A blog of sketches of historic buildings - Marks of Time

September 19th, 2022

19/9/2022

Finnebrogue House near Downpatrick Co Down.

Reputedly the oldest undefended large house in Ireland with internal timbers dating to 1662, though there are musket loops in the projecting side wings to cover the entrance. The building is understated in its architecture, but with some very grand spaces inside. it was restored from near ruin to a high standard by the present owner from 2011 and sits in well kept parkland with an axial view to the estate church spire from the front door. An elegant well restored country house in beautiful surroundings.

quintin castle

28/2/2022

Quintin Caste is located near the southern tip or the Ards peninsula in Co.Down. It faces onto Qunitin Bay and across the Irish Sea. Its appearance today dates from 1855 when the existing medieval tower house was significantly remodelled and extended in a dramatic fashion. This included the raising in height of the central tower, the addition of drawing and dining rooms and the rebuilding of the courtyard walls gates and towers. The original tower house was built by John de Courcy in the Twelfth century soon after the Anglo Norman invasion. This was renovated and a large house added in the early Seventeenth century. By the time of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs in the 1830's the building was roofless and dilapidated. Until recently the building was a private home. Proposals to convert it into a hotel were refused planning permission by the local council in April 2021

sketrick Castle

21/2/2022

Sketrick Castle, Co Down, based upon a photograph taken before most of the structure collapsed in 1896. Some sources say that this was in a storm while others state that ‘the south-western angle fell with a great crash one calm spring day, shaking the castle and raising a tall column of white dust’. The tower is reported in an account of a 1470 battle but some have suggested that due to its size the current structure is from the 16th century. The structure guards the approach to Sketrick island on Strangford Lough and is now a Monument in State Care.

Kilclief Castle.

26/1/2022

Kilclief Castle is thought to have been built between 1413 and 1441. Though a common date for tower houses across Ireland, it is the earliest surviving tower house in County Down. It is understood to have been built for John Sely, bishop of Down, who lost his title in 1442 because he was living openly with a married woman (Lettice Thomas).
The tower is very strategically located guarding the entrance to Strangford Lough and faces south east above the shore line observing all who attempt to enter its waters. It is rectangular on plan with two projecting square fortifications to the front. These rise to stepped Irish battlements at roof level and are joined by an arch at the top floor.
It all makes for a dramatic and picturesque monument, now in State Care, which is enhanced by a brightly painted vernacular farmhouse to one side. It is a great place to visit.

January 17th, 2022

17/1/2022

Located in County Down near the south east end of the Ards Peninsula, Kirkistown Castle is described in most sources as having been built by Roland Savage in 1622. It is a three story tower house, with attic, set within a partly surviving bawn wall. It was significantly enhanced in the nineteenth century by the embellishment of its battlements and provision of a decorative entrance. Occupied until the beginning of the twentieth century, it is now a Monument in State Care.
This image is based upon a late nineteenth century photograph, before renovations were carried out to the bawn wall. These removed the buttresses and raised the wall to its original height but, perhaps, lost something of the romance of the place in the process.

January 07th, 2021

7/1/2021

The three churches at Loughinisland near Downpatrick. Located on a former island they date from the 13th to the17th centuries. Earliest reference to a church here 1302-1306. North church built 15th century and smallest and latest to the south is dated 1636. The MacCartans are associated with the site.

February 26th, 2018

26/2/2018

Slight detour. This is Hanna’s Close in Co Down- between the Mournes and the sea. www.mournecountrycottages.com
Stayed here over the weekend. Great place full of atmosphere and with a warm welcome. The place is a ‘clachan’ of traditional rural buildings where farmers traditionally cultivated infields and outfields around the settlement. similar settlements would once have been common in the Limavady area but most were lost in the reorgainisation of estates carried out by landlords in the mid nineteenth century. In a few areas such as Drumrickland, Gortnaghy and Coolemonagh this older pattern appears to have been fossilsed by the change to enclosed fields Elsewhere such as at Greysteel and Clagan a single farm now occupies what appears to be such an aragement on the 1830 map.

141 marks of time.

3/6/2015

Further up the road to Belfast. This view from the city centre over the roofs of surviving historic works sheds gives a strong impression of the industrial character of Queen’s Island, location of the Harland and Wolff Shipyard and its cranes, iconic of the yard and of the city- Sampson (1969) and Goliath (1974).

140 marks of time.

2/6/2015

Inch Abby near Downpatrick is the remains of a Cistercian Abbey built by the Normans in the 1180’s. It follows their standard plan of an aisled church with trancepts. It is now a very atmospheric place located by a quiet inlet from the Irish Sea.

139. marks of time.

1/6/2015

Nearby is the village of Strangford. It also has a small tower house. This is thought to have been rebuilt in the late Sixteenth Century. Inside it has three timber floors and no stone vault which is unusual for a tower house.