Finnebrogue House, off Finnebrogue Road, Finnabrogue, Downpatrick, Co Down BT30 9AA

Finnebrogue House is a large country house of mid-to-late 17th century origin, set within a 45-acre demesne roughly one and a half miles north-west of Downpatrick. It is approached from the south via a drive opening off Finnebrogue Road. The building was extensively remodelled internally, and to a lesser extent externally, in the 1790s, with further changes to the rear in around the 1880s that were largely cleared away in the 1930s.

The house is roughly H-shaped in plan, with a recessed central entrance section flanked by projecting side wings. The central portion rises to two storeys while the wings have three. The attic level and dormer windows of the central section were removed in the 1790s to permit the heightening of the first-floor rooms. The slightly battered walls are roughcast, the roof is slated, and almost all windows are Georgian-paned sashes. The tall, prominent chimneystacks are rendered. There are four large rendered chimneystacks of varying size, with the main central stacks set lengthways on the ridge; stacks to the north ends of both the east and west wings were removed in relatively recent times. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted with decorative hoppers to the front.

The front elevation faces almost directly north and is generally symmetrical. The recessed entrance section at the centre is flanked by the short north ends of the projecting wings. The main entrance at the centre of the ground floor consists of a six-panel timber door flanked by three-quarter columns with moulded bases and Doric capitals with fluted friezes. Beyond the columns are four-pane sidelights with thin square pilasters and moulded cornice-like capitals. The entrance is topped with a fluted frieze and dentilled cornice, the entablature breaking forward over the door, and enriched with circular paterae directly above the columns. A recent projecting light fitting in a period style sits above the doorway. To the left of the entrance are two tall 6/6 Georgian-paned sash windows, and two similar windows to the right. Above, there are five significantly taller 9/6 first-floor windows, which were lengthened in the 1790s when the first-floor rooms to this section were heightened. All windows have very slim painted stone cills and similar frames, varying only in the number of panes.

The north face of the east wing (to the left on the front elevation) has a panelled door to the left at ground-floor level with a three-pane rectangular fanlight. This door, reached by a short flight of stone steps with wrought iron railings, was inserted in the mid-19th century in place of a window. To the right of the doorway is one window, with two more 9/6 windows to the first floor. On the inner west face of the east wing there is a very small single-pane oval window to the right at both ground-floor and first-floor level. The north face of the west wing mirrors that of the east wing, but has two windows to the ground floor instead of a doorway, and two small barred basement windows (the left-hand one also boarded up). The inner east face of the west wing is a mirror image of its counterpart on the east wing.

The longer east face of the east wing is exposed at basement level. To the left at basement level are two 12/8 windows with bars. To the right of these is a square projecting bay rising to first-floor level, topped with a plain parapet that obscures its roof. This bay is finished in lined render. At its base (basement level) there is an arched opening; at ground-floor level a narrow 4/4 window; and a similar window at first-floor level. To the right of the bay is a larger 9/6 ground-floor window, with a taller opening to the right again reached by a flight of stone steps with wrought iron railings. This taller opening was evidently once a door but is now filled with a Georgian-paned fixed light, one pane of which contains a cunningly disguised casement opening. The stone steps have two crude segmental-headed archways cut into their east side, now used as shelters for dustbins, each with a small window at the back. At first-floor level on the east face of the east wing there are four 9/6 windows, two on either side of the bay. At attic level there are three flat-roofed half-dormers, all with paired 1/1 windows, except that to the far right which has a single window.

The west face of the west wing is also exposed at basement level, where there are five unevenly spaced 12/8 windows with bars. To the ground floor are four symmetrically arranged 9/6 windows. The first floor repeats this arrangement and additionally has a tiny oval window roughly at its centre, between the second and third windows — matching the small oval windows on the inner faces of both wings. At second-floor (attic) level there are five small symmetrically arranged 6/3 windows.

The rear elevation is also exposed at basement level and has a complex appearance. To the far left is the rear face of the west wing; to the far right the rear face of the east wing. The centre is the recessed section, which has a large single-storey projecting gabled section to its centre-right (single storey over the basement). The rear was altered in the later 19th century by an extension, but this was removed during the 1930s renovations, and the rear now probably appears much as it did in the early 1800s.

The rear face of the west wing has two 12/8 basement windows, the left-hand one largely obscured by shrub growth. At ground-floor level there are two tall narrow 4/4 windows, with two more at first-floor level. At second-floor level there are two much smaller 4/2 windows. On the narrow east face of the west wing there is a segmental-headed 4/4 sash window at ground-floor level, which may once have been a doorway.

