The Portaferry Hotel

THE PORTAFERRY HOTEL is a substantial, long, relatively plain, two-storey block located at the corner of the Strand and Castle Street in Portaferry, County Down.

The Ards Peninsula and Strangford Lough are amongst the most picturesque parts of Northern Ireland.

This building, amalgamated and much altered, formerly comprised separate properties, one of which is probably pre-1834.

A large section to the south-east was the site of two smaller houses, which were demolished in 1991 when the hotel was extended.

To the rear there are large modern extensions.

The facade is rendered and painted.

The roof of the main section is mainly gabled, though is hipped on the corner.

The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates, with three plain, rendered chimney stacks to the southern elevation, with matching pots.

A Small cast-iron skylight is in the middle of the roof to the south elevation.

Two Buildings seen to the left now form the Hotel

This building was built in stages and represents the amalgamation of a number of properties and the demolition of others.

Eventually the remainder of the property on the south, or strand side incorporated the site now covered by the present hotel as well as land and buildings to the rear.

During the early 19th century, however, the lease was sub-divided, with the buildings to the rear becoming Maxwell's Distillery (later a corn mill and by 1860s, falling into dereliction) and a tan yard, run by William Warnock.

The rest of the section to the corner formed one large property, with a separate house next to it further along The Strand.

In 1835, the larger property to the corner was in the possession of Hugh Boden and included a two-storey dwelling house with extensive single storey outbuildings.

The dwelling further along The Strand (also two-storey) was the home of Eliza Lyttle.

In 1860, Edward Bryce had obtained a lease of the large corner property, as well as the house beyond; and for most of the next two decades ran a spirit grocer's on the corner, whilst sub-letting the two houses beyond.

In 1880, Mr Bryce sold the lease to Henry McGrath, an auctioneer and leading figure in Portaferry's social, cultural and political life.

The property remained in the McGrath family until 1933, when the lease was bought by William Lyons, who sold it three years later to a local businessman, William McMullan.

With many other business interests already, McMullan sub-let the spirit grocer's to a Mrs Corbett and her daughter, Miss Thompson, who decided to open a hotel on the site.

Thus, during the late 1930s, the spirit grocer's and the buildings to Castle Street were converted and a door opened from the hotel to the house on The Strand (likely Hugh Boden's residence in 1835).

In 1947, the lease was acquired by a Mrs Wolson, who had been in the hospitality trade for some time, and who extended the business, taking in the whole of the former house.

When Mrs Wolson retired she sold the hotel to Brian Waddell of Waddell Media in Holywood.

He was in partnership with a boat builder from Bangor by the name of Palmer.

They sold to John Herlihy, former manager of the ill-fated Russell Court Hotel on the Lisburn Road, Belfast, who improved and extended the Portaferry Hotel to the greatest degree.

Adjoining houses, numbers eight and nine, were acquired and demolished, and the hotel was extended on to this site, extensively renovating the entire building in the process.

Mr Herlihy was in the right place at the right time, as the Northern Ireland Office used the premises extensively.

When John Herlihy retired in 2005, he sold the hotel to a hospitality group who also owned the Hillside Bar in Hillsborough.

Their intention was to turn the Portaferry Hotel into apartments, but were prevented when they went bankrupt in the recession of 2008.

Bill Wolsey, OBE, bought out the group's assets from the Ulster Bank, and owner-managed it for several years before leasing it to an American couple.

After a year, they experienced financial difficulties and disappeared - probably to the United States.

Bill Wolsey's Beannchor Group then leased it out (2016) to the Arthurs family - local butchers and businessmen.

Since then the hotel has thrived under local ownership.

I am particularly grateful to Richard Graham, a former manager at the hotel, for additional information.

First published in June, 2014.

Ballygally Castle

JAMES SHAW established himself in the early 1600s at Greenock, Renfrewshire.

In 1605, his son,

JOHN or JAMES SHAW, and Patrick Montgomery, were appointed attorneys to act on behalf of Hugh Montgomery, in the division of Con O’Neill’s estate.

