Outbuildings at Ringdufferin House, 35 Ringdufferin Road, Ringdufferin, Killyleagh, Co. Down, BT30 9PH

Outbuildings at Ringdufferin House, dating mainly from around 1790 to 1800, forming an extensive and largely unaltered complex of farm and estate service buildings set to the east of the main house. The group is reached via a long, winding, picturesque drive to the west of the Ringdufferin Road, approximately two and a half miles north-north-east of Killyleagh, within well-wooded grounds overlooking the eastern coast of Strangford Lough. All the historic buildings are constructed in random greywacke rubble with hipped or gabled roofs covered in natural slate. The complex includes a large two-storey L-shaped store block (which may also have contained a steward's dwelling), a forge, two stable blocks, a piggery, a large walled garden to the north-west, a boathouse to the east added around 1940 to 1950, and the roofless ruin of a small square watchtower to the south-east of the boathouse.

The main courtyard is entered from the south-east through a gateway formed by two large square rubble pillars carrying decorative wrought-iron gates of considerable age, to which timber sheeting has been added to the lower halves. Immediately to the south-east of the gates, and forming one side of the courtyard, stands the single-storey forge. This has a part-hipped, part-gabled roof retaining some 'Tullycavy' slates and a single brick chimney stack. Its north-west façade has a timber-sheeted door and three irregularly positioned eyebrow windows, which appear to be semicircular fanlights salvaged from former doorways. The north-east gable has a large, relatively recent doorway with double timber-sheeted doors beneath a roof overhang; the gable itself appears to be of modern construction, suggesting the roof was originally hipped at this end also. The south-east façade of the forge is buttressed to the left.

The courtyard is bounded to the north-east and south-east by the large two-storey L-shaped building, which lies at the heart of the entire complex. The south-west façade of the north-east range of this block presents, from left to right at ground-floor level: a six-over-six Georgian sash window; a segmental-headed doorway with sandstone dressings and a partly glazed door; another sash window; two large segmental carriage arches with sandstone dressings and keystones (the left with timber-sheeted double doors, the right open and passing entirely through the building); a sash window between the arches; and to the right of the right arch, a window-door-window arrangement matching that on the left. At first-floor level, windows correspond in position to those below. The two leftmost have sash frames matching the ground floor; the three to the right are louvered. Between the two far-right windows, directly above the far-right pedestrian doorway, is a sundial with a square slate face framed in timber and fitted with a metal gnomon. Much of this façade is covered in creeping plant growth.

The north-east façade of the same range has, at ground-floor level from left to right: a timber-sheeted door; the large walk-through archway at the centre; a sash window immediately to its right; and a further sash window to the far right, taller than the others and with a segmental head. At first-floor level there are six seemingly evenly spaced window openings, the far-left and the three far-right having sash frames, while the second and third from the left are louvered. The short north-west façade of this range has a tall sash window at ground-floor level with a segmental head and engineering-brick dressings, with a matching window directly above it at first-floor level.

The south-east range of the L-shaped block has, on its north-west façade at ground-floor level: a sash window to the left; a timber-sheeted door set within a shallow semicircular-headed recess; and another sash window. At first-floor level there are four louvered openings. Between the first and second openings from the left is a carved sandstone panel set in cement displaying the arms of the Baillie family. Much of this façade is covered in creeping plant growth. Both the south-east façade and the short south-west façade of this range have large modern corrugated-iron lean-to structures built against them.

To the north-west side of the courtyard stands a large single-storey building with a rubble façade and a natural-slated gabled roof with gable parapets. Its south-east façade, largely obscured by thick plant growth, has two large elliptical-arched doorways with timber-sheeted double doors; the arch head of the left is dressed in red brick, while the larger right arch has engineering-brick dressings to both its head and sides. To the far left of this façade is a timber-sheeted door with a small glazed panel. The north-east gable has a small high-level window with a timber-sheeted stable door directly below it. To the left this gable merges into a high rubble wall connecting to the courtyard's main entrance wall, and this connecting wall contains a central segmental archway. On the north-west side of the arch are two small rubble-built lean-to structures, one to either side. The northern lean-to has a recessed timber-sheeted door and a small fixed-light window to its south-west face; the southern lean-to has a similar arrangement on its north-east face. The north-east face of the southern lean-to also has several small openings near the eaves with small ledges beneath them, appearing to be bird openings. Both lean-tos have natural-slated roofs.

To the north of the lean-tos a high rubble wall with a small doorway leads into a fairly small cobbled stableyard. On its south-east side, built against the back of the large single-storey block from the main courtyard, is a rubble lean-to with a natural-slate roof whose north-west façade has a series of low stable doors. On the north-west side of the stableyard is a second stable block, also rubble-built but taller, with a gabled roof, a series of stable doors, and a series of roundel openings at a higher level. Its north-east gable has a high-level six-pane window; its south-west gable appears to have a roundel window and a bellcote at the gable apex, all heavily covered in vegetation. The north-west façade of this block could not be observed. At the north end of the stableyard a high rubble wall, now mostly covered in vegetation, contains a large segmental-arched gateway with relatively recent timber gates. Running down the stableyard is a recently built trough constructed largely from large clay drainage pipes.

To the north of the main L-shaped block, low rubble walling encloses two small grassy areas bordering the shoreline. In the northern corner of the south-east area are two small piggeries with rubble façades, natural-slated hipped roofs, and various timber-sheeted doorways, surrounded by low rubble walling forming pigsties. The north-west piggery has a small rubble-built chimney. At the north side of the piggery area, where the land drops slightly towards the shoreline, a rubble-built ramp is constructed against the north wall, with a small opening in the wall giving access to it.

To the east of the main farm outbuildings stands the large boathouse, also rubble-built with a natural-slated gabled roof. Its north-east gable has three large segmental openings with large timber-sheeted doors and what appear to be concrete heads. The slipway is overgrown. The boathouse was added after 1933, most likely in the later 1940s when a Mr Mackie purchased the property.

To the south-east of the boathouse are the roofless ruins of a small square watchtower, roughly two storeys in height (approximately four metres), with slightly battered walls. It is rubble-built and shows evidence of having once been harled. It has relatively large window openings at high level on its north-west and south-east faces, a ground-level doorway to the north-east, and a small roundel opening at a very low level on the south-west face. The tower is open to the elements. It does not appear on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map and was not noted by valuers in 1837, suggesting it may already have been ruinous by that date and therefore considered unworthy of record by either cartographers or valuers. It is possible the tower predates the other outbuildings.

To the north-west of the main outbuilding group is a large walled garden enclosed by high rubble walls.

The complex has historical connections of considerable interest. The earliest reference to settlement at Ringdufferin appears in State Papers of around 1602, which mention a castle built by John White on a neck of land leased to him by Sir Ralph Lane, referred to as 'Randuffren'. The precise location of this castle is uncertain; most Ordnance Survey maps since 1859 favour a site close to the present house, though the presence of 'Castle Island' at the end of the nearby isthmus to the south may be significant. In 1636 Alexander Baillie of Innishargy, near Kircubbin, received the lands of Ringdufferin on mortgage from the first Viscount Clandeboy, becoming absolute owner in 1674. His descendants retained possession for the next two centuries, during which time both the house and its outbuildings assumed much of their present form. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows most of the present outbuilding group already in place, including the L-shaped block, the stables, the forge, and one of the piggery buildings. Valuation records of 1837 describe the complex as comprising a cart house, cowhouses, stables, a workshop (presumably the forge), stores, a piggery, and an 'office' that may have served as the steward's quarters. The 1837 valuation grades most of the principal buildings, including the L-shaped block, as category 'A', consistent with their having been built at the same time as the present house, that is around 1790 to 1800.

The complex as a whole has witnessed remarkably little external alteration over the years. The principal exceptions are the forge, which now has recent-looking garage doors to its north end and what appears to be a rebuilt north-east gable, and the south-east façade of the L-shaped block, against which a modern corrugated-iron structure has been built.