Immediately to the right of the west wing, in front of the left side of the central recessed section, is a raised terrace area extending across to the projecting gabled section, where there is a relatively recent quarter-circle reducing flight of steps. To the left of the steps, at basement level beneath the terrace, there are two segmental-headed window openings with bars. At ground-floor level on the left of the central recessed section there is a large tripartite window (2/2, 6/6, 2/2) flanked by two very narrow 2/2 windows. To the far right of this section, where the basement level is exposed, there is a very small four-pane barred window. Directly above it is a very tall stairwell window with a semicircular arched head (12/9). At first-floor level to the left and centre there are three 6/6 windows. At attic level there is a fixed-light tripartite window (panes of 2, 6, and 2) to the far left. To the right of this, two further windows of similar size originally existed but were removed in the 1790s when the first-floor level was heightened; their recesses and thin cills remain.

On the west face of the gabled projection — which, because of the terrace level, reads largely as single storey — there is a six-panel doorway with a relatively recent classical cement-rendered surround featuring a large broken pediment on curved brackets. The south-facing gable is exposed at basement level and has a tall segmental-headed 9/6 window at the centre of the ground floor, with a cement-render surround with lugs and moulding above. To the right at basement level is a small narrow window with small lattice panes. The gable itself has a parapet with moulding forming it into a broken pediment. On the east face of the gabled projection there is a timber-sheeted door to the right at basement level and a small 2/2 window to the left at ground-floor level.

The rear face of the east wing is broader than that of the west wing, having been extended to its left (west) end at some point, possibly in the late 19th century. This extension is full height but very narrow and is topped with a plain parapet that conceals its roof, which may be flat. At basement level there are three small 4/2 windows. In line with these there are three much taller 4/4 windows at both ground-floor and first-floor levels. On the inner west face of the east wing there is a timber-sheeted doorway to the left at basement level, a small 4/2 window to the left at ground-floor level, and a taller 4/4 window to the left at first-floor level.

The entire façade, apart from the projecting bay on the east face of the east wing, is finished in unpainted roughcast with a moulded and dentilled eaves course. The hipped roof is slated and has a large skylight to the centre of the south ridge of the central section, which helps light the stairwell and landing. The skylight contains stained glass featuring the coats of arms of the Perceval and Maxwell families. There is also a small cast iron skylight to the north-west corner of the east wing roof.

Internally, the 1790s remodelling was extensive. The attic level of the central section was removed to allow the heightening of the first-floor rooms and the creation of a piano nobile. The staircase was rebuilt, a new service stair added to the east wing, and walls within the west wing were reordered to accommodate a passage. Much new neo-classical detailing was introduced throughout. Some rococo fireplaces, believed to have been brought from Paris, were installed in the newly created drawing room and library. Later, probably around the 1880s, Arts and Crafts style timber fire surrounds were installed in the main hallway and sitting room (then the dining room). In 1934 to 1936, John Robert Perceval-Maxwell demolished much of the late 19th century rear extensions, added a new service stair to the north-east corner of the west wing, and remodelled the room immediately west of the back stair hall to create the present informal sitting area. The stairwell receives natural light from the large skylight described above, which contains stained glass with the Perceval and Maxwell armorial bearings.

The ground around the building slopes from north to south and at the east and west sides. To the front (north) there is a large expanse of relatively flat lawn. A short distance to the east is a large stable yard complex containing a dwelling, with further former outbuildings to the north-east also converted to a dwelling. Much further to the north-east is a large walled garden of 1802 with several dwellings in and around it — one originally a gardener's house, the others converted sheds and similar structures. To the south is the main drive with a gate lodge at the entrance dating from around 1885.

The history of the estate is well documented. According to historian Anthony Malcomson's introduction to the Perceval-Maxwell Papers held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Finnebrogue estate came into being officially in 1628 when the lands comprising it were let in perpetuity to Henry Maxwell by Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Ardglass. It is not known whether there was a house on the site at this time, though it has been suggested that in medieval times the townland of Finnebrogue contained a grange — an out-farm — belonging to the nearby Inch Abbey, and that buildings of some kind may therefore have existed in the general area at that stage, if not on the exact site of the present house. Malcomson notes that all extant written documents relating to Henry Maxwell and his relatives up to 1674 at least make no reference to Finnebrogue as a family seat, with Henry's only son Robert referred to as "of Killyleagh". A headstone of 1662 in the grounds of Inch Abbey, recorded in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of around 1836 as marking the grave of Henry Maxwell's daughter Ann Wauchope, is said to have described Henry as of "ye Ince" (that is, Inch), indicating that he resided somewhere within the parish, if not at Finnebrogue. The first mention of a member of the family as "of Finnebrogue" occurs in a deed of 1699, in which Robert's son Henry is described as such. This appears to indicate that the house was built some time between 1674 and 1699, though a pre-1674 dwelling cannot be ruled out.

The exact extent of the 17th century house is uncertain. The current owner believes it was built in stages, with the original dwelling consisting of the central section alone and the east and west wings added later to form the H-shaped plan. However, similar H-plan houses with projecting wings flanking the entrance were common in Ireland in the 17th century — compare Roxborough Castle — which may imply that although the building was perhaps constructed in phases, it assumed its H-plan early in its lifetime. The presence of pistol-loop-like oval windows on the inner faces of the wings suggests they were built during the turbulent 17th century rather than later, a theory supported by a remark in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of around 1836 that the house was at one time "a place of defence". Most sources agree that Finnebrogue had assumed its basic form by the early to mid-18th century. Walter Harris, writing in the early 1740s, refers to it as "a good house", implying a substantial structure, while a crude depiction of the building on a recently uncovered estate map of 1772 indicates a plan much as it exists today.

In 1792, on the death of her brother Edward Maxwell, the Finnebrogue estate passed to Mrs Dorothea Waring-Maxwell. In the years immediately following, Dorothea undertook extensive restoration and renovation of the house, which had apparently lain vacant for some years and fallen into dilapidation. This work involved major changes to the interior: the attic level of the central section was removed to allow the heightening of the first floor and the creation of a piano nobile; the staircase was rebuilt; a new service stair was added to the east wing; and walls within the west wing were reordered to accommodate a passage. Much new neo-classical detailing was added, along with some rococo fireplaces believed to have been brought from Paris, installed in the newly created drawing room and library. Externally, dormers which had formerly lit the central attic level were removed, the first-floor windows to the front were enlarged, and sash frames were installed throughout the building. Mark Bence-Jones, writing in Burke's Guide to Irish Country Houses, states that the original high-pitched roof was replaced with one that was lower, though still relatively high by late 18th century standards; this claim is not, however, repeated in the more detailed description of the house in the Archaeological Survey of County Down.

The house is shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map with a plan much as today, and recorded in the 1838 valuation with basic dimensions again as today. The Ordnance Survey map also shows the north, south and west wings of the neighbouring stable yard — the west wing of which is already indicated on the 1772 estate map — together with the kennel block to the north and, further to the north-east, the large walled garden built in 1802 by Dorothea's husband John Waring-Maxwell. The estate farmyard, to the far north-east beside the Killyleagh Road, is also shown. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of around 1836 describe Finnebrogue as "a fine old house…erected on very low ground".

In the half-century following the 1830s the house appears to have altered very little, though an east wing was added to the stable yard, a gardener's house was built on the north side of the walled garden, and the farmyard was expanded between around 1834 and around 1858. Additions were made to the rear of the house in the later 19th century, probably by Robert Perceval-Maxwell, Dorothea Waring-Maxwell's grandson, who inherited the estate after the death of his uncle John Waring-Maxwell Junior in 1869. The exact extent and date of these alterations is unclear, as they are not recorded in the valuation revision books; however, they may have included the narrow extension to the south-western corner of the east wing and the equally narrow projection to the centre of the same wing's east face, both of which survive. Map evidence suggests that the major extension was to the rear (south) of the central section, on the site of the present terrace. The Arts and Crafts style timber fire surrounds in the main hallway and the sitting room (then the dining room) may also have been installed at this time. These changes may have been carried out around 1885, at the same time as the building of the gate lodge to the main entrance to the south.

The last significant alterations to the building took place in 1934 to 1936, when John Robert Perceval-Maxwell demolished much of the late 19th century rear extensions, added a new service stair to the north-east corner of the west wing, and remodelled the room immediately west of the back stair hall to create the present informal sitting area. Following his death in 1963, the 1,000-acre Finnebrogue demesne and home farm, apart from the house and the 45 acres immediately surrounding it, was sold. In 1996 Finnebrogue House itself also passed out of family possession.

A footnote to the ownership history concerns the possibility of an even earlier dwelling on the site. R. E. Parkinson, writing in his 1927 book City of Downe, states that Henry Maxwell was granted land north of Downpatrick — including the townlands of Ballyrenan, Dunanely and Magheracranmoney — by his brother-in-law John Echlin of Finnebrogue sometime after 1633, implying that John Echlin was either living at or in possession of Finnebrogue at that point and that a dwelling must have existed here by then. Local folk memory, recounted by a former gardener at Finnebrogue, Dick Kelly, and recorded by local resident Eileen Halliday, suggests that the Echlins had a small house at Finnebrogue in the early 17th century — a probably vernacular single-storey dwelling locally known as the "White House" on account of its whitewashed façade. According to this tradition, John Echlin gave this house to his brother-in-law Henry Maxwell after the latter's house at Inch was destroyed in the 1641 Rebellion. This account implies that the Echlins may have owned or leased the townland of Finnebrogue before 1641, though this does not square with the available documentary evidence outlined above.