2009:018 - CRANMORE PLAYING FIELDS, MALONE ROAD, BELFAST, Antrim

The proposed development is located on ground adjacent to the Cranmore playing fields on the Malone Road in Belfast. The site currently consists of a two-storey structure which has been built on to the remains of Cranmore House, a scheduled protected monument, and an adjacent historic garden (AN/019). The proposed development will involve the demolition of the two-storey structure and its replacement with a new dwelling set further to the Cranmore House is believed to date to the 17th century and, as such, is the oldest extant house in Belfast (Larmour 1991). The exact date of the building is uncertain. Larmour mentioned a tradition that the house was constructed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, with stones from an old monastery which adjoined the site. If this is true, the site would date to before 1603, pre-dating the Plantation. However, there is no documentary or physical evidence for a monastery within the area and Carleton (1976) stated that the first reference to the site is in the Hearth Money Roll of 1669, when a John Eccles was living in Lower Malone.
The site was bought by the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, which had playing fields on the site from 1925 onwards, while the current school playing fields were drained and created during the 1960s. Cranmore House survives as a ruined shell and a modern house has been built against its northwest corner. There is still substantial tree growth around the house and this has been noted as a historic garden. NIEA: Built Heritage has awarded the historic site scheduled protected status, which includes the extent of the shell of the former Cranmore House. The proposed development is not included within this scheduled area.
Cranmore House is located to the immediate south of the building to be demolished. The historic building is a derelict, two-storey structure which butts against the south-east gable end of the current dwelling. The interior of Cranmore House has been rendered with concrete, which obscures the majority of detail including, crucially, the relationship between the two buildings. Other details associated with Cranmore House include a modern red brick structure which has been built on to the north-east end of the historic building.
NIEA: Historic Monuments Unit (HMU) required that part of the site assessment include a fabric survey of the building which is proposed for demolition. This fabric survey was carried out on 12 May 2009 with members of NIEA: HMU in attendance. The survey entailed the removal of render to expose the underlying brick. A total of three locations specified by the attending members of NIEA: HMU were examined within the south-east portion of the structure adjacent to where it butts against Cranmore House. Evidence from the three test locations revealed that the built fabric within the building consists of modern red brick. It was concluded that the building is a relatively modern construction and not contemporary with Cranmore House.
Testing was carried out on 23 June 2009. Two test-trenches were excavated in locations determined by the NIEA: HMU caseworker for the area. The trenches were excavated by a back-acting machine equipped with a grading bucket. A probable rubble wall footing was uncovered in Trench 1 along the south-west elevation of the current dwelling. Due to the similarity of the wall’s fabric to the construction of Cranmore House as well as artefactual evidence, it seems likely that this wall is contemporary with a period of use of Cranmore House. The wall probably dates from sometime around or after the late 18th century and is most likely not related to the 17th-century phase of the building. It was recommended that this wall be exposed and fully recorded during the groundworks phase as this would entail a certain amount of ground reduction, which would result in the removal of this feature. This phase of works has not yet taken place.
References Carleton, T. Ulster Journal Archaeology 39, 1976. Larmour, P. The Architectural Heritage of Malone and
Stranmillis, Belfast 1991, p. 146 & p. 149.