[Extracts from Ballywalter Park, by Lord Dunleath, Alistair Rowan and Elizabeth Malcolm; published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1985.]
(Extract from an essay by the late Lord Dunleath):
...So in my father's opinion there was no future for his great-grandfather's
ill-considered extravaganza [Ballywalter Park]. He looked back
not only to his youth, which was in the Edwardian era, but even
more recently to his middle age between the Wars when there was
a domestic staff of twenty and house parties were so large that
every room was occupied. This, he realised, could never return
and his prevailing attitude was one of retrenchment. He talked
seriously though with great reluctance about abandoning the whole
thing and building a new compact house in the demesne. He never
went to that length however but explored possibilities of reducing
the size of the house, going as far as commissioning Sir Albert
Richardson to draw up a plan for removing the top floor. He made
a start at dismantling the conservatory but got no further than
removing the heating pipes.
So in 1956 I inherited a Victorian monstrosity - but wait - that
is what I was led to believe that I had inherited. And I inherited
the philosophy that the place must either be abandoned or drastically
reduced. While I was still wondering what to do about it Betjeman
came for tea in about 1961 and when he saw the house displayed
signs of ecstasy. He said that the conservatory was an essential
element in Lanyon's concept for the rear elevation and should
be preserved at all costs. He added that if the entire house as
originally designed could be preserved for another 25 years it
would become a mecca for architectural historians and enthusiasts.
Betjeman was in Belfast at the time to give a series of four lectures
in the Sir William Whitla Hall on behalf of the National Trust.
So far was he ahead of his time that few of the audience knew
when he was being serious and when he was joking, so having heard
the lectures I found it difficult to decide whether or not he
was being serious about Ballywalter. In the light of experience
of course we now know that he was being far more serious than
we ever realised and fortunately I took him at his word and accepted
his expensive advice about the house...
[The booklet also includes essays by Prof Alistair Rowan
and Dr Elizabeth Malcolm, on the architecture of the house and
genealogy of the family].
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