This John or James is described in The Montgomery Manuscripts as one of Hugh Montgomery’s ‘prime friends’.

In 1606, one of the first members of the family to accompany Sir Hugh Montgomery to Ulster was his wife’s uncle,

PATRICK SHAW, who later became laird of Kelsoland (Greenock).

The Montgomerys and Shaws were closely related through marriage: Sir Hugh married James Shaw’s eldest daughter Elizabeth.

Sir Hugh’s sister, Jean, married Patrick Shaw (second son of John Shaw, of Greenock).

As the Scots settlement in east Ulster expanded, some of the original Montgomery tenants moved to County Antrim.

James Shaw (possibly the John Shaw mentioned above) and his wife, Isabella Brisbane, moved to Ballygally, near Larne, County Antrim.

After Shaw came to Ballygally in 1613, he came into possession of a sub-grant of land, at the low rent of 24 pounds per annum, from the Earl of Antrim.

It was on this land that Ballygally Castle was built, in 1625.

In 1657, the Shaws acquired the Brisbane Estate (James Shaw, son of James Shaw of Ballygally, married his cousin, Elizabeth Brisbane).

BALLYGALLY CASTLE, near Larne, County Antrim, is a four-storey, rectangular tower in Scottish style with a steeply-pitched roof.

There are cone-topped corner bartizans and gable lucernes.

The walls are of a rough-cast render, though some stonework is exposed.

Over the main entrance door, leading to the tower, is a carved stone tablet bearing the date 1625, and the legend God's Providence Is My Inheritance.

It is likely that the original tower-house was more extensive than the current remains of the ancient Castle indicate.

It served as a place of refuge for protestants during the civil wars.

During the rebellion of 1641 the Irish garrison, stationed at Glenarm, tried, on many occasions, to take the castle, though they never succeeded in gaining entry.

Ballygally passed through many troubles and was used again as a fortress in the 18th Century.

Towards the mid-18th Century, considerable additions were made to the castle.

Henry Shaw married a Miss Hamilton, accompanied by her two sisters, all of whom resided at the castle.

In 1799, William Shaw, the last member of the family to live at the castle, succeeded to the estate.

In the early 1800s, the Shaws lost their lands and wealth, and the estate was sold to the Agnews for £15,400.

Anna Shaw, of Ballygally, was married to Patrick Agnew, who died in 1667

At one time it was known as Shaw's Castle.

The castle, for some years, served as a coastguard station; then became the residence of the Rev Classon Porter and his family, who lived there for many years.

It was subsequently acquired by the Moore family who, in turn, sold Ballygally to Mr Cyril Lord in the early 1950s.

Mr Lord refurbished it as a hotel.

The hotelier Sir William Hastings, CBE, purchased Ballygally Castle Hotel from Mr Lord in 1966 for £40,000.

*****

WHEN BALLYGALLY CASTLE was built, it was known that Ulster was unsettled, so the castle was designed as a place of defence as well as one of residence.

This is a 17th century plantation castle, largely unchanged and intact, apart from sash windows.

It was originally constructed mostly local stone, in the style of a French chateau, with high walls, a steep roof, dormer windows and corner turrets.

The walls were about five feet thick, with loopholes for musketry.

The stairs were built of stone, and spiral in construction.

Through the outer hall ran an open stream of water for the use of the inhabitants, in case of siege; and above the dormer windows were carvings, still traceable today.

Outside were originally two courtyards, one surrounded by high walls; the other inside the higher walls.

The inner courtyard was marked by two stone pillar mounted with round stone balls.

Inside the courtyard were stables, coach houses, byres, sheep pens, a brew-house and dovecot.

Outside the courtyard there was a wash-house and a scutching-mill and, in the little glen on the other side of the river, was a corn mill.

Today, Ballygally Castle is much enlarged and modernised with 54 en suite bedrooms.

Nevertheless, the old castle has been preserved and retains many of its original features, including several turreted bedrooms.

