Ringdufferin House, 35 Ringdufferin Road, Ringdufferin, Killyleagh, Co. Down, BT30 9PH

Ringdufferin House is a large and complex gentleman's residence set at the end of a very long, winding, picturesque drive to the west of the Ringdufferin Road, approximately two and a half miles north-northeast of Killyleagh. The house sits amidst well-wooded grounds overlooking the eastern coast of Strangford Lough. It was built either on or close to the site of a tower house of probable late 16th-century origin, and developed in distinct phases spanning the later 17th to the 20th centuries, with the principal sections dating from around 1790 to 1800. The property remains in private use as a country house.

Historical Background

The earliest known reference to settlement at Ringdufferin appears in State Papers of around 1602, which mention a castle built by John White "on a neck of land" leased to him by Sir Ralph Lane, called Randuffren. The exact position of this castle is uncertain; most Ordnance Survey maps since 1859 favour a site close to the present house, though the presence of "Castle Island" at the end of a nearby isthmus may be significant. In 1636 Alexander Baillie of Innishargy, near Kircubbin, received the lands of Ringdufferin on mortgage from the 1st Viscount Clandeboy, becoming absolute owner in 1674. His descendants remained in possession for the next two centuries, during which time Ringdufferin House assumed much of its present form.

The evolution of the property is difficult to plot precisely. The first Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows the plan much as it is today, though without the southeast section. The First Valuation of 1837 records a dwelling — corresponding to the present front section — measuring 61 feet by 20 feet by 18½ feet, with cellars of 61 feet by 20 feet by 6½ feet; an addition (perhaps the northwest section) of 22 feet by 10 feet by 14 feet; and a further addition (the return) of 50 feet by 17½ feet by 23 feet. The valuers noted the front section as relatively new at the time of survey, grading it "A" and suggesting it was perhaps around thirty years old, and described the large return as being of similar age. The northwest section, however, they considered possibly considerably older, perhaps over fifty years old. This evidence supports the view that the front section and the return were constructed together around 1790 to 1800, while the northwest section may represent a survival from an earlier dwelling.

This broadly corresponds with the traditional account that the front portion was added by James Baillie, who resided at Ringdufferin from 1774 to 1810. A particularly plausible prompt for extending the house may have been 1793, the year Baillie married Sophia Loudon and began a family. The 1859 Ordnance Survey map repeats the earlier plan, but by the early 1900s the southeast section had been added, giving the house broadly its present form. The flat-roofed rear section may in part be 20th-century in origin. In 1945 the house was purchased by a Mr Mackie.

Whether any fabric of the original tower house survives within the present building remains uncertain. It has been suggested that the house may have been built around the structure of the earlier tower house, but no obvious physical evidence for this has been identified.

Overall Form and Setting

The house is a large and complex building combining a two-storey front section with a semi-basement, a large three-storey rubble-faced rear return, a northwest wing of possibly earlier origin, a southeast addition probably of the later 19th century, and a flat-roofed rear section of uncertain date. All gabled and hipped roof sections are covered in natural slate. The rainwater goods appear to be entirely cast iron. To the immediate north of the house is a large walled garden. To the east is a substantial collection of outbuildings, including stables, a blacksmith's forge, a piggery, a boathouse, and the ruins of what appears to be a watchtower, probably mainly dating from the later 18th or early 19th centuries and listed separately.

Along the drive to the south of the house stand a pair of octagonal-plan gateposts in sandstone, whose gates appear to have been removed some considerable time ago and which have no surviving walling or fencing on either side. At the entrance to the drive from the Ringdufferin Road are plainer hexagonal gateposts in granite with simple wrought iron gates.

The Front Section

The southwest front section is a two-storey rendered block with a semi-basement, granite quoins, and a hipped roof concealed behind a high parapet. Its southwest façade is symmetrical, and while typically Georgian in character, has a slightly mean appearance, somehow not quite grand enough for a house of this size.

At the centre of the ground floor is the main entrance, set within a semicircular arched recess. The door itself is a panelled and glazed sliding door designed to resemble a conventional hinged door, flanked by three-quarter column jambs with pedestal bases and slightly Adamesque floral motifs to the capitals. The jambs support a lintel frieze decorated with floral motifs and fluting. Above is a large segmental — almost semicircular — fanlight with spider's web-like tracery. A short flight of stone steps leads up to the entrance. To either side of the doorway are two sash windows with Georgian glazing bars (six over six panes) and granite cills. At first-floor level are five much smaller windows, each with three panes over three. The parapet above is topped with small classical figures apparently in lead: a statue of what appears to be a Roman or Greek god at the centre, and a bird at each end.

