Waringstown House, County Down

Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London. 

p. 282. “(Waring LGI1958) One of the earliest surviving unfortified Irish houses, built 1667 by William Waring, who also built the nearby church; the architect of both the house and the church is said to have been James Robb, chief mason of the King’s Works in Ireland. Originally, the house appears to have been of two storeys and an attic, with pedimented curvilinear gables along the front such as still exist at the sides; but the front was fairly soon afterwards raised so that it became three full storeys, probably at the same time as two storey one by overlapping wings were added; giving the house a facade of late C17 early C18 appearance, with six bays in the centre block and a pedimented doorcase flanked by two narrow windows. The two centre bays are framed with rusticated quoins, similar to those at the sides fo the centre block and on the wings. The front is prolonged by two short C18 curved sweeps, ending in piers with finials. Tall C19 Tudor Revival chimneys. Surprisingly, for so large a house, the walls are of rammed earth. Since the death of Mrs D.G. Waring 1968, the house has stood empty; its future is uncertain.” 

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