Drumsesk House, Warrenpoint Road, Rostrevor, Co.Down

Drumsesk House is a picturesque early 19th-century villa built in three main phases, with the original eastern section dating to between 1815 and 1819. The house stands near Carlingford Lough on the Warrenpoint to Rostrevor road, a route that had not yet been cut when Williamson's County Down map was published in 1810. The 1815 "Newry Magazine" description of residences along this stretch makes no mention of any building at this location, but Thomas Bradshaw's 1819–20 "General Directory of Newry" refers to "Drumsesk Cottage", the home of "Captain Courtney", confirming construction during this period. Existing deeds indicate the house was standing by 1818.

The building appears to have been constructed initially by Robert Willis (circa 1781–1837), a local builder and joiner, who is believed to have occupied the original eastern section. In 1818 the house was sold to Edward Rhames Courtenay (circa 1773–1825), a Newry-born merchant and captain in the Armagh militia. By 1816 Courtenay had become agent for the Ross estate at Rostrevor and the Hall estate at Narrowwater. He is remembered locally for having killed fellow Newry man John Thompson of Trevor Hill in 1793 during a duel fought at Violet Hill. The contest was meant to be fought with swords, but realising he faced a more skilled opponent, Courtenay drew a pistol and shot Thompson in the head. He subsequently handed himself over to the authorities but was never put on trial. According to "A History of Nelson Masonic Lodge No XVII", Courtenay is stated to have "built Drumsesk Cottage, Rostrevor, in Which he lived and died", though it is more likely that he altered and extended the existing house by adding the L-shaped portion to the west and south.

After Courtenay's death in 1825, ownership passed to his widow Jane (died 1861), who for the next decade or so rented the property to a series of tenants. These included Henry Whaley and Christopher St. George Trench, both of whom tragically drowned in September 1828 whilst "bathing incautiously" in the sea nearby. The next occupant appears to have been Major Samuel Patrickson (died 1836).

The house, labelled simply "Drumsesk", is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 with a roughly similar plan to the present, but with a different configuration to the northern end. In the 1835 valuation it is noted as "Drumsesk Cottage", a "new" (grade A) building with its component parts recorded as measuring 35½ feet by 20½ by 15½, 20 by 17½ by 15 ("return") and 36 by 13 by 10 ("return"), with offices of 24½ by 12 by 6, 25 by 13½ by 10, 36 by 17½ by 13 and 13½ by 14 by 13. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the following year refer to the building as a "bathing lodge", a term that source also uses to refer to several of the other contemporary villas in the area similarly close to Carlingford Lough, even though they may not have been built expressly for that particular purpose. The house can be glimpsed in a sketch of circa 1835, looking eastwards from the grounds of nearby Rosetta House.

By at least 1846 the property had been leased to Hugh Carleton, a son of Francis Carleton (died 1829) formerly of Green Park, Rostrevor. It returned to the possession of the Courtenays' daughter Jane and her husband Robert Bowen on Carleton's death in late 1861. In the second valuation of the same year, the house is described as a "very neat cottage, close to road and sea, well enclosed", with some "very good" attic rooms. The building's main section is noted as measuring 6 yards 2 feet by 12 by 1 storey, with returns of 8 yards 2 feet by 6 yards 2 feet by 2, 8 yards 2 feet by 5 by 2, and 10 by 4 by 2, and offices of 5 by 8 by 1½, 7½ by 6 by 1½ and 11 by 4 by 1. These dimensions reveal the building to be larger than in 1835, although whatever alterations had been carried out in the intervening years must have been done so closer to that date than 1861, for the whole property was regarded by the valuers as "not new" (grade B+) in the latter year. The small scale of the existing Ordnance Survey maps makes any changes to the planform difficult to discern, but it is possible that changes may have been carried out to the northeastern return, for in terms of scale it sits slightly awkwardly with the rest of the building.

Over the next 15 years or so the property went through a number of short-stay tenants, including William Mayne from circa 1864, Robert Browne [possibly Bowen] (circa 1867), Colonel [?] Benson-Maxwell (circa 1871) and Reverend Cecil Smylie (circa 1874). Elizabeth Smylie is listed as the occupant by the valuers from 1875 until circa 1882. Afterwards the Benson Maxwell family may have returned for a short time, succeeded in circa 1884 by Robert Mathers, who was followed in 1886 by Alice Hancock and Ormsby Vandeleur in circa 1891. In the 1901 census, Mr Vandeleur (who lists his occupation as "gent") was sharing the residence with his wife Lucretia, their daughter Georgina, an elderly aunt Lucretia Tallan, and two domestic servants, with the building itself noted as a "1st class" dwelling with 13 rooms in use.

In 1906 the rateable value of the property (which had now become known variously as "Drumsesk" and "Drumsesk House", as well as "Drumsesk Cottage") was reduced from £39 to £31, apparently due to its condition. By 1908 Marcella Von Stieglitz had become the tenant, and in the 1911 census she is recorded as living here with her grown-up daughters Augusta Sophia and Adelaide Mary and two domestic servants. The Von Stieglitz family were originally from Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), and had settled in Rostrevor in 1856.

Ownership of the house had been acquired by the McFarland family of nearby Seapoint Cottage in 1895. In 1913 it was put up for sale (for £850), the advertisement stating that it contained "3 reception rooms (on ground floor), 5 bedrooms, bathroom, and servants' apartments", as well as "good stabling and motor accommodation, together with over half an acre of land". It was eventually sold the following year to Reverend John W. A. and Margaret Victoria MacWilliam, with whose descendant it remains.