Conservatory and walled garden at Tobar Mhuire, 12 John Street, Crossgar, Co Down, BT30 9EQ

Conservatory and Walled Garden at Tobar Mhuire

This large walled garden of approximately 1875–1880 occupies a rectangular site measuring roughly 100 by 60 metres, set to the east of Tobar Mhuire House on the south side of Crossgar. It contains a conservatory of about 45 metres in length and an equally long lean-to shed in rubble and brick. The garden itself is enclosed by a tall rubble wall which is largely featureless except for its gateways.

The boundary wall features two main vehicle gateways on the south side at mid-point and to the far right, both set within bays that rise slightly above wall level with ridge tile-like coping. The mid-point gateway has a flat elliptical arch with cream brick dressing and a plain modern iron gate. The right-hand gateway is more decorative, with timber sheeted gates and a bellcote above featuring a semicircular brick-dressed arched opening set within a gable with coping and urn finial. A cream brick dressed pedestrian gateway with flat arch stands at the mid-point of the west wall. The south wall gateways both lead to a large yard to the east, still contained within the walls. A vehicle entrance with curving rubble walls and square gate pillars topped with urn or ball finials lies to the east, forming the estate entrance to Tobar Mhuire.

The lean-to shed, built against the west side of the garden's east wall, is a long single-storey structure in rubble with cream brick dressings and a slated roof. A two-storey gabled section rises at mid-point, rendered to first floor level only, with cream brick dressings to the ground floor. The lengthy east façade is interspersed with Georgian-paned sash windows (8/8) and timber sheeted doorways set within shallow segmental arched openings—nine windows and a door on each side of the central gabled section. Much of this façade on the left-hand side was originally open until renovation circa 1989. The gabled section features a central ground-floor timber sheeted door with semicircular fanlight, flanked by two windows, with a traditional projecting sign above the doorway. A small roundel window lights the first floor. A tall cream brick chimney stack rises from the north side of the gabled roof. A timber sheeted door opens to the short north façade. The shed leans against the east wall of the garden, which is rough-cast rendered above shed level.

The conservatory, set against the opposite (east) side of the garden's east wall at a slightly higher level, has a similar plan to the shed but with a much steeper roof pitch and greater height. The central section is five-sided with a canted front and hipped roof, flanked by lean-to wings. Doorways open to the central section and to the short north and south façades, the latter accessed via stone steps. The conservatory rests on a low rubble base, and to its front (west) is a small area bordered by a low rubble and brick wall with stone coping. Large gateways similar to the main south wall gate stand at the north and south ends of the wall against which the shed and conservatory are set.

Immediately east of the shed stands a large temporary sectional building resembling a Portacabin, with a smaller temporary toilet block to its north. The east wall of the entire complex is featureless. The north wall appears similarly plain but is largely obscured by shrub growth.