Survey Data
Reg No
15403515
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
Stables
In Use As
Outbuilding
Date
1850 - 1870
Coordinates
209581, 233834
Date Recorded
28/08/2006
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Complex of single and (mainly) two-storey outbuildings/stables to the rear of Ballynahown Court (15403514), mainly built c.1860. Hipped natural slate roofs with rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Constructed with coursed squared rubble limestone with brick dressings to the openings and with dressed limestone quoins to a number the corners of a number of the ranges/buildings. Square-headed window openings having cut stone sills and mainly timber sliding sash windows. Timber louvred vents to the first floor openings on a number of ranges. Square-headed doorways with brick dressings and mainly timber sheeted doors. Square-headed loading bays with timber sheeted doors to a number of first floor bays. Segmental-headed carriage arches with brick voussoirs. Walled garden on rectilinear plan to the south having brick-lined internal walls. Main entrance to the east through an integral segmental-headed carriage arch having dressed limestone voussoirs and with a stepped parapet over surmounted by a carved boar’s head pierced by an arrow. Complex located to the south and south west of Ballynahown Court (15403514) and to the northwest of Ballynahown village.
Appraisal
A substantial and attractive collection of outbuildings, stables, ancillary structures and a walled garden associated with Ballynahown Court (15403514), which retain their early form, character and a great deal of their early fabric. These buildings/features are well-built and have a vaguely vernacular character on account of the use of robust local limestone rubble in their construction, which contrasts attractively with the rigid classical form of the main house to the north. The yellow brick dressings to the openings create an interesting textural appearance against the gray colour of the rubble limestone walling. Interestingly, this is almost the mirror image of the construction of the main house, which is built of brick with gray ashlar limestone detailing to the openings. The majority of these buildings/structures appear to date to the mid nineteenth-century and they were probably constructed around the same time the single-storey wing was added to the main house and the new entrance gate (15403506) and the gate lodge (15403505) were constructed to the east, possibly by John Ennis, the owner c.1860. The main entrance gates to the farmyard are a noteworthy feature of some artistic merit, particularly the finely carved boar’s head motif, which may be from a family coat of arms. These outbuildings may contain the fabric of an earlier castle (WM035-010---) associated with the Malone Family, which stood somewhere close to this site but is no longer extant. This substantial complex of outbuildings, stables, walled garden and ancillary represent an interesting reminder of the complex resources required to maintain a large country estate in Ireland during the nineteenth century and they continue to contribute positively to the group and settings values of Ballynahown Court (15403514).