Outbuildings at Ballyward Lodge and Estate, 18 Ballyward Road, Ballyward, Banbridge, Co Down, BT31 9PS

Outbuildings at Ballyward Lodge and Estate

These early 19th-century outbuildings are located to the rear of Ballyward Lodge, a two-storey Georgian gentleman's mansion in Ballyward Townland, west of Castlewellan, County Down. The complex comprises a group of functional farm and service buildings arranged around a courtyard to the south-west of the main house, with further structures laid out in a linear fashion along the main farm lane extending southward from the house gardens. Together with the house itself and the gate lodge and entrance gates, the outbuildings contribute significantly to the integrity of the estate as a group. They survive largely in original condition, despite the loss of some structures.

Layout and General Character

The main courtyard lies directly to the south-west of the main house. It is enclosed on its west side by a two-storey, three-bay out office (OB1), which is abutted to the left by a single-storey link block — now partially demolished — connecting to a two-storey south range (OB2). Further buildings are arranged in a linear fashion along the farm lane: a two-storey block (OB3) abuts OB2 to the rear with a parallel ridge line; a single-storey store (OB4) stands alongside it; and a further small store (OB5) sits at the southern end. OB3, OB4, and OB5 are linked on their east sides by a brick wall laid in a crude Flemish bond, and a modern stable range of no architectural interest stands between OB3 and OB4 on this eastern frontage.

All buildings have pitched slate roofs. A chimneystack with a moulded cap appears on OB3 only. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted over projected eaves bands or projected brick eaves throughout. Walling is generally roughcast; on the more formal courtyard and garden elevations it is painted with a contrasting plinth, while the remaining elevations are left unpainted.

Individual Buildings

OB1 is a two-storey, three-bay building. Its east-facing courtyard elevation is asymmetrical, with a wider left bay. There is a timber-sheeted entrance door with a multi-pane overlight positioned to the right of centre, flanked by 6-over-6 sash windows, all with granite cills; the first-floor openings sit directly above the ground-floor ones. The gable ends are blank. The rear elevation has 1-over-1 diminished windows at ground floor and a 6-over-6 sash to the first-floor left; the first-floor right window has been removed. Abutted to the left is the partially demolished link block, which has three segmental-headed openings with brick heads and timber-sheeted double doors.

OB2 has a 6-over-6 exposed box sash at its left end on the north elevation facing the courtyard, two timber-sheeted doors flanking a large sliding vehicular door, and spoked roundels to the loft and to the angled east gable which overlooks the garden. The rear elevation is blank and is abutted on the left by OB3.

OB3 is two storeys tall and two windows wide at first-floor level on its south elevation, with exposed box 12-pane windows above ground-floor abutments that include a crude lean-to and the modern stable block. The garden-facing gable is painted and blank. The west gable is topped by a bellcote and has a timber-sheeted loft door reached by external concrete steps; this gable is extended by the west elevation of OB2, which is lit at ground floor by an inward-opening casement and has a fixed-pane loft window above.

OB4 is plainly detailed, with a timber-sheeted door to the west surmounted by a datestone inscribed 1811, and a metal-framed casement loft window above. The east gable, which faces the garden, is built up in snecked rubble stone over a brick garden wall with a masonry plinth, and has infilled segmental-headed openings. The other elevations are blank, and the building is enclosed to the south by a tall cement-rendered enclosure.

OB5 is a simple single-storey stable with a timber stable door to the west.

Gardener's House

The Gardener's House is a one-and-a-half-storey dwelling, extended and raised at some point, rectangular on plan. It has a pitched natural slate roof, painted rendered chimneystacks, and cast-iron rainwater goods on brick eaves. The gable ends and rear are rendered, while the principal elevation is exposed rubble stonework with fieldstone quoins; some openings are brick-dressed. There are three 2-over-2 exposed box sash windows with granite cills. At ground-floor level to the left there is a modern glazed door insertion flanked by small fixed pointed-arched timber lattice windows. A lean-to return is attached to the rear. The interior retains its simple original layout, with a central timber staircase, four-panelled doors and architraves, and a small cast-iron fireplace to the attic room.

Adjoining the cottage is a modern vehicular access gate set into a rubble wall leading to the lower enclosure; the piers have five upright triangular capping stones.

Setting and Boundaries

The outbuildings sit within an agricultural setting in Ballyward demesne, with mature plantation to the north, gardens to the east, modern farm structures to the south, and agricultural land to the west. The courtyard is accessed via the main entrance avenue from the east, with the farm lane branching off to the right before entry; a secondary farm access point exists from Ballyward Road at the north. A tall roughcast wall separates the garden from the yard, with access between the two through a square-headed opening formed in dressed stone fitted with a wrought-iron gate. A water pump stands in the yard.

Historical Background

Ballyward Lodge was built in 1811 by William Beers, as recorded in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836, which described it as the only gentleman's seat in the parish of Drumgooland. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 shows the house in its current layout, though without the two-storey north return that was added later. The current owner has suggested the site has origins stretching back to the mid-18th century, though documentary evidence points firmly to 1811 as the date of the present house. The datestone of 1811 on OB4 supports early 19th-century construction for at least part of the outbuilding complex, and the majority of the outbuildings appear to predate the 1833 survey. It is unclear whether OB5 was among those original structures.

By the 1830s the estate had passed to Charles Beers, son of William and a local magistrate. In the early valuation records, Ballyward Lodge together with its outbuildings and gate lodge was jointly valued at £31 3s. By 1859 there had been no discernible change to the outbuildings. Around 1862, Griffith's Valuation recorded the estate in the occupation of Francis C. Leslie, who leased it from John S. Crawford, a landowner based in Crawfordsburn with approximately 5,748 acres in the area; the total value had by then risen to £45. Francis Leslie subsequently purchased Ballyward Lodge outright in 1869 and let it to Frederick George Patterson, who occupied it briefly until 1884, when the Leslie family reoccupied the property. Between 1891 and 1896 the estate's valuation was reduced to £42 15s., for reasons not recorded by the valuer.

The 1901 census building return described the house as a first-class dwelling with 12 rooms and a large number of out offices; John Leslie was not in residence on census night. By 1911 the property was let to Dr. Charles R. M. Pattison and his wife Ethel, and the census building return recorded the outbuildings as including three stables, four cow houses, two piggeries, a boiling house, and a barn, among many other smaller out offices. From 1916 the estate came into the possession of Harriet Jane Barclay; in that year the gate lodge and a steward's house were given separate valuations, and the steward's house — most likely OB1 — was valued at £6, reducing the value of the remainder of the estate to £34 15s. By 1927 a Dr. John H. McBurney had taken possession, and the total value of the site excluding the steward's house and gate lodge had further reduced to £30.

By 1969 ownership had passed to a Mr. J. Higginson, who at that time demolished the stable block that had formerly connected the south elevation of the main house to OB2, a structure visible on earlier Ordnance Survey editions but absent from the 1976 survey. Higginson also added numerous monuments and sculptures to the ornamental garden to the south of the house during the late 20th century. The ornamental garden itself, to the south of the house, was converted from a traditional productive walled garden to a formal ornamental layout with a wide variety of plants, a process begun from the 1950s onwards. The outer walled garden, formerly an orchard, is laid to grass. A pond with an island on the north side of the road may formerly have served as a decoy; it was cleared out in the 1970s. In the mid-19th century there was a summer house in the parkland on a prominent rath planted with beech.

Ballyward Lodge and its outbuildings were listed in 1977 and remain occupied; the outbuildings have been maintained.