The northwest façade of the front section has a small first-floor window matching those on the front. At semi-basement level there is a fairly large tripartite sash window with iron bars. The southeast façade has a first-floor window as on the front elevation, but the lower portion is largely obscured by greenery; only the top of a ground-floor window is visible, which appears to have Georgian glazing and may resemble those on the main front, though this cannot be confirmed without access to the interior.

The Northwest Section

Flush with the northwest façade of the front section, and structurally representing a distinct phase of building, is the northwest section: a gabled wing finished in plain render to the northwest and roughcast to the gable. This section is three storeys in height, though whether its lowest level constitutes a semi-basement or a ground floor is unclear without interior inspection. It has two sash windows to each floor. The lowest floor windows have flat arched heads; those to the middle floor are semicircular headed; and the two to the top floor — slightly smaller — have one semicircular head to the left and a flat arch to the right. The northeast-facing gable has two sash windows at the uppermost level, with the lower portion of the gable obscured by greenery. To the southwest gable of this section is a chimney stack that may once have been free-standing but is now built into the façade. To the northwest side of its roof is a tall chimney stack in greyish-blue brick, possibly engineering brick.

The window openings of this section appear to have been considerably altered in more recent times. Despite this, and despite some uncertainty over the measurements recorded by the 19th-century valuers, this section retains a somewhat anomalous character that is consistent with it being a remnant of an older house.

The Southeast Section

Abutting the right-hand side of the front section's southeast façade is a lower, hipped-roof projection forming the southeast section. This is a two-storey structure in plain render, set at a lower level than the front section so that its upper floor is effectively at the ground-floor level of the latter. Its southwest façade is largely obscured by greenery but includes a sash window with a segmental head at ground-floor level and a flat-arched sash window above. The shorter southeast façade has a similar ground-floor window. The northeast façade, which faces into the rear yard, has a glazed and panelled door to the centre-left at ground-floor level and a small double sash window to the centre-right at first-floor level, with a dentilled eaves course below the roofline. To the northeast side of the roof is a tall chimney stack in greyish-blue brick, possibly engineering brick. This section was probably added in the later 19th century, as it does not appear on the 1859 Ordnance Survey map but is present by the early 1900s.

The Rear Section

Projecting from the rear of the front section and sitting to the right of the northeast façade of the southeast section is a two-storey portion with a flat roof and plain render façade. At ground-floor level on its northeast façade, there is a doorway to the far left with glazing and louvred panels that appears no longer to be in use. To the right of this is a sash window with Georgian panes (six over three), then a glazed and panelled door, and then a further matching window at the far right. At first-floor level, to the far left, is a segmental-headed opening now reached from the yard by a relatively modern metal staircase; this was almost certainly originally a doorway and is now fitted with louvred panels to its lower third and more recent multi-pane glazing above. To the right of this are three sash windows with segmental heads and Georgian glazing (six over six panes). This section may in part be of 20th-century origin.

The Return

To the northwest of the rear section, sitting at a right angle to it, is a large three-storey return with a hipped roof, a slight roof overhang, and a façade of random greywacke rubble with rough-faced brick dressings to the openings. Despite its plain rubble appearance suggesting considerable age, the available evidence indicates that it dates from broadly the same period as the front section, around 1790 to 1800. There is no obvious indication in the coursing of the rubble to suggest major alteration or extension.

On the southeast façade of the return, at ground-floor level, is a timber-sheeted doorway to the left, followed by a small window with a fixed-light frame of nine Georgian panes, and then a modern glazed door. To the immediate right of the return at this level is a short single-storey brick-built shed with three stable doors on its southeast façade. Its naturally slated roof appears to be mono-pitched, and on the ridge are two lead figures of cats with their backs arched as though squaring up for a fight — probably intended to deter real cats. This structure appears to have once been used for keeping fowl.

At first-floor level on the southeast façade of the return are three larger, unevenly spaced sash windows with Georgian panes (six over six). Above these, in corresponding positions, are three smaller sash windows (six over three). To the far left of this façade, at an intermediate landing level, is a further sash window matching those on the first floor.

Because of the differing ground levels, the short northeast façade of the return presents as two storeys. At the higher ground-floor level is a large tripartite sash window with Georgian panes — two over two at the sides and six over six at the centre. To the upper floor is a similar but slightly smaller window. The northwest elevation of the return is largely concealed by the abutting northwest section, and the small exposed portion to the left could not be examined due to dense tree and shrub growth. There is a tall chimney stack in greyish-blue brick, possibly engineering brick, to the ridge of the return roof.