Carpenham, Greenpark Road, Rostrevor, Co.Down

Carpenham is a Picturesque Tudor-style house commenced in 1826 on land leased from the Ross-of-Bladensburg estate by Henry Hamilton (c.1775–1850), brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington. The house takes its name from Henry's wife, the Honourable Caroline Penelope Pakenham (died 1854), whom he married in 1808.

The building was designed by the celebrated Dublin architect William Vitruvius Morrison (1794–1838), whose involvement is attested to in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 and in John Weale's Quarterly Papers on Architecture (1844). Morrison was well-known to Rostrevor society, having previously designed the nearby Ross Monument. At Carpenham, he worked around an existing dwelling, extending it to the south, remodelling the whole in Picturesque Tudor style, and adding outbuildings to the north. No building of significance appears on Williamson's county map of 1810 in this vicinity.

In autumn 1835, the valuation book recorded Carpenham as newly built in good condition (grade 'A+'), comprising various sections with dimensions of 57 feet by 27 by 18, 13 by 11½ by 18, 21½ by 20 by 15, 38 by 19 by 15, and 20 by 10 by 7. The grounds included a gate house measuring 22 by 14 by 7 feet with a return of 14 by 14 by 7, and outbuildings of 66 by 15½ by 7½, 62 by 18½ by 15, 38 by 7½ by 7½, and 33 by 12 by 6 feet. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 described it as 'a large house of the old English style of architecture'. An illustration appears in the 1846 Picturesque Handbook to Carlingford Bay showing it much as it appears today. By the second valuation of circa 1861, it was referred to as 'a very handsome Elizabethan villa'. The dimensions recorded in 1861 differ from those of 1835, suggesting either subsequent alteration or different measurement conventions by the valuers. The small scale of the 1834 and 1860 Ordnance Survey maps makes it difficult to determine whether changes occurred between these dates, though some outbuildings may have been removed or incorporated into the dwelling by 1861, as only two large 60-foot structures are noted then.

The Hamiltons had no children. The house was subsequently leased by the Ross estate to Theodosia H. Forde, a relation of the Seaforde family, before passing in 1865 to Major Charles Forde, another relation. It then passed through a succession of tenants: Francis John Oldfield, a retired Indian army colonel, from 1873; Adam Samuel Forester from 1879; Edward Courtenay Biggar from 1887; and Joseph William Warburton from circa 1900. In the 1901 census, Warburton, a 63-year-old widower and retired assistant clerk at the Foreign Office and subsequently Consul General, occupied the house with three domestic servants. The building was noted as a first-class dwelling with 15 rooms in use. By 1911, Captain Frederick Radford (Royal Dragoons), his wife Constance, and their son Francis Vaughan Radford (a J.P.) lived there with three domestic servants. George Walker became tenant by 1915, followed by Reverend John Howard Murphy in 1926. Miss Laura Waldegrave Hewson was resident for much of the 1930s, the Liddle family from at least 1946 to 1950, and a family named Ball in 1969. The property remains in private hands.

The gate lodge was demolished before 1901. The surrounding garden, laid out with great taste in typically Romantic manner, remained largely intact until circa 1960, when part of the land to the south was acquired for housing development (St. Rita's Park). To the north, the pitch belonging to St Bronagh's GAC was created sometime prior to 1979.