between 1834 and 1858, the long north-west range was extended northwards, and a grouping of structures to the north-east — including a large cow shed, corn store with drying kiln, steam engine house, and chimney — was added, all oriented towards cattle feeding. Plans held in the Perceval-Maxwell Papers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland indicate this cattle-feeding complex was built around 1854. A single-storey range to the south, opposite the large stable, was also added during this period. Between 1859 and 1900, a single-storey stable block appeared to the far east of the complex, a single-storey shed was built immediately to the east of the threshing barn, a brick gatehouse was constructed to the north side of the south gateway, and a building now demolished was added to the very north-east corner of the yard. In the early 20th century, a long single-storey range was added to the north side of the old threshing barn, circular grain silos were erected to the north end of the yard (since demolished), and two metal-framed Dutch barns were built just to the north of the large stables (also since demolished). Much of the long north-west range was at some point demolished and partly replaced with a corrugated-metal-roofed lean-to structure. In the later decades of the 20th century the complex fell into disuse and was sold to its present owner around 1990 to 1991, after which the large house to the south-east and the smaller dwelling to the south-west were refurbished. Some farm buildings are currently used as stores.

The threshing barn and the horse walk site are both shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map and recorded in the 1838 valuation. According to the valuation, the horse walk at that date measured 25 feet by 25 feet by 9 feet in height. Later photographic evidence shows it to have been octagonal in plan, with rubble walls and a slated roof. The horse walk powered a thresher inside the adjacent barn, which also contained stables. The horse walk was demolished some time after 1900, and its former site is now covered in thick grass and shrubs.

Primary sources for this record include the Perceval-Maxwell Papers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (references T.1023, D.1556, D.2480, D.3244, D.3817, and D.4218, covering 1606 to 1969; of particular interest are D.1556/11/21, a mid-19th-century plan of the farmyard, and D.1556/11/5 and D.1556/11/16, plans of the cattle-feeding complex dating from 1854), along with the relevant Ordnance Survey maps of County Down sheet 31 (1834, 1858, and circa 1901), the First Valuation for Inch Parish (1838), the Second Valuation notebook for Inch Parish (1861), and the Annual Valuation Revision Books covering 1864 to 1929. Secondary sources include the Archaeological Survey of County Down (HMSO, Belfast, 1966), Fred Hammond's survey report for the Environment and Heritage Service (September 1991), and Anthony Malcomson's introduction to the Perceval-Maxwell Papers (1998), available at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Walter Harris's The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down (Dublin, 1744) and Taylor's and Skinner's Maps of the Roads of Ireland (Dublin, 1777) are also cited.