First published in October, 2012.

Great Northern Hotel, Rostrevor

Carlingford Lough lies between the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland, and the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Republic of Ireland.

The famed Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray wrote that

"Were such a bay lying upon English shores, it would be a world's wonder; or if on either the Mediterranean or the Baltic, English travellers would flock to it."

Rostrevor, County Down, a small sea-port, and a most beautiful seaside resort, stands at the south base of the Mourne Mountains, on the north shore of the upper part of Carlingford Lough, and on the road from Newry to Kilkeel.

The village is delightfully situated on a gentle acclivity, which rises from a little cove of Carlingford Lough, and commands thrilling views of the woods, mountains and waters of the Lough's basin.

Rostrevor is doubtless one of the most beautiful and picturesque places in Northern Ireland.

The village - or rather in the first instance, the castle - is said to have acquired its name in honour of the marriage of the heiress of Sir Marmaduke Whitechurch to Marcus, 1st Viscount Dungannon, the lady's own name being Rose, and her husband's family name being Trevor; and the castle was, at one time, the seat of the Viscounts Dungannon.

The land was acquired from the Magenises of Iveagh by the Trevors in the early 17th century and was sold to Robert Ross ca 1690.

In the 19th century, Rostrevor became a popular seaside resort.

Messrs Norton & Shaw, who operated a horse-and-carriage transport business from the nearby rail-head at Warrenpoint, commissioned a Newry architect, William James Watson, to design a new hotel on the site formerly occupied by the Old Quay Hotel.

The style was to be 'Domestic Gothic', with a 150 foot frontage to Carlingford Lough.

The centre block was to be one storey higher than the wings.

The foundation stone of the new hotel was laid on the 3rd April, 1875, and the building was completed by Alexander Wheelan of Newry almost exactly one year later, in April, 1876.

Skating Rink Entrance

It opened to the public three months later.

Originally named The Mourne Hotel, it was acquired and re-named by the Great Northern Railway Company.

The Warrenpoint & Rostrevor Tramway company operated a three-foot gauge horsedrawn tramway service between Warrenpoint and Rostrevor from 1877-1915.

There was also a skating-rink attached to the hotel which had been built by the 3rd Earl of Kilmorey.

The rink had a capacity of 2,000.

Skating Rink

During Christmas, 1903, a catastrophic fire broke out at the rink and the adjoining public bar, causing both buildings to be burned down.

Richard Graham informs me about the hotel's more recent history as a UTA (Ulster Transport Authority) hotel in the 50s and 60s:-

"The Great Northern, along with several other former railway hotels (mostly Victorian), such as the Slieve Donard (Newcastle); the Northern Counties (Portrush); the Laharna (Larne); the City Hotel (Londonderry) and the Midland in Belfast were grouped under the new management of the UTA when the original railway companies ceased to exist."

"Although successful commercially (the hotels catered for the tourist market as it was then) UTA had no vested interest in running hotels and put little investment into modernising them for a more demanding market."

"Eventually all the above named six hotels were sold to the Hastings Hotel Group in 1971 for the total price of £440,000 (equivalent to £6.3 million in 2019)!" 

"Billy Hastings was the only bidder with the nerve and ability to raise the cash in what was now one of the most troubled areas in Western Europe." 

"The City Hotel in Derry was the first to be destroyed in 1971, followed by what had now been renamed by Hastings as the Rostrevor Hotel in 1978."

"Hastings had no interest in rebuilding the fire bombed hotels, but held onto the Slieve Donard in Newcastle, even though it threatened to pull the whole group down in the mid 70s when the troubles were at their height." 

"Hastings later sold off the Northern Counties in Portrush (to the Fawcett family) and the Laharna in Larne between 1975 and 1980, ending the historic connection between the Great Northern and the other famous properties that had their origins with the railway expansion of Ireland in the 1880s onward." 

Here is the ignominious end to a once great railway hotel.

(Image: Richard Graham)

The hotel was firebombed and destroyed during the Northern Ireland troubles in 1978.

