House Yards at Mourne Park, Newry Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4SD

House Yards at Mourne Park, Kilkeel, County Down

An attractive group of formal yards built in the early 19th century, contemporary with the main house at Mourne Park, and in relatively good condition. The complex consists of a series of three yards aligned south to north, positioned to the north of the main house and formed by single-storey outbuildings. Each yard is accessed from a lane running up the outside of the west wall. The east block of Yard 1 originally contained laundry rooms but was converted in 1902 into an extension of the main house. All buildings, with the exception of the north block of Yard 3, are shown in their present form on the 1834 Ordnance Survey six-inch map.

Yard 1

Yard 1 sits immediately to the north of the main house, enclosed to the west by the kitchen wing. The entrance gateway on the west side, immediately north of the kitchen gable, consists of a pair of tall coped ashlar granite posts hung with two large corrugated metal doors. On entering, there is a further set of low modern wrought metal gates on metal posts. The yard is paved with uneven granite cobbles.

East block: This block runs north to south and defines the eastern side of Yard 1. It has a pitched natural slate roof, hipped to the south, with half-round metal rainwater goods. Three coped ashlar chimneys sit along the ridge — one to the left end and two to the right, as viewed from the west. The yard-facing (west) elevation is unpainted lined render. Its right third is abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed extension linking it to the rear of the main house. The remaining wall has four windows, each a paired timber casement with dressed granite sill. The flat-roofed extension has a modern eaves board and plastic guttering; its rendered walls carry a pair of six-panelled, stop-end chamfered doors to the left and a paired casement window to the right. The right cheek of this extension abuts the main house and the left cheek has a paired casement window. The south elevation of the east block fronts the garden to the right of the main house, with its south-west corner abutting the corner of the house. A projecting rectangular bay fills most of this elevation. The walls to either side of the bay are of squared and coursed granite rubble, while the bay itself is of ashlar granite with moulded eaves and a blocking course above. The bay contains a pair of French windows at the centre with a step up to them, flanking sidelights, and transoms over. The rear (east-facing) wall is of squared and coursed rubble granite with traces of harling, and contains seven openings, all with cement-rendered jambs. Five contain a pair of panelled and glazed French windows; the second and third openings from the left are two-pane bucket openers.

North block: This block runs west to east and abuts the east block to the right, with its left end fronting the access lane. It has a pitched natural slate roof, hipped to the left and tied into the east block roof to the right. At the centre of the ridge is a square louvred vent with a pyramidal lead roof and weathervane. There is a cast-iron skylight to the rear pitch. A single rendered chimney rises from the wall head at the rear left. The south wall facing the yard is lined render. At the centre is an opening with a tall semicircular head — high enough for someone on horseback to pass through — leading through to Yard 2. To either side, symmetrically arranged, are a three-over-three window, a door, and a three-over-three window, then a door at each end. The left gable is of uncoursed rubble and is blank. The north elevation, facing onto Yard 2, is of uncoursed random rubble with plastic guttering. It has a central doorway with a tongue-and-groove door to its right and a similar arrangement at the right end. To the left is a cast-iron window with a central opening section. The right wall is a party wall shared with the east block.

Yard 2

Yard 2 is enclosed to the south by the north block of Yard 1. Its gateway is to the south-west and consists of a pair of coped ashlar granite piers supporting large corrugated metal gates. The remaining sides are enclosed by linear outbuildings.

East block: This block runs north to south and has a pitched natural slate roof, slightly lower at the ridge than the east block of Yard 1, with a skylight to the east pitch at the north end. Walls are of uncoursed granite rubble to the east and coursed rubble facing the yard. All openings on the west (yard-facing) wall have dressed granite post-and-block jambs and granite voussoired flat heads. There is a door at the centre with a window and door symmetrically arranged on each side. The windows are cast iron with an opening middle section and the doors are tongue-and-groove sheeted. The rear (east-facing) elevation has a pair of brick-dressed three-paned cast-iron windows to the left end, all sharing a continuous sandstone sill and head. To the extreme right is a doorway flanked by two two-pane casements, to the left of which is a larger three-pane casement. These openings have cement-dressed jambs and concrete sills.

North block: This block runs west to east, linking the east and west blocks, and is four bays wide. The two central bays are two storeys high and the outer bays are single storey. The middle section has a shallow hipped roof with overhanging eaves; the end sections have pitched roofs that tie into the flanking blocks. All roofs are natural slate. The right front pitch has a cast-iron skylight facing the yard. Half-round rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The south elevation facing the yard is of coursed dressed granite blocks with symmetrically placed openings. The lower single-storey blocks to left and right each have a single three-over-three sliding sash window to the outer side and a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the inner. At ground floor level the central bays are sheltered by a large corrugated metal monopitch roof supported on three plain metal posts. Below this are four segmental-headed openings, each containing a pair of wooden doors. At first floor, the central bays have a pair of semicircular openings with dressed granite voussoirs, each containing a three-over-three segmental-headed sliding sash window with glazed sidelights. Flanking these to left and right are single three-over-three sliding sash windows with flat voussoired heads and granite sills. These upper openings align with those below. The rear (north) wall of the two-storey section is of uncoursed random rubble and has two three-over-three sliding sash windows. It is abutted by a single-storey lean-to with a corrugated iron roof and mass concrete walls; the lean-to has two sheeted doors and, to the left, a two-over-two window.

West block: This block runs north to south and is single storey with a hipped natural slate roof and half-round metal gutters. The east wall facing the yard has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the right with dressed granite jambs and a flat voussoired head. To its left are three large rectangular doorways with ashlar granite jambs, each containing a pair of large tongue-and-groove sheeted doors, with those to the left missing. The south wall is of uncoursed rubble with a single cast-iron window matching that of the east block. The rear (west-facing) wall has two three-over-three sliding sash windows, both positioned towards the left end, with the leftmost being smaller than the other.

Yard 3

Yard 3 is long and narrow, widening at the north-east corner to accommodate dog kennels. It is enclosed to the north by a high rubble wall, to the east by a wall and outbuilding, and to the south by the north block of Yard 2. The entrance at the west end consists of a pair of corrugated metal gates hung from ashlar granite piers.

East block: This block runs north to south with a hipped natural slate roof and cast-iron skylights — one to the front pitch and two to the rear (east) pitch — with half-round gutters. The west elevation facing the yard is of coursed random rubble granite and contains a pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors, a single door to the right, and a modern one-over-one window to the left. The south gable is contiguous with the east block of Yard 2. The rear (east-facing) elevation has squared and coursed granite rubble walls with a three-paned casement window with a cement-dressed surround and concrete sill. The wall continues to the right as the yard's boundary wall, which contains a plain wrought-iron gate. The north gable contains a narrow sheeted door.

North block: This single-storey block runs west to east and occupies the enlarged north-east corner of the yard. It has a hipped natural slate roof, coursed random rubble walls, and half-round metal gutters. A doorway is positioned at the right end of the south elevation facing the yard. Ruinous dog kennels with a corrugated monopitch roof, concrete block walls, and wrought metal gates abut the remainder of this façade. The yard's rubble boundary wall forms the rear wall and gables of the kennels.