PAROCHIAL HOUSE, 22 CASTLE ST., KILLOUGH, Downpatrick, CO.DOWN

The Former Parochial House, Killough

This is an elegant late 18th-century house, built around 1790 and possibly designed by Charles Lilly, an architect, builder and carpenter from Dublin who was particularly active in County Down around 1789–90. Lilly's other works during this period included the restoration of Down Cathedral and numerous designs for Wills Hill, the 1st Marquis of Downshire. The house is prominently situated on the east side of Castle Street in the centre of Killough village, within a conservation area, and contributes considerably to the quality of the village streetscape.

Origins and Historical Context

The house was built for the Lascelles family, who had come to the area from Yorkshire in the early 18th century and became wealthy and influential locally. Around 1721–22, the family was granted a tenement of land in Killough by Judge Michael Ward of Castle Ward. Their status was elevated further when Francis Lascelles married Frances Feattus, daughter of the town's wealthiest inhabitant. Appointed Resident Agent and General Manager of Killough by Judge Ward, Francis oversaw the development of the village as a principal port to the Bangor estate, including the construction of the harbour and salt-works. By the time of Francis's death in 1743, Killough had become one of the busiest ports in Ulster, mainly serving other ports along the Irish coastline.

The Townland Valuations of around 1836 record the house as occupied by an Arthur Atkinson, with a rateable value of £16 — the highest in the town of Killough. During Griffith's Valuation of around 1862 this rose to £31, remaining unchanged until the First General Revaluations of around 1930–35. In 1876 a Charles Kelly took over as occupier; in 1883 he was replaced by the Reverend Jeffery Brennan, and from that point the house was in continuous use as a parochial house until recent decades.

Architectural Overview

The building is a four-bay, two-storey-over-basement house with a symmetrical composition reflecting a mid-Georgian concern for harmony and balance. The rectangular main block is flanked by lower, monopitched wings, which are in turn abutted by twin projecting single-storey porches at either end. The north wing is further extended to the east by a service wing running perpendicular to the main house. The assured formality of the design — with its carefully balanced proportions and twin entrances — points to an experienced architectural hand.

The principal elevation faces west. Walling is ruled-and-lined render with a slightly projecting contrasting plinth and a projecting masonry platband between the floors; the principal elevation is painted. The platband extends across the flanking wings, whose eaves are each finished with a plain raking band returning to the main block, corresponding to a half-pediment, each containing a roundel window. The roof is natural slate with pitched construction to the main block and service wing; the flanking wings are monopitched, and the service wing extension is double-pitched. There are rendered chimneystacks to the gable ends of the main block and service wing. Original ogee-profile cast-iron gutters and downpipes are retained; a uPVC soil vent pipe is located to the rear.

Windows are generally 6/6 timber sliding sashes. First-floor and outer ground-floor windows are set in plain square-headed reveals with recessed aprons. The central three windows at ground-floor level are set in round-headed recesses. Painted masonry cills appear throughout. The first floor is three windows wide; the ground floor is five windows wide in total, comprising three windows to the main block — the central one of which is false, a deliberate device to maintain the symmetry of the facade regardless of the internal arrangement — and a single window to each flanking wing.

The Twin Porches

The twin porches are both of significant architectural and social interest. The north porch projects into the street line and serves as the principal entrance. It has a shallow rebated segmental opening with impost mouldings, containing an original timber door with a beaded muntin, eight fielded panels, and original cast-iron door furniture. It is framed by a pair of Ionic half-pilasters with acanthus motif to the capitals, beneath a moulded lintel architrave with a plain fanlight over. The sandstone threshold is accessed by a wide granite platform with twin cast-iron bootscrapers, reached by two granite steps, and enclosed to either side by rendered brick dwarf walls with granite coping, terminated by a pair of octagonal granite piers.

The south porch is identical in design, though it retains a pair of urns at roof level. Its door is a 20th-century timber replacement. The south porch is no longer internally linked to the main house, as it now serves the adjoining parish hall built sometime after 1920. It is thought the south porch originally functioned as a secondary entrance for the housekeeper or servants, and likely connected the secondary stair, kitchen, and servants' quarters with the dining room and bedrooms.

The twin-entrance arrangement reflects the 18th-century concern for the separation of gentry and servants within the household — of considerable socio-historic interest in terms of how such houses functioned.

Servants' Tunnel

An underground tunnel, thought to have been added after the original construction of the house, runs beneath the rear terrace. It is a particularly interesting survival, originally allowing servants to pass unseen from the street to the kitchen, though it is now blocked at one end. While its precise connections remain unclear due to successive alterations, it is likely that it linked the secondary south porch and stair with the kitchen, servants' quarters, dining room and bedrooms.

Secondary Elevations and Outbuildings

The north gable is abutted by the monopitched flanking wing and service wing extension; the exposed section is blank. Windows on this side are uPVC casements throughout, including mid-20th-century picture windows to the east end of the service wing. A segmental opening at the right side leads to a former basement kitchen, now accessed by concrete steps with timber sheeted doors. At the extreme right end is a single-storey former meat store abutting the rear wall of the porch. The east end of the service wing is abutted by a single-storey lean-to rubblestone extension with a single uPVC window with brick dressings. The south elevation of the service wing is blank.

The rear (east) elevation has four equally-spaced openings to each floor of the main block; those at ground-floor level are timber French windows with plain transom lights over. To the left, the lean-to flanking wing has a plain timber fire door and a small fixed four-light window at high level; it is centrally abutted by the garden boundary wall. The south gable is abutted by the lean-to south flanking wing, which is itself fully abutted by the adjoining parish hall; the exposed gable is blank.

Alterations

Historic Ordnance Survey map evidence shows that the footprint of the main house has remained largely unchanged since at least the 1830s, with the exception of some minor alterations to the north-west outbuildings and the removal of a small southern rear return in the early 20th century. Site evidence suggests the present rear return was replaced or raised in height at some point in the early 20th century; the retention of a monopitched rubblestone section at the north-eastern end indicates this range was originally single-storey and formed part of the outbuilding complex.

Setting and Outbuildings

The house is street-fronted in the centre of Killough village, with mature trees lining the pavement directly in front. The composition is extended northward along the street by a range of lofted outbuildings forming one side of a parallel outbuilding complex, and to the south by an early 20th-century parish hall. The street frontages of both the outbuildings and the hall have been rendered and painted to match the main house.

The outbuildings are a mix of random rubble stone and brick, with vestigial limewash. The western outbuilding has a pitched slate roof with angled ridge tiles; its street elevation has a central square-headed coach door with modern replacement timber sheeted doors, a six-light fixed window to the left, and a boarded window to the right. The yard elevation has two timber sheeted coach doors at ground-floor level, the central one with a large semicircular brick relieving arch over; to the right is a round-headed opening with a rudimentary spoked fanlight. The loft has two timber sheeted loading doors. The east range has a monopitched roof with terracotta ridge tiles, three door openings including a segmental-headed opening, two doors, and a four-light window with crown glass; all have timber sheeted doors. The east garden-facing wall is blank except for a timber ledged door between the yard and the garden, covered by an extension of the monopitched roof. The yard surface is generally tiled, with an area of original cobbles to the north end.

To the rear is a large enclosed garden. The boundary wall to the north and east is rubble stone; that to the south is rendered over brick and contains a timber door leading to the "Priest's Field" — an L-shaped plot to the rear bounding the shoreline to the east.