Echohall, 62 Spa Road, Spa, Ballymaglave south, Ballynahinch, Co Down, BT24 8PT

Echohall is a long, two-storey vernacular Georgian-style house with a hipped roof, located at the end of an attractive tree-lined drive to the east of Spa Road within the small hamlet of The Spa, approximately two miles south of Ballynahinch. The central portion of the house probably dates from the mid to later 18th century, most likely before 1790, with recessed end bays added around 1850 (though at least one of these may originally have been single storey), and an assortment of single and two-storey rear returns mainly dating from the late 19th century. A former outbuilding to the north has since been converted and integrated internally with the rest of the house. Large grounds originally surrounded the property, but a large school now sits close to the south, and Ballymaglave Road runs relatively nearby to the east, beyond the garden.

The front façade faces roughly west and is symmetrical. At the centre is a panelled timber door with a semicircular radial fanlight, set within a simple moulded surround and fitted with a fairly recently added timber hood on curved brackets. To either side of the doorway are three relatively small sash windows with Georgian panes (six over six). The outermost window on each side sits within a recessed bay, marking the extent of the mid-19th-century end additions. The recessed bays have modillions. At first-floor level there are seven windows: six follow the pattern of those below, while the central one is a small-scale Venetian window with a 2/2, 12/6, 2/2 arrangement of panes.

At the north end of the building a short single-storey flat-roofed section links the main house to a single-storey section with attic that was originally a separate outbuilding. This link has a partly glazed modern door to the front and connects at the rear to a two-storey return. The south façade of the single-storey section has a garage opening with timber-sheeted double doors, and a small sash window matching those on the main house. The west-facing gable of this section has an uneven pitch because a large lean-to was added to the north side at some point. The gable has an upper-level sash window and, to the left at ground-floor level, a broad segmentally headed window with a recent-looking multi-pane frame. The north face of the single-storey section (actually the lean-to) has a broad modern window to the left, then a modern door, then a small window with a modern frame. To the far right, a small flush chimney stack rises from the façade. The gabled roof of this section has two modern-looking flat-roofed dormers, and a small Velux window to the south side of the roof.

At the east end, the single-storey section is abutted by a two-storey portion that links back to the main house. The north-facing gable of this portion has a plain sheeted door to the left at ground-floor level and a small window with a modern frame to the right at first-floor level. The east façade has a modern glazed door and two sash windows at ground-floor level, similar to those at the front but narrower, and two smaller windows with modern Georgian-paned frames at first-floor level. To the south this section is abutted by a single-storey rear return.

The south elevation comprises the south façade of the main two-storey house and the flush south face of a relatively small hipped-roof return. The main south façade has two small four-pane sash windows at ground-floor level, with another to the return.

The rear elevation is complex. It consists of a small single-storey hipped-roof return at either end of the main house, a two-storey gabled return between these, and to the far right the two-storey gabled section that links to the single-storey former outbuilding. The single-storey hipped-roof return to the left has a modern glazed door to its rear (east) face and a blank north face. The south face of the two-storey gabled return has a timber-sheeted door at ground-floor level and a small four-over-four sash window at first-floor level directly above the door. The gable has two small four-over-four sash windows to each floor. The north face has a similar sash window at ground-floor level and another at first-floor level. Between the two returns, on the rear façade of the main house, there is a French door at ground-floor level and a relatively small double sash window (4/4, 4/4) at first-floor level. To the left of this double window, directly above the single-storey return, is a small two-over-two sash window. The single-storey return to the right joins the two-storey linking section to the north. Its east face has a small six-over-six sash window, and its south face is blank. Between this return and the two-storey return to the left there is a French door at ground-floor level on the rear façade of the main house, and a small double sash window (4/4, 4/4) at first-floor level, with a further single two-over-two sash window to the right above the single-storey return.

All external walls are covered in a slightly rough plain render and painted. All sections of the roof are slated. The main roof has two cream brick chimney stacks, which are modern replacements, with a rendered stack to the gable of the two-storey rear return. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

Immediately to the south-west of the house stands a large one-and-a-half-storey gabled garage, finished in a similar style to the main house. At the entrance to the drive off Spa Road there is a set of late Victorian-looking cast iron gates with simple square pillars.

The earliest recorded form of the house, as shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and confirmed in the valuation records of around 1836, was the central five-bay section now flanked by the recessed outer bays, with a smaller return to the rear. The 1836 valuers considered this portion to date from the late 18th century. Buildings are indicated in this general area on Taylor and Skinner's map of 1777 and on Byers's manuscript map of around 1790. Notably, the earlier map shows only Spa Road, while the later one also shows Ballymaglave Road, which comes relatively close to the rear of the house. This suggests the house may predate the Ballymaglave Road and could therefore have been built before 1790. By the time of the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858 the house had been lengthened to both north and south and a small return had been added to the north side at the rear, indicating that the two end bays had been built by this point. The north bay appears to be entirely stone constructed, while the south bay is brick at first-floor level, suggesting that the latter may initially have been single storey and was later raised. The rear returns appear to have been added at different times: the single-storey hipped-roof return to the north appears to be present in 1858, whereas the matching return to the south and the large two-storey central return are not. The two-storey central return, which was probably built as a kitchen with a maid or servant's room above, is brick-built and was likely the last addition, preceded by the stone-built south return. The two-storey section to the north-east of the main house, linking to the single-storey former outbuilding, also dates from the late 19th century.

The human history of Echohall is less straightforward. The present owners believe the house was originally built as the residence for an agent of the Rawdon (Montalto) estate. While the freehold, like many others in the townland, appears to have originally belonged to that estate, it is not certain whether the house actually served as an agent's residence at any point. In 1836 the resident is recorded as one Robert Thompson, and in 1863 as a Hans Arnold. The house later came into the hands of a family named Cooper, who in the early 1900s ran it as a guest house for those visiting The Spa. The Coopers subsequently sold it to a Mr Johnson, and in 1976 it was acquired by the present owners. The origin of the name 'Echohall' remains something of a mystery.