First published in July, 2016.

Strand Hotel: Reminiscences

Strand Hotel, Portstewart: prospect from the golf links

A FRIEND OF THIS BLOG HAS KINDLY SENT FOND MEMORIES OF TIMES SPENT AT THE STRAND HOTEL, PORTSTEWART, AND THE NORTHERN COUNTIES HOTEL, PORTRUSH

I HAVE great memories of going to The Strand in the late 1970s/early 80s, when it was our regular haunt of a Saturday night.

Of course that was the heyday of disco, and there were no fewer than three separate dance floors - the most popular was the Cellar, which was accessed by an always-packed-with-people narrow staircase (not so much H&S or fire regulations in those days I suppose).

Then there was the upstairs disco frequented mostly by the young farmers, and another, more upmarket area at the other side of the hotel which seemed to us to be for a much older crowd ("older" to us then being people in their 30s).

Admission was £2, with a letter stamped on the back of the hand which was then widely copied using felt tip pens or eyeliner (and that wasn't just the girls - this was also the age of the New Romantics, don't forget).

As well as the discos they would have live music, and anyone who socialised on the North Coast in those days will have danced to Cuddles, or Plug Torrens and Dominic, legends in their own lifetimes.

Of course there were other great venues, not least Kelly's nightclub in Portrush and Spuds for live music in Portstewart, but The Strand will always hold a particular place in the affections of many, remembering that all this was happening at the height of "the Troubles", when any sort of apparent normality was welcome.

Not a comment on architecture or historical family lineages this time I'm afraid, Tim, just a fond memory of part of our more recent social history!

*****

I THINK it must have been 1989 or 1990 when it closed.

It was subsequently demolished for re-development, but the site then lay half-finished for years, until the local Council put a complete or demolish order on it in 2013.

Northern Counties Hotel, Portrush (Welch Collection/NMNI)

Another little nugget relating to the Strand's history - Jack Fawcett, who bought the hotel in partnership in 1963, also owned the old Northern Counties Hotel in Portrush.

It had started out life as The Antrim Arms, and when the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway purchased a share in it in the 1880s it was renamed.

The newly-named hotel was improved by John Lanyon in the late 1800s and by Berkeley Deane Wise in the early 1900s (Wise was chief architect to the railway company and his designs included the red brick and mock Tudor-style railway stations we see in Northern Ireland, the Portrush railway station being a fine example).

Those of us of a certain vintage will recall the big revolving entrance door of the Counties and the timber-panelled sitting room, where the two enormous resident Irish wolfhounds were usually to be found sprawled asleep and snoring in front of a roaring fire.

On warmer days they would invariably be found lying at the revolving door so that guests had to clamber over them on their way in or out.

The dogs were big genial creatures, and didn't seem at all put out by people interrupting their snoozing.

Both The Strand and the Northern Counties were the venues for many years for weddings, dinners and dances.

The Counties had an ornate grand ballroom on the first floor, where I recall taking dance classes (I can still produce a fair quickstep when the occasion demands, though unfortunately it is rather creakier these days) and a heated pool (up on the second floor I think?) where I learned to swim.

Sadly the old hotel was destroyed by fire in 1990.

The modern hotel now standing on the site makes a pleasant place for coffee.

Belfast's Cathedral Quarter

This morning I motored to what is now known as The Cathedral Quarter, Belfast.

I parked at Donegall Street and walked the short distance to Academy Street, which is dominated at one side by Belfast Cathedral.

In fact, the Cathedral is enclosed by Donegall Street, Academy Street, Exchange Street West, and Talbot Street.

Exchange Street West

I turned right at Exchange Street West, where the recent development, Saint Anne's Square, is directly opposite the east end of the Cathedral.

Standing in Saint Anne's plaza, there is a good prospect of the Cathedral's east end and pinnacle.

There was a proposal to build a lady chapel, 76 feet in length and 30 feet wide, holding a congregation of about 200 people, at the Cathedral's eastern extremity, though this plan was never realised, presumably due to financial constraints.

