Tuesday 28 April 2020

Killynether House: II

I have written an article before about Killynether House, near Scrabo Monument and Newtownards, County Down.

Killynether Wood is directly below Scrabo golf course.

In previous articles I speculated as to the original owner of the House; and my belief, at the time, was that the property belonged to the Londonderry Estate.

I believe I have found confirmation of this: a piece about Killynether in a publication called the Irish Builder, dated the 18th August, 1876.

Henry Chappell of Newtownards was responsible for extensive alterations and additions made in 1875-76 at Killynether House for the 5th Marquess of Londonderry, who declared himself absolutely satisfied with the result, which was alleged to be "elegant and commodious".

This opinion is a matter of debate, since Killynether House combined haphazard Gothic and Tudor elements and had minarets on its many slender turrets; though the House would certainly have been commodious.


The basement contained a kitchen, scullery, pantries, servants' hall and bedrooms, cellars and even a lift. On the ground floor, the drawing-room, dining-room, library, agent's room, two sitting-rooms, housekeeper's room, butler's pantry, store-room, cleaning-room, men-servants' room and a water-closet were all situated.

The first floor had nine bedrooms, all with dressing-rooms, a bathroom, linen-closet and more lavatories. The water supply came from a well, sunk in trap-rock half a mile away; and it was conveyed in pipes to a cistern cut in a hill-side at a level to ensure pressure.

The interior plumbing was termed "very complete and comprising all the most recent suggestions and practical improvements in sanitary science".

Killynether House was demolished in 1966.

First published in November, 2009.

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Hi there. I recently passed Killynether house and noticed a substantial country house, was this built as a replacement, I noticed it from the comber carriage way,