Ranfurly House, 2 Mary St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

Ranfurly House is a residence on Mary Street in Rostrevor, County Down, built in the 1830s. It is listed Grade B and includes the walling, treillage and balcony within its listing extent.

Historical context and construction

A building of slightly larger plan than the present structure is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834. The October 1835 valuation records this as a 'new' house measuring 44 feet by 39 by 22, with an 8½-foot-high basement storey (four-fifths used as dwelling, one-fifth as stores). Two return sections measuring 27 by 7½ by 7½ and 50 by 18 by 16 are also documented, along with offices to the west of 18 by 13 by 6 and 41 by 11 by 6, and to the rear a large garden and pleasure ground with a large hot house. The two return sections appear to have been demolished before 1838–39, as they are not shown on the amended valuation town plan of that period.

The property was initially the residence of Lady Mary Hewitt (nee Acheson), wife of James Hewitt (1811–87, who became 4th Viscount Lifford from 1855). They married shortly before the 1835 valuation, suggesting the house may have been built as their residence just prior to their wedding. James's grandfather, the Right Honourable James Hewitt (1750–1831), 3rd Viscount Lifford, had been Dean of Down and was recorded as residing at Arno's Vale near Rostrevor in 1819, establishing the family's connection with the village.

A December 1969 survey report suggested the design may have been the work of William Vitruvius Morrison, who worked in the Rostrevor area in the mid-to-late 1820s on the Ross Monument (completed 1826) and Carpenham House (1826–27). The building's Gothic details show affinities with his other designs, though no documentary evidence has been found to confirm his involvement. The property is mentioned among Rostrevor's 'several good houses' in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836.

Occupancy and alterations

By 1837, Thomas Knox, 1st Earl of Ranfurly (1754–1840), had taken residence and named it 'Ranfurly Villa'. A late 1842 advertisement for a house in Rostrevor, partially furnished and containing parlour and drawing room, five bedrooms and good servants' parts for £50 per year, appears to refer to this property. By at least 1851 it was owned by Mrs. Louisa Anna Pollard (nee Pakenham). The 1861 valuation describes the house as having 'very superior style and finish' with 'good basement and beautiful grounds'. A conservatory measuring 16 yards by 16 yards with one storey, along with an outbuilding to the west measuring 16 by 6 by 2, are recorded at this date.

The house was let to various tenants during the 1870s, including Captain J.H. Thompson (1871), Isabella C. Blakeley (1872) and Abraham Wilson (1876). In 1877, Francis Charles Needham, Viscount Newry (who became 3rd Earl of Kilmorey from 1880), acquired the property to facilitate construction of the Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Tramway. The subsequent construction of the tramline (now Shore Road) to the west of the house resulted in loss of the outbuildings on that side and part of the garden. The house was thereafter leased to Hill Charles Moore, passing to Edith Moore in 1883. After Viscount Kilmorey sold the tramway in 1884, the lease was acquired by John Quin Henry by at least 1892, who sublet it to Margaret Barbara Orme.

The 1901 census records Mrs. Orme, a 60-year-old widow, occupying the house with a single domestic servant. The building was classified as '1st class' with 14 rooms in use. In 1911 it was let to Miss Alice Sarah Hall as 'this desirable residence…which has every accommodation for a gentleman's family'. The property was recorded as vacant in 1939 and appears to have remained so until Colonel Whyte leased it in 1948, with Dorothy Whyte listed as tenant from 1950 to 1956. In the early 1960s the building was subdivided into three flats, a configuration that remained in place as of 1972. The property appears to have been vacant since at least 2009.

Setting and street context

Mary Street, which runs along the Warrenpoint Road on the western side of Rostrevor, formed the western end of the village's main northeast-southwest axis by the late 1760s. It follows the original route between Kilkeel and Newry. A large house is shown in this general vicinity on James Kennedy's map of 1755, possibly relating to an older mansion known as 'Old Hall' (now HB16.06.055A). The southeastern corner of Mary Street is shown developed on a 1767 estate map. Buildings appear at the junction with present Green Park Road and scattered structures along the southern side of the street on James Williamson's map of 1810 and the Ordnance Survey map of 1834. Development remained limited until the 1960s when housing schemes expanded to the north and south.

In 1877, Shore Road was cut to the south of Mary Street to carry the Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Tramway, a horse-drawn service of approximately three miles running from Warrenpoint railway station to Rostrevor Quay. The service operated from July 1877 until January 1915, when falling revenue and storm damage led to its closure.