Sheepbridge House, 125 Belfast Road, Lisduff, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1QT

Sheepbridge House is a substantial mid-18th century house built for Samuel Gordon, a local linen draper, most likely around 1757, as attested by a datestone on the outbuilding to the rear. Although the house has been altered over the years, it retains its external scale and, together with its ballroom and farmyard, reflects the prosperity of this part of County Down at the time of its construction. It is recorded as "Sheepbridge House" on the 1834 Ordnance Survey six-inch map, and by 1836 was occupied by William Gordon. A later mid-19th century occupant, John Gordon, was a keen sportsman whose stud included many successful racehorses, the most notable of which was "Barkston", after whom the nearby Barkston House is named. Two associated water mills, originally bleach mills dating from the mid-18th century but now greatly altered, are connected with the property. The house is set in mature grounds and the listing covers the house itself, the ballroom, the yard and the outbuildings.

MAIN HOUSE

The main house is a symmetrical three-storey building over a basement, set in mature grounds with its principal elevation facing north. The roof is pitched and covered in artificial slate, with a rendered chimney stack to each gable end; the right-hand stack is slightly larger than the left. A rendered and corbelled eaves course supports half-round plastic rainwater goods, with a metal downpipe on the left side of the façade. The walls are finished in cement wet dash with a smooth rendered base course, rendered stepped quoins to each front corner (except to the ground floor left where the ballroom abuts), and a smooth rendered platband at second-floor sill level.

The north-facing façade is symmetrical and seven openings wide. The central ground-floor opening contains the main entrance: a semicircular-headed doorway with a cement-rendered surround and three granite steps. The door itself is a reproduction with six raised and fielded panels and a timber-framed spoked fanlight above. All remaining openings on the façade are windows — exposed box sliding sashes with plain rendered architraves and no sills or horns. The windows diminish in height with each floor: ground-floor windows are nine-over-six sashes, first-floor windows are six-over-six sashes, and those to the second floor are six-over-three sashes. Notably, all retain their original crown glass, some with attractive flaws including bulging, rippling, and bull's-eyes. It is said that one window pane is engraved "S G", after Samuel Gordon, the builder of the house.

The left gable is abutted at ground-floor level by the single-storey ballroom extension, now used as a garage. The remaining exposed portion of the left gable is cement dashed and blank. The right gable is smooth rendered with an advanced chimney breast to the centre. To the right of the chimney breast there is a window on each floor, though the ground-floor window is not aligned with those above. The ground- and first-floor windows here are one-over-one sash windows with horns; the second-floor window is a modern single-paned fixed light.

The rear elevation faces south and has been much altered. It has an exposed brick eaves course and walls of modern dashed cement render. The left half is abutted by a two-storey double-pile rear return. The remaining right half of the rear elevation contains, from left to right: a modern glazed timber door at the far left end, a small one-over-one sash window, and a six-over-six sliding sash window at the right end. At first-floor level, roughly centred on this section of wall, there are two small one-over-one sash windows. The second floor is blank. None of the rear windows have sills.

REAR RETURN

The rear return is double-pile, with its pair of gables abutting the main house. Both roofs are pitched and covered in artificial slate, with their ridges at the eaves level of the main house. Walls are smooth cement rendered with corbelled eaves courses and plastic rainwater goods. The left pile has a rendered chimney on its gable. The left cheek of the left pile is flush with the right gable of the main house and has two one-over-one sliding sash windows to each floor. The end gables of the return are abutted by a later single-storey lean-to, with the gables above left blank. The right, yard-facing cheek also has two one-over-one sash windows to each floor.

The lean-to attached to the gables of the rear return has a mono-pitched natural slate roof and smooth lined cement-rendered walls. Its south-facing yard elevation has a tongue-and-groove door set to the left of centre and a steel-framed casement window to its right. The left gable of the lean-to abuts the outbuilding enclosing the west side of the farmyard. The right gable has a modern door and window. There is also a small domestic yard to the rear right of the main house, with a small modern lean-to on its south wall and a doorway leading through to the original farmyard.

BALLROOM EXTENSION

The ballroom extension abuts the left gable of the main house and dates from the mid-to-late 19th century, with its dimensions in the 1862 Valuation book corresponding to this structure. It is single-storey with a hipped natural slate roof and cast-iron rainwater goods. Walls are smooth cement rendered, with stepped quoins to the left corner of the north wall only. Set to the left side of its north-facing façade is a large six-over-six sliding sash window (exposed box, without horns) with a granite sill. To its right is a large modern garage opening. The left east gable and the rear south elevation of the ballroom are both blank. The extension is now in use as a garage.

FARMYARD BUILDINGS

The farmyard to the rear is enclosed to the north by the main house, to the south by a stable block, to the west by a two-storey derelict outbuilding, and to the east by a large modern farm building of no architectural interest.

The stable block is aligned west to east, is two storeys in height, and has a pitched corrugated asbestos roof with half-round asbestos gutters and painted coursed rubble walls. Its north elevation fronts the yard and has seven doors, five of which are half-doors. At first-floor level there are six window openings, one of which is a loading door. The end gables and rear elevation are all blank.

The outbuilding on the west side of the yard has a pitched natural slate roof with granite skews. Its walls are of random rubble brought to courses and are harled. The east elevation, facing the yard, has a doorway just left of centre; to its right is a slightly lower semi-elliptical brick archway with a datestone above, whose incised letters read "SG / 1757". To the right of the archway the outbuilding is abutted by the lean-to on the main house. The extreme left end of this elevation formerly had an external stone staircase rising from ground-floor level to the first floor, though this is now gone. At first-floor level there is a timber loading door at the head of where the external staircase terminated, and four equally spaced window openings, all with brick dressings. The south gable has a brick-dressed pigeon cote in the apex and an infilled door opening at centre first-floor level. Its south-west corner supports an archway to and from the driveway.

The rear west elevation of the outbuilding has six window openings at first-floor level, three of which are now infilled. At ground-floor level, set to the right of centre, is a four-by-two metal-framed window. The right north gable has two windows at ground-floor level: the left is a plain single-paned window and the right is the remains of a six-over-six sash window with the bottom sash missing. The centre of the first floor has an infilled window opening.

The archway to the farmyard is of rubble stone with an embattled parapet. It has a brick-dressed semicircular head and contains a pair of original wrought-iron gates.

HISTORICAL NOTES AND ALTERATIONS

The 1836 Valuation records the house dimensions as 52 feet by 22 feet by 26 feet with a 20 feet by 26 feet by 16 feet return, corresponding to the main house and double-pile rear return. The 1862 Valuation records broadly similar dimensions but with the addition of a 24 feet by 21 feet single-storey return and a 21 feet by 9 feet two-storey return, the former likely relating to the ballroom. The 1862 Valuation describes the house as "a very old bad house expensive to keep." The datestone on the outbuilding may not be in its original position.

Photographic evidence and earlier survey records indicate a number of changes to the building over time. Early survey slides show the building originally had three chimney stacks rather than two — the missing third was large and was positioned on the ridge between the second and third windows from the left. Photographs in the Architectural Archive show the rear elevation once had two small window openings at second-floor centre and that the wall over the rear return was slate-hung. The original roof was natural slate and the walls were originally harled and whitened. A ground-floor plan recorded in the Archaeological Survey of County Down shows two staircases at ground-floor level, the rear one of which is now gone at this level. It has been tentatively suggested that the larger missing third chimney and the location of the staircase opposite the window to the right of the front door might indicate that the house was originally five openings wide with the original front door set to the right of its present position, though there is no archaeological evidence to support this theory.