Former Roden Arms, 75 Bryansford village, Aghacullion, Newcastle, Co Down, BT33 0PT

Former Roden Arms, Bryansford Village

The Former Roden Arms is a long, two-storey gabled building of probable late 18th century construction, originally built as a hotel and now subdivided into five private dwellings. It is one of a small number of surviving early hotel buildings in Ireland and is of particular interest as a carefully sited element within a designed estate village. The building is situated on the north side of the main road running through Bryansford, close to the junction with the Upper Burren Road, and stands on a slight slope running from south-west to north-east.

The building was substantially altered in the late 1990s when it was converted to residential use. These alterations have significantly detracted from its architectural character. The roof is covered in natural slate. Four unevenly spaced rendered chimney stacks survive — there were originally five before the late 1990s renovation. Rainwater goods are metal. A low rendered wall runs along the roadside at what is now the rear of the building.

The former front façade faces south-west but now functions as the rear. It is asymmetrical and displays no overall unity of composition. From left to right at ground floor level, the features are as follows: a semicircular-headed window with a modern frame; a doorway fitted with glazed double doors and a fanlight; a single-storey canted bay with a flat roof serving as a balcony, which has a large window with a modern frame to its outer sides and a pair of French doors to its front face, with further French doors opening onto the balcony above; a broad elliptical-arched doorway with French doors; a large picture window with a modern frame; and another semicircular-headed window matching the one at the far left. At the far left this façade merges with a tall rendered wall. To the right of the last window is a full-height two-storey canted bay with a hipped slated roof. To the first floor throughout, and to the outer sides of the ground floor bay, windows have modern frames, while French doors are used to the front face of the ground floor. To the right of the two-storey bay is a broad doorway with French doors and large sidelights. Further right, a large lean-to section has been added to what is essentially the north-east gable; this has a similar large doorway to its south-west face.

At first-floor level on this south-west façade there are six windows of various sizes and shapes, all with modern frames except the one at the far left, which retains a sash frame. Some window cills at this level have small bracket-like projections of a rounded, bun-shaped form. The balcony sits beneath a gable with shaped bargeboards, a finial, and decorative but structurally superfluous tie beams. The south-west gable has two first-floor windows and one ground-floor window, all with modern frames. To the left it merges with the south-west face of a rear return, which has a window as elsewhere. A small two-storey gabled section that was formerly attached to this end of the building was demolished during the late 1990s renovations. The north-east gable has a large lean-to addition that appears to be entirely modern, with modern windows and doors to its north-east face; it connects to a wholly modern single-storey house to the north-east.

What was formerly the rear north-west façade now serves as the front. At the far left is a full-height gabled bay with bargeboards and tie beam as on the south-west façade; this bay has a modern door and window at ground floor and two similar windows at first floor. To the right is another similar window, then a projecting single-storey gabled porch with a modern door and window slightly smaller than those described. Further right is another window and a door as before, followed by a broader window. At the far right is a large double-gabled bay, generally matching the left-hand bay but doubled in width. The first (left) gable of this pair has a doorway as before but with a hood over the porch. To its right is a window, with two similar windows above at first-floor level. The right-hand gable has two first-floor windows and a ground-floor doorway as elsewhere. Between the two end bays at first-floor level there are six windows of various sizes and shapes. The entire north-west façade is finished in a recently applied roughcast render.

The former outbuildings to the immediate west have also been converted to dwellings. To the south-west of the main building is a two-storey hipped-roof structure, originally the servants' quarters and stores, recently converted to a dwelling with various-sized modern window and door openings; it is roughcast rendered to match the main building. To the north of this is a long two-storey gabled range, probably originally the stables and similar accommodation, also recently converted to dwellings. To the north of these converted buildings, newly built ranges of houses are arranged in a courtyard formation, with many nearing completion at the time of survey. The once-open ground to the north-west is thus being substantially developed.

The building is believed to have been erected, probably by the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, in the late 18th century, most likely between 1760 and 1779. It was certainly standing by the 1830s, being shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 along with some of its outbuildings. Taylor and Skinner's map of 1777 and Bernard Scalé's map of the same year both indicate a long building on this side of the main road through Bryansford, though the plan does not correspond exactly to the present building. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that the building was constructed "in the old style." An advertisement in the Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785 mentions lodgings available within Bryansford, suggesting that an inn of some sort was operating in the village by that date.

By 1846, when the hotel appears in Slater's Directory, it included a livery stable and posting house and was managed by a Joseph McCullon. By 1863 it was operated by Charlotte Read and Hester Hunter; by 1870 by Mary Read; and by 1880 by a Robert Herron. An advertisement placed by Herron in Bassett's County Down Guide and Directory of 1886 describes the establishment as "beautifully situated on the confines of Tollymore Park…calculated to promote the convenience and comfort of the nobility, gentry and tourists," and notes a "comfortable coffee-room…set apart for the especial use of ladies not requiring a private drawing room."

The hotel closed following the growth in popularity of the nearby town of Newcastle and the opening of the Slieve Donard Hotel there in 1898. The building subsequently became a private dwelling, occupied in the early 20th century by members of the Jocelyn family, relations of the Earl of Roden, and latterly by Lord Roden himself. The property was sold in the 1990s and converted with its outbuildings into private dwellings.