Survey Data
Reg No
40902629
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Technical
Original Use
Tunnel
Date
1850 - 1870
Coordinates
205042, 434715
Date Recorded
20/03/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Tunnel, built c.1860, leading from Ards House, having cut-stone ashlar piers to south end with string course to springer, and projecting cut-stone voussoirs with keystone. Reinforced concrete lintel to north elevation, with rubble stone walling over. Rusticated intrados to tunnel soffit. Set at angle to road, opposite Saint John's Church of Ireland church, with rusticated boundary retaining walls flanking to south, and having round-headed opening with metal gate to east.
Appraisal
This tunnel was constructed by Alexander Stewart for his wife, Isabella Toler, who is said to have wanted a new carriageway to be built from Ards House to Saint John's Church so that she would not have to meet tenants on her way to worship. The tunnel is of well-constructed masonry and is an unusual reminder of social inequality in mid-nineteenth-century Ireland, between the occupants of the 'Big House' and their tenants.