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

Finnebrogue House is a large country house roughly one and a half miles northwest of Downpatrick, set within an extensive 45-acre demesne and approached from a drive to the south opening off Finnebrogue Road. The building originated in the mid to later 17th century but was extensively remodelled internally, and to a lesser extent externally, in the 1790s, with some changes to the rear around the 1880s 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 contains two storeys while the wings have three — the attic level and dormer windows to the centre were removed in the 1790s to permit the heightening of the first floor rooms. The slightly battered walls are roughcasted, the roof slated, and the tall prominent chimneystacks rendered. Almost all windows are Georgian-paned sashes.

Front Elevation

The front elevation faces almost directly north and is generally symmetrical, consisting of the recessed entrance section flanked by the short north ends of the projecting wings. The main entrance is centred on the ground floor of the recessed portion. It has 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 with moulded cornice-like capitals. The entrance is topped with a fluted frieze and dentilled cornice, with the entablature breaking forward over the door; directly above the columns the entablature is enriched with circular paterae. A recent projecting period-style light fitting sits above the doorway.

To the left of the entrance are two tall Georgian-paned sash windows, both 6/6 (all windows have similar frames but with varying numbers of panes). The windows have very slim painted stone sills. To the right of the entrance are two similar windows. The first floor has five significantly taller windows, all 9/6. These first floor windows were lengthened in the 1790s when the first floor rooms to this section were heightened.

The north face of the east wing (to the left on the front elevation) has a panelled door to the left on the ground floor with a three-pane rectangular fanlight. This door, which is reached by a short flight of stone steps with wrought iron railings, was inserted sometime in the mid-19th century, replacing a window. To the right of the doorway is a window, with two more to the first floor, all 9/6. The inner west face of the east wing has a very small single-pane oval window to the right on the ground floor and on the first floor.

The north face of the west wing repeats that of the east wing, but with two windows to the ground floor instead of the doorway, and two small basement windows with bars over (that to the left is boarded up also). The inner east face of the west wing is a mirror image of that to the east wing.

East Wing

The longer east face of the east wing is exposed at basement level. To the left at basement level there are two windows with bars over, both 12/8. To the right of these there is a square projecting bay which reaches to first floor level and is topped with a plain parapet obscuring its roof. The bay is finished in lined render. To the basement (actual ground level) of the east face of the bay there is an arched opening. At ground floor there is a narrowish window, 4/4, with a similar window to first floor.

To the right of the bay there is a larger ground floor window, 9/6, with a taller opening to the right again reached by a flight of stone steps with wrought iron railings. This taller opening was undoubtedly a door at some point but is now filled with a Georgian-paned "window" which is to all intents and purposes a fixed light, though one of whose panes contains a cunningly disguised casement opening. The flight of stone steps has two crude segmental-headed archways cut into its east side, now used as shelters for dustbins. At the back of each opening there is a small window.

To the first floor of the east face of the east wing there are four windows, two either side of the bay, all 9/6. To the attic level there are three flat-roofed half-dormers, all with double windows, all 1/1, except that to the far right which has a single window.

West Wing

The west face of the west wing is also exposed at basement level. At this level there are five unevenly spaced windows, all 12/8 but with bars over. To the ground floor there are four symmetrically arranged taller windows to the centre, all 9/6. The first floor has an identical arrangement but with a tiny oval window roughly to the centre (between the second and third windows). This tiny window is as that to the front inner faces of both the east and west wings. To the second (attic) floor there are five small symmetrically arranged windows, all 6/3.

Rear Elevation

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, with the rear face of the east wing to the far right. To the centre is the recessed portion which has a large single storey (over basement) projecting gabled section to its centre right. The elevation witnessed some alteration in the later 19th century when an extension was added, 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 windows to basement level, both 12/8. The left-hand window is largely obscured by shrub growth. To the ground floor there are two tall narrow windows, with two more to the first floor, all 4/4. To the second floor there are two much smaller windows, both 4/2. To the narrow east face of the west wing there is a segmental-headed sash window to the ground floor, 4/4 — this opening may once have been a doorway.

To the immediate right of the west wing, in front of the left side of the central recessed section, is a raised terrace area which stretches over to the projecting gabled section, where there is a relatively recent-looking quarter-circle reducing flight of steps. To the left of the steps (at basement level underneath the terrace) there are two segmental-headed window openings with bars over.

To the ground floor left on the central recessed section there is a large tripartite window (2/2, 6/6, 2/2) flanked by very narrow windows, both 2/2. To the far right on this section (to the right of the gabled projection) the basement level is exposed. Here there is a very small four-pane window with bars over. Directly above this is a very tall stairwell window with semicircular arched head, 12/9.

To the left and centre on the first floor left there are three windows, 6/6. At attic level there is a fixed-light tripartite window to the far left (2, 6, 2). To the right of this there were originally (pre-1790s) two more similar-sized windows but these were removed with the heightening of the first floor level, and all that remains are their recesses and thin sills.

To the west face of the gabled projection, which because of the terrace level is largely single storey, there is a six-panel doorway with a relatively recent classical cement-rendered surround with large broken pediment on curved brackets. To the south-facing gable, which is exposed at basement level, there is a tall segmental-headed window, 9/6, to the centre of the ground floor, with cement render surround with lugs and moulding above. To the right at basement level there is a small narrow window with small lattice panes. The gable itself has a parapet with moulding forming it into a broken pediment. To the east face 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 actually broader than that of the west wing as it was extended to the left-hand (west) end at some point, possibly the late 19th century. This extension is full height but very narrow and topped with a plain parapet which hides its roof, which may be flat. To basement level of the rear face of the east wing there are three small windows, all 4/2. In line with these there are three much taller windows to both the ground and the first floors, all 4/4. To the inner west face of the east wing there is a timber-sheeted doorway to the left at basement level, a small window, 4/2, to the left at ground floor level, and a taller window, 4/4, to the left at first floor level.

Exterior Details and Setting

The entire façade, apart from the projection to the east face of the east wing, is finished in unpainted roughcast with a moulded and dentilled eaves course. The hipped roof is slated with a large skylight to the centre of the south ridge of the central section. This helps light the stairwell or landing and has stained glass with coats of arms of the Perceval and Maxwell families thereon. There is a small cast iron skylight to the northwest corner of the roof of the east wing.

There are four large rendered chimneystacks of varying size, with the main central stacks set lengthways on the ridge. A stack to the north end of the west wing and one to the north end of the east wing were removed in relatively recent times. Cast iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers are fitted to the front.

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 there is a large stable yard complex which contains a dwelling, with further former outbuildings to the northeast, now also converted to a dwelling. Much further to the northeast there is a large walled garden of 1802 with several dwellings in and around it, one originally a gardener's house, the others converted sheds. To the south is the main drive with a gate lodge at the entrance dating from around 1885.