Former Servant's Accommodation to, Narrow Water Castle, Warrenpoint Road, Newry, Co Down, BT34 2PN

Former Servants' Accommodation to Narrow Water Castle, originally known as Mount Hall

This is the earliest building on the site, originally erected as a house by Francis Hall in 1707, and subsequently remodelled in the early 19th century in the Tudor style by architect Thomas Duff to complement the newly built Narrow Water Castle (1835). At the time of remodelling, the interior was converted to servants' accommodation. The building is shown in its present form on the 1834 Ordnance Survey six-inch map. In recent times it has been refurbished and converted into apartments. The listing covers the building itself and the vaulted cellars in the hillside immediately to its west.

The building is of both historical and architectural interest.

General Form and Roofline

A long, linear two-storey structure, it encloses the west side of the domestic yard and abuts the north elevation of Narrow Water Castle. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate (new), with half-round metal rainwater goods. At the centre of the roof ridge stands a striking octagonal lantern with a swept leaded roof. The cardinal faces of the lantern have Tudor lattice glazing, possibly in cast iron, while the remaining faces have similar openings fitted with painted timber louvres.

There are five chimneys, each finished in stucco. Every chimney consists of a common plinth carrying three tall octagonal Tudor-style stacks. They are distributed along the main ridge, with two to the left half and three to the right half; the furthest right sits on the right-hand gable.

Front Elevation

Eight irregularly spaced wall-head dormers punctuate the front elevation, with the fourth from the left positioned at the centre. The first, fifth and seventh dormers from the left are smaller; the remaining ones are slightly larger and advance forward, together with their associated sections of ground and first floors. All dormers have shouldered gables with pitched copings, each terminating in an octagonal masonry plinth carrying a cylindrical pinnacle with an ogee coping — those belonging to the advancing dormers are notably more massive than the others.

The walls have a chamfered base course and are lined-rendered. The majority of openings have stucco hood moulds. Windows are timber-framed with Tudor-headed openings, incised spandrels and flush cills. Ground-floor windows are of the transom and mullion variety; first-floor windows are smaller and have mullions only. All have cast iron lattice glazing unless otherwise noted.

Reading from left to right, the front elevation is detailed as follows:

At the extreme left, beneath the first dormer, a ground-floor window contains four single-over-single lights with plainly glazed margin-paned leaded glazing. Above at first floor are three single-paned lights in a smaller opening with similar glazing. To the right at ground floor is an original four-panelled painted timber door with a pair of Tudor transoms above. Two matching first-floor lights occupy a common opening above, but without a stucco hood.

The second wall-head dormer advances slightly forward; its left and right cheeks are blank. Its front gable contains three single-over-single lights at ground floor and two single-paned lights (taller than those to its left) at first floor. On the main wall to the right of this dormer is a pair of single-over-single lights at ground floor with a pair of single-paned lights above (no hood). The first chimney stack sits on the roof ridge to their right, with a similar window arrangement at each floor on the main wall beyond.

The third wall-head dormer has four single-over-single lights at ground floor and three tall single-paned lights at first floor. To its right at ground floor is a doorway (formerly a window), now fitted with a modern six-panelled door set to the right with two narrow side lights to its left, which are noted as inappropriate; above is a pair of lattice-glazed transoms. At first floor is a pair of single lights without a hood. The second chimney stack appears on the roof ridge to the right of these openings. On the main wall beyond, a pair of single-over-single lights appears at ground floor and a pair of single-paned lights at first floor (no hood).

The fourth wall-head dormer, which advances forward and marks the centre of the elevation, has the lantern light behind it. Its left and right cheeks are blank. It contains three single-over-single lights at ground floor and a pair of single-paned lights at first floor. To its right at ground floor is another doorway (formerly a window), fitted with a modern six-panelled door to the left and two modern narrow side lights to the right; above are a pair of lattice-glazed transoms. At first floor is a pair of single lights without a hood. The third chimney stack sits on the roof ridge to the right. On the main wall beyond is the fifth wall-head dormer, with three single-over-single lights at ground floor and a pair of lights at first floor.

The sixth wall-head dormer advances forward; its left and right cheeks are blank and its openings match those of the fifth dormer to its left. The seventh wall-head dormer has a doorway at ground floor (formerly a window), comprising a six-panelled door flanked by side lights with three Tudor transoms above. At first floor there are three single-paned lights. The fourth chimney stack is on the roof ridge to the right. On the main wall to the right is the eighth and final wall-head dormer, at the extreme right end of this elevation. It has a pair of single-over-single lights at ground floor and a pair of lights with Tudor-headed transoms at first floor.

Right Gable

The right gable has a shouldered coped skew and carries the last chimney stack. It is rendered and has an infilled doorway at ground-floor left. At first-floor left there is a single-over-single sash window.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation is of unrendered, uncoursed random rubble. Its left third projects slightly forward. The right end of the central third advances under a hipped roof, and the remainder of the central and right thirds are abutted at ground floor by a lean-to. Most openings have stepped red brick architraves and granite cills.

The left portion advances slightly under a cat-slide section of the main roof. It has a pair of four-over-four sliding sash windows at ground-floor left. To the right of centre at ground floor is a modern painted timber door with glazed top panes, a narrow four-paned transom, and a four-over-four sash window immediately to its right within the same opening. At first floor above the window is a modern door beneath a modern wall-head dormer with plain timber bargeboard, served by a flight of galvanised metal stairs rising from ground-floor left. The right cheek of this projecting left portion is blank.

The central portion of the rear elevation is abutted at its right end by the stairwell return, which sits beneath a hipped natural slate roof tying into the main roof; its walls match those of the main block. The remainder of this portion is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey lean-to with a mono-pitched natural slate roof and painted metal rainwater goods. This lean-to has a modern flush timber door (part-glazed) with side lights to the left at its left end. At the centre is a tripartite window consisting of a six-over-six sash window flanked by narrow two-over-two sashes. At the right end is a pair of six-over-six sashes in a common opening, and a second door.

Above the lean-to, at first-floor level of the main block, there is a small three-over-three sash window to the left and a pair of similar windows in a common opening to the right. The lantern on the roof ridge above marks the centre of this elevation.

The left and right cheeks of the stairwell return are blank; the first-floor face of the right cheek is slate-hung. The rear wall of the return is blank at ground floor and abutted to the left by a small lean-to with rubble walls and a mono-pitched natural slate roof. At first floor, the return's rear wall has a tripartite window in a segmental-headed opening, consisting of a nine-over-six sliding sash window flanked by narrower three-over-two sashes; the top panes of the upper sashes curve to follow the arched head of the opening.

The right portion of the rear elevation is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey lean-to with a mono-pitched natural slate roof. The remaining wall at first floor is slate-hung and has a pair of three-over-three sash windows in a common opening to the left and a single three-over-three sash to the right. The lean-to has a six-over-six sash at the left and a pair of six-over-six sashes to the left of centre. At the centre is a metal oil tank. To the right are another pair of six-over-six sash windows.

The left gable of the main block is completely abutted by the north elevation of Narrow Water Castle.

Vaulted Stores

Immediately to the west of the rear elevation, built into the hillside, are four vaulted stores with rubble stone walls. They have earth-covered barrel-vaulted brick roofs aligned west to east, with doorways giving access from the east. The southernmost store is two storeys. Its first floor has a segmental-headed window in the east wall; a similar opening in the west wall serves as a loading door from the hillside at the rear. This store also has an additional pitched natural slate roof aligned north to south over its brick vault.