Hill Street ends at the junction of Exchange Street West and Talbot Street.

Gordon Street begins at 43 Hill Street

This is one of Belfast's most atmospheric and distinctive streets. It used to be known as Pott-house Lane.

The beginning of Hill Street

Hill Street leads from Waring Street to Talbot Street, with Gordon Street, Commercial Court and Exchange Place off it.

Commercial Court, from 31 Donegall Street to Hill Street

Commercial Court is celebrated, of course, for the Duke of York bar and the relatively new Hadskis restaurant, which is related to the opulent James Street South restaurant in Belfast.

Exchange Place, from 25a Donegall Street to Hill Street

Whereas Exchange Place is more of a narrow entry which leads from Donegall Street to Hill Street.

The Duke of York has a back entrance or exit at Exchange Place.

Whereas Hill Street and its entries used to thrive with commercial warehouses and premises, today they flourish with marvellous theme restaurants and bars.

There are several hotels in the Cathedral Quarter, including the august and luxurious Merchant Hotel; the Premier Inn; and the Ramada Encore.

Bert's Bar

I spent a most enjoyable afternoon on Saturday at Bert's, the atmospheric and opulent art deco bar-restaurant of the Merchant Hotel, Belfast.

Bert's Bar is entered from the new section of the hotel at High Street, directly opposite St George's Church.

When I arrived I walked up to the bar counter and ordered a Tanqueray and tonic. I have to say they know how to serve their drinks here: The portions of ice and lemon or lime slices are impeccable.

I spotted the bar-man wearing metal elasticated arm-bands, of the type I inherited from my father. I wear them all the time.

I like Bert's. Indeed I like the grand Merchant.

I had time for another restorative before my friends arrived, when we all found a banquette at the window.

The menus arrived. We decided to have the set menu, which comprised a tempting selection of dishes.

I had the Waldorf salad, sea-bass and creme brulee; Amanda (Duchess of Calhame), the soup, beef bourguignon and sorbet; and I've forgotten what Chris had. Ha!

My Waldorf salad was good. The portion was fine for me, with the apple sculpted into little balls; plenty of walnuts, and a fine dressing.

The sea-bass was seated on top of basil mash, a remarkable green colour. It was quite delicious. I simply could not find any faults at all. Tip-top.

The Duchess's soup looked home-made, thick and nourishing. Her Grace's (!) beef bourguignon also looked irresistible, to such an extent that she passed me the remains of her unfinished helping, the soup course having satisfied her greatly.

I ate some of the beef and mash, the venerable nose-bag in overdrive by that stage.

Never let it be said that Timothy Belmont fails as a hearty enough trencherman in the race to the food-trough.

Puddings were, I must say, the calibre of the previous courses.

We had a bottle of white New Zealand wine with the meal.

We eventually took our leave and ambled over to a diminutive establishment in Skipper Street called The Spaniard.

It was quite crowded, and we made our way to the rear of the bar, where we chatted with a couple of "newly-weds". I drank Hendrick's and tonic, with a great chunk of cucumber; the Duchess had a cocktail; and Chris, Jack Daniel's and Coke; three drinks which set me back £20, including a tip.

We had another round prior to hailing a cab at Waring Street, which conveyed us to Madison's Hotel, Botanic Avenue, where we spent the remainder of the evening.

Her Grace and I got the train home, though she took the one going northwards, towards Calhame Manor. Chris stayed the night at Madison's.

Park Plaza Belfast

Timothy Belmont is seated in the lounge bar of the Park Plaza Hotel at Aldergrove Airport, otherwise known as Belfast International Airport.

Is it not simpler to say "Aldergrove"?

I am having a gin and tonic.

I might have a bite of something or other, though I'm not hungry yet.

They have free wi-fi; a flat-screen telly is turned on beside the bar; another telly provides flight arrivals, not departures.

It's the first time I've been in this hotel. The bar is perfectly adequate; more relaxing than those in the airport, I should imagine.