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Merville Garden Village is a housing estate located at Shore Road, Drumnadrough, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland created by structural and landscape architect Edward Prentice Mawson. It was completed in 1949.
Merville was originally a private house, the modern-day Merville House, and estate built in 1795 by the Belfast banker and merchant John Brown (c.1740–1808). It was intended as his country retreat. Other fêted people would come to reside at the sprawling 24-acre shoreline manor. Between 1849–1887, for example, it was the home of Sir Edward Coey (1805–1887), noted as the first and only Liberal Party Mayor of Belfast (1861) and prominent wealthy businessman, who helped make Belfast one of the most prosperous manufacturing centres in the world during the 19th century.
During WWII little to no houses were built and Belfast was becoming densely populated. So in 1947-49 the Garden Village, the first such housing development in Ireland, was constructed. It was the idea of Lurgan-born builder Thomas McGrath who had established his company, Ulster Garden Villages Limited, in January 1946. Thomas Arlow McGrath was born into a working-class family in Lurgan in 1896. Having trained initially as a cabinet maker, and following service in the First World War, he formed a successful building business with his carpenter brothers, Andy and Bob. McGrath was an admirer of the Garden Village movement which had developed in England, listing notable examples of the work of various housing societies such as Bourneville and Letchworth, and commenting: “An important part of the policy of the housing society movement is that of giving every attention not only to the welfare of its estates, and care in the maintenance of its properties but to the welfare of tenants.”. [1]
English architect Edward Prentice Mawson, eldest son of internationally renowned English landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson, became known to McGrath after being introduced to him by his site manager Jesse Williams, who previously worked with Mawson in England. Edward Prentice Mawson was the past President of the Institute of Landscape Architects, having originally trained at the London School of Architecture and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Mawson's philosophical approach to planning had a sound commercial basis and dovetailed well with that of McGrath: "Good design and beauty are commercial assets, quite apart from their psychological effect on everyone."(Mawson, 1934). Subsequently, Mawson was appointed the consultant architect of all of McGrath's ambitious Garden Village schemes in Northern Ireland. Along with Merville, these were at Abbots Cross, Fernagh, Prince's Park, King's Park, Muckamore, and Whitehead, all in County Antrim.
The Merville original designs consisted of 256 apartments, 28 cottage flats, 146 terraced and semi-detached houses, and a row of 14 shops. The building work was completed in 1949.
The design of Merville was widely praised: Stanley Gale noted in 1949: “In the Merville Estate in Belfast, the designer Mr E. Prentice Mawson has produced an outstanding example that should set a new standard in both layout and in the grouping and design of the units.” The estate was endowed with shops and a community centre (having classes in drama, singing, music and other activities). There was also a small theatre, and landscaped gardens included the original walled garden of Merville House, as well as various landscape features such as field boundary fragments. Merville Garden Village was designated a conservation area in 1995.
The original intention to form a strong sense of home and community became a deep psychological seed within the minds of those who lived there. By 1975 The Merville Garden Village Residents Association was formally constituted, having 249 subscribing households, and is considered one of the oldest resident associations in Northern Ireland today.
Merville Garden Village was designated a conservation area on 23 June 1995 because of its unique architecture and landscape and is the only neighbourhood in the borough of Newtownabbey to have this protection. [2]
In April 2000 Patricia Pepper, Jackie Thompson and Brian McNally began the restoration of Merville House when they met Belfast Regeneration