Stable Yard, Seaforde House, Newcastle Road, Seaforde Demense, near Seaforde, Downpatrick, Co Down, BT30 8PG

Stable Yard, Seaforde House, Seaforde Demesne

This is a large, two-storey stable complex with hipped roofs, built largely before 1834 and grouped around a courtyard to the south-east of Seaforde House, which stands to the north of the small village of Seaforde, approximately five miles west of Downpatrick. The complex includes the stableyard itself, associated outbuildings, a former laundry, a former gas plant, a laundry drying green wall, and a tunnel. Despite some alterations, the buildings retain considerable architectural and historical interest and have group value with the other estate buildings at Seaforde. The complex is privately owned and continues in estate-related use.

General Character and Materials

The external, outward-facing elevations of the main stable wings are largely rubble-faced and unpainted, while all the inward-facing courtyard elevations are uniformly cement rendered. Most window openings on the south and east elevations appear to have been altered in the mid-20th century, with concrete lintels and metal frames now predominating. The inner facades of the north and west wings also have a series of eyebrow windows, also likely dating from the mid-20th century.

The East Wing and Entrance

The stable complex is entered from the east, through a large central carriage arch set within a tall rendered gable that rises above the main roofline. The arch is elliptical-headed, with timber-sheeted double doors and in-and-out stone dressings with a keystone. At the apex of the gable is a black — possibly enamel-faced — clock, with the name "William Forde" spelled out in gothic-like script on the clock face. The clock is set within a roundel feature with a circular stone dressing. The gable itself has in-and-out quoins. Behind the gable, sitting on the ridge of the main roof, is a cupola-like bellcote with arched openings to its sides, a pyramidal roof supported on brackets, and a weather vane.

To the left of the entrance gable, the main east facade is roughcast rendered and painted. There is a large modern-looking window opening with a steel-framed casement window with multiple Georgian-style panes, and the far left of the ground floor is blank, with a large area of patched render. At first-floor level to the left are four unevenly spaced window openings, each with steel frames with top-opening lights. The render shows evidence of single-storey gabled buildings having once been attached here.

To the right of the entrance gable, the ground floor is obscured by a hipped-roof single-storey building linked to the further outbuildings described below. At first-floor level to the right are four unevenly spaced sash windows of six-over-six pane configuration with segmental arched heads.

On the inner, courtyard-facing side of the east wing, the ground floor has five large elliptical-arch carriage doorways with in-and-out dressings and timber-sheeted double doors. To the right of centre is a gable similar to that on the outer east facade, but with a segmental-headed sash window above the archway and a moulded Forde family crest on the keystone of the arch itself. On either side of this inner gable are first-floor sash windows — three to the left and two to the right.

The South Wing

The south facade is rubble-faced and unpainted. At first-floor level there are ten window openings; between the ninth and tenth (counting from the left) is a timber-sheeted door reached by an external stone stair with a steel handrail. At ground-floor level there are eight windows with a timber-sheeted door with a fanlight between the first and second openings. The windows vary in size and spacing: some are timber sash, others are more modern timber with top-opening lights, and the remainder are steel-framed with top openers. All appear to have modern concrete lintels, and most look as though their openings have been altered, except for the first three windows at first-floor level and the first at ground-floor level, which have also retained their Georgian-paned sash frames. Above many of the windows towards the centre and right, small ventilation openings have been inserted. Towards the left of centre there is evidence that a large arched opening has been blocked. The stonework coursing at the right-hand edge of the facade suggests the wing was once longer, a conclusion supported by map evidence — and unlike the other corners, the stonework here has no quoins, indicating it was truncated when the east wing was rebuilt or extended.

On its inner, courtyard-facing side, the south wing's north-facing facade has three timber-sheeted pedestrian doors at ground-floor level, two sash windows, and two eyebrow windows. At first-floor level there are eight windows, most with metal frames matching those on the outer south facade, and a timber-sheeted loft door.

The West Wing

The west facade of the west wing is difficult to observe in its entirety due to close tree and plant growth. In general character it resembles the south facade, being rubble-faced with rows of windows on each floor. Unlike the south, however, most window openings here appear unaltered and retain their Georgian-paned sash frames and brick dressings. Towards the far right the facade projects slightly. At ground-floor level in this projection is a sturdy timber-sheeted door with exposed bolt heads in a stud-like arrangement; this door leads through an arch into the courtyard.

On its inner, courtyard-facing side, the west wing has a large segmental-headed archway to the left, a timber-sheeted pedestrian door with a semicircular head to the far right, and another doorway to the right of centre that has been largely filled with glazing. Between these doorways are five window openings, two of which are boarded, two of which have wrought-iron bars, and one of which retains a sash frame. At first-floor level are six evenly spaced windows. Within the large archway at ground-floor level far left there are timber-sheeted doorways: one to the north, two to the south, and one to the west leading outside.

The North Wing

Much of the north facade cannot be observed due to dense tree and shrub growth. Only the far right portion is clearly visible. What can be seen appears largely rubble-faced, with few discernible openings. At the far right the facade is abutted by a small rubble-built lean-to, which sits within a moat-like trench immediately to the north of the wall itself.

On its inner, courtyard-facing side, the north wing has three timber-sheeted pedestrian doors at ground-floor level, two sash windows, and four eyebrow windows. To the far right is a large segmental-headed archway containing a quarter-turn stone stair that leads to the upper floor of the east wing. At first-floor level are two sash windows and two timber-sheeted loft doors. Marks in the render indicate that some upper-floor openings have been blocked.

Further Outbuildings

Attached to the right-hand side of the east facade of the east wing is an L-shaped, single-storey, hipped-roof outbuilding with a rendered facade, slated roof, and timber-sheeted doors and sash windows. This is abutted to the east by a large two-storey rubble-built gabled barn. The barn's roof is slated on the west side and covered in corrugated iron on the east. It has several sash windows and a pedestrian door on the west, a gothick window on the south gable, and a large elliptical-arch vehicle entrance with some small largely frame-less windows on the east. The eastern elevation has a dilapidated appearance, in marked contrast to the tidier west facade and south gable. Together, the barn and the L-shaped building — which may originally have been a garden store — form a small yard enclosed by a tall rendered wall to the south. Within this yard are some modern glasshouses.

From the south gable of the barn, a high rubble wall stretches to connect with a roughly circular enclosure, the walls of which are buttressed. This enclosure, which may once have been a garden, is now used as a small nursery for fir trees and is planted with a stand of fir.

To the east of the barn there extends a very long, dilapidated outbuilding that is two-storey to the west and single-storey to the east. At the eastern end rises a tall, square, polychrome brick chimney stack, which is probably of mid-to-late 19th century date and may have been associated with a small gasworks once present on this site, most of which may since have been cleared away.

Historical Development

The Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows buildings corresponding to the north, south, and west wings of the stable complex, as well as much of the long outbuilding wing to the north-east. The site of the present east wing was at that date occupied by what appears to have been a narrower building divided into two sections by a gateway slightly south of centre. The revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows a largely similar arrangement, which together suggests that the east wing — either in part or in whole — post-dates 1858, a conclusion supported by the late Victorian appearance of the clock and bellcote. The south wing was slightly longer before 1858 than it is today, as indicated by the quoin-less stonework at its eastern edge; it was almost certainly shortened when the east wing was rebuilt or extended.

Local tradition holds that the north, south, and west wings predate the present Seaforde House, suggesting they were constructed before approximately 1816 and originally served the earlier Forde family home of Castlenavan, itself probably built in the early to mid-18th century. The present owner of Seaforde House stated at the time of the original 1978 survey — having access to estate documents not seen by the surveyors — that the complex dates largely from around 1750.

Primary sources consulted include the Forde papers held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI D.366); Taylor's and Skinner's Maps of the Roads of Ireland (Dublin, 1777), map 284; Ordnance Survey maps for County Down sheet 37 dating from 1834, c.1858, and c.1901 (PRONI OS/6/3/37/1, /2, and /3); the first valuation for Loughinisland, 1836 (PRONI VAL/1B/387); and the second valuation for Loughinisland, c.1860.