Farm Yards, The Grange, Mourne Park Estate, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4LB

Farm Buildings, The Grange, Mourne Park Estate, Kilkeel, County Down

These farm buildings form an extensive model farm complex of special interest both for their association with the Mourne Park demesne, in which they played a key economic role, and for the remarkable survival of the horse-training shed (hippodrome), which is of particular note for its construction and scarcity. The complex was built between 1820 and 1839, with significant rebuilding during the second half of the 19th century. Nearly all the buildings are now derelict; the only intact structures are the two houses at the southern end of the range.

The buildings are constructed throughout in granite with machined-brick dressings and are arranged around two adjoining yards.

Yard 1

The first yard sits immediately behind the two houses at the southern end of the complex. Its buildings are as follows.

Stable Block (Building 1) A two-storey stable block runs north–south along the right-hand side of the yard, with a return projecting into the yard at its far left end. The roof has gone but appears to have been hipped and naturally slated, tied into the rear pitch of the south-eastern house. Gutters are missing. Walls are of snecked random granite fieldstones with a fully dressed projecting granite cornice that has a hollow soffit. The principal elevation faces west into the yard. Just right of centre is a semicircular-headed carriage arch leading out of the yard, formed with radiating undressed voussoirs. To each side are five similar openings. On the right-hand side, reading from right to left: a doorway infilled to create a window (now blocked); a flight of external stone steps rising from left to a first-floor door, partially obscuring four ground-floor window openings to its left. All ground-floor windows have granite sills and two-paned timber casements covered with wire mesh, each with an undressed granite relieving arch over. To the left of the carriage arch at ground floor, from left to right, are an infilled doorway, a window, a missing door, and two further windows, all detailed as those to the right of the arch. At first floor, aligned above the openings below, are single two-paned casements with wire mesh and dressed sills but no relieving arches; those to the left of the arch are three-paned with additional transoms. At the extreme right of the first floor is a doorway served by the external steps.

The return at the extreme left has walls matching the main block. Its west-facing gable has a carriage arch at ground floor matching that on the main block; this has been infilled and is now abutted by the calf house (Building 3). The return's right cheek has two infilled ground-floor windows and is abutted by the gable of the tack rooms (Building 5). At first floor are three window openings as those on the main stable block, though the frames are gone. The left (north-facing) cheek steps slightly back from the main block's left gable and has two ground-floor doorways — the left one narrower — both with dressed granite jambs and lintels. The left gable has two ground-floor openings: to the left, a pair of two-paned casements with a concrete sill; to the right, a sheeted window opening. At first floor is a sheeted loading door with the remains of a metal cantilevered loading platform projecting to the front. Inside the carriage arch, walls match the façade and the ceiling is boarded with a loading hatch. There is one doorway to the left and one to the right, both with stooled granite jambs; the right-hand door is tongue-and-groove sheeted. The rear of the stable block is entirely abutted by the later carriage house (Building 2), and the wall break between them is clearly visible within the archway. The right gable of the stable block is contiguous with the rear wall of the south-eastern house.

Carriage House (Building 2) A later addition, this structure is aligned north–south with its rear wall shared with the stable block. The hipped roof is gone. Walls are of coursed squared granite rubble with a single projecting course of brick headers at eaves level. All openings have stepped brick dressings and heads; windows all have dressed granite sills. The principal elevation faces east. At the centre is a semicircular-headed coachway linking with that on the stable block, its head formed by three header courses of machined brick. To the left of centre at ground floor is a pair of similar but lower arches, with single window openings to their left and right, these having shallow segmental brick heads. To the right at ground floor are four arches matching those to the left. At first floor are nine windows aligned above the ground-floor openings, all detailed as the ground-floor openings; the extreme left window has had its sill lowered to form a loading door. The left gable of the carriage house is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey block with matching walls and two windows to its east wall. Its south wall is the high garden wall to the right of the south-eastern house, and its rear (west) wall is the house itself. The right gable of the carriage house is abutted by an integral single-storey extension, which also abuts the rear of the stable block. Walls here are squared random rubble. The front (east) wall has a segmental-headed window opening. In the party wall with the carriage house proper is a carriage arch matching those on the façade. The right gable has a pair of two-paned timber casements to the left and a timber ventilation opening at the gable apex.

Calf House (Building 3) An L-shaped single-storey block enclosing the north and west sides of the yard. The south and east walls face the courtyard; the end of the return forms a gateway with the rear wall of the south-western house, and the east end abuts the return of the stable block. The roof has gone but appears to have been hipped and naturally slated with a gable to the east end. The south elevation, fronting the yard, is of squared rubble granite brought to courses with a projecting Silurian eaves course, and has four fully dressed arches reduced to windows by infill. The east cheek of the return, also fronting the yard, is detailed as the south elevation but with two inset arches. The end wall of the return faces south and has an infilled doorway with a segmental brick head. The west wall is in two stages — the main block to the left and the return to the right — both of rubble stone brought to courses; the wall break shows the return to be a later addition. The left section is blank. The return at right has three modern timber doors each with brick dressings. The rear (north-facing) elevation is of coursed granite rubble with brick eaves and has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door at each extreme end and a third towards the right.

Midden Wall (Building 4) The midden is enclosed to the north and west by the calf house, to the east by the tack rooms, and to the south by a wall approximately 1.2 metres high. This wall runs west to east between the southern end of the calf house and the southern wall of the tack rooms. It is of coursed granite rubble with a fielded rock-faced coping, and has a small gateway at the west end and a larger central gateway, all gates now gone.

Tack Rooms (Building 5) A single-storey block aligned north–south. Its north wall abuts the return of the stable block and its west wall encloses the midden. The roof has gone but appears to have been naturally slated, gabled to the north and hipped to the south. Walls are of snecked granite rubble brought to courses. There are four windows on the west wall, all brick-dressed with segmental heads and dressed granite sills. The south gable is blank. The east elevation has three brick-dressed doorways.

Yard 2

The second yard adjoins the first to the north. It is enclosed to the south by the rear wall of the calf house and stable return, to the east and west by two ranges aligned north–south (Buildings 6 and 7), and to the north by a dairy block (Building 8) linking Buildings 6 and 7. In the centre of the yard, with its north gable abutting the dairy, is a hippodrome (Building 9). To the right of the yard are a number of corn stands (Building 10).

Eastern Block (Building 6) A single-storey block aligned north–south, enclosing the east side of the north yard. The roof has gone but appears to have been hipped at the south end and gabled to the north. Walls are of coursed granite rubble with a timber batten at eaves level and machined brick dressings to all openings. The west-facing wall has three horizontal window openings with segmental brick heads, each containing a three-paned timber casement with a granite sill. The south wall has partially collapsed at its left end and has a doorway to the left and a large three-paned casement to the right. This elevation continues to the right as a low yard wall with rock-faced copings, which appears to predate the south elevation. This yard wall now supports a derelict lean-to on the east elevation, which has a corrugated metal monopitch roof, strap-pointed granite block walls, and is open to its north side. The east elevation of the main block is detailed as the west elevation and is abutted by a lean-to corrugated shed to the left; it has eight openings, four of which are doors, and is enclosed to the front by a low wall matching that to the south. The north elevation of this block is completely abutted by the dairy block.

West Block (Building 7) A single-storey block aligned north–south, enclosing the west side of the north yard. The roof has gone but appears to have been hipped and naturally slated. The west wall is of granite rubble brought to courses and has four brick-dressed windows. The south wall has a doorway. The east wall fills only the left third of this elevation, containing a window; the remainder may have been the open face of a lean-to shed. The north gable abuts the dairy building.

Dairy Block (Building 8) A long single-storey block aligned west to east with canted corners at each end. This block forms the northern enclosure of the yard. The roof has gone but appears to have been hipped and naturally slated. The south wall is of coursed rubble; all other walls are of squared granite rubble laid randomly with ashlar quoins. All openings are machined brick-dressed and windows have dressed granite sills. The south elevation, facing the yard, is abutted to the left of centre by the hippodrome and at either end by the west and east blocks. The remaining wall to the left of the hippodrome has three doorways with single window openings between; the wall to the right of the hippodrome has a central door with two flanking windows. All these openings have timber lintels. All other openings have chamfered brick reveals and segmental heads. The east elevation has an advanced bay at the left and a canted corner at the right. The left portion abuts the north gable of the eastern block and has a single canted window opening at its corner. On its right cheek, facing north, is a red brick segmental-headed doorway. The right-hand portion of the east elevation is otherwise blank save for a two-casement window on its canted section. The north wall has battened eaves, a doorway to the left (aligned with the infilled doorway on the hippodrome's north wall), window openings with segmental brick heads to either side of this, and two further similar windows to the extreme right. This elevation is enclosed to the front by a low wall rising from two courses at the left to four at the right, with an embattled granite coping. The west gable of the dairy block is abutted by a single-storey two-stage return projecting beyond the west elevation of the west block; a red brick chimney rises from the party wall between the first and second bays of this return. The first stage of the return has a door and window on its left (north-facing) cheek and a gableted door on its right cheek. The second stage is wider than the first and has canted corners, forming an octagonal plan internally; it advances to the left, leaving a portion of blank wall to the right. Its end wall is canted with a window in each cheek; its advanced left cheek is similarly canted with a door and window, creating a three-quarter octagon overall. The right cheek is blank. The brick openings of this return have stop-end chamfered reveals.

Hippodrome (Building 9) A horse-training shed aligned north–south, of special interest for its construction and rarity. The pitched roof — all slates now stripped — is supported on common rafters and pairs of purlins carried by seven metal trusses of cast and wrought iron. The overhanging eaves have decorative cut rafter tails. There are no rainwater goods. The south gable is of random rubble granite with a shallow buttress at each corner. At ground-floor centre is a door with granite jambs and a segmental brick head. Above this in the gable is a circular oculus with a two-course brick-header dressing. The north gable, which abuts the dairy, is identical, but the door is infilled and the oculus retains part of its original spoked glazed window. The east and west walls are identical to each other. Each comprises a 1.5-metre-high wall supporting seven octagonal truncated cast-iron colonettes, creating eight bays. The third bay from each end is left open for access. The spans between the colonettes are filled with vertical timber sheeting with sliding slats behind to regulate ventilation. Beams running along the eaves are stop-chamfered between each colonette.

Corn Stands (Building 10) Just east of the carriage house are the remains of at least six circular corn stands — there may be more buried in the dense undergrowth. Each is approximately 3.5 metres in diameter and around 55 centimetres high, constructed of rendered brick.

Historical Development

The 1834 Ordnance Survey map shows buildings around all four sides of Yard 1 only. The existing stable block and calf house may be among these original structures. The 1858 map shows a similar arrangement, but with the south-west corner of the yard now infilled. By 1901, Yard 1 appears in its present form, including the tack rooms, and Yard 2 is also shown. The use of machined brick in the two houses along the south of Yard 1 points to a major rebuilding phase during the second half of the 19th century: the two houses appear to have been erected at this time, the carriage house added to the east side of the stable block, and the tack rooms added to its upper left. All the Yard 2 buildings are of later 19th-century date. All roof slates were stripped from the outbuildings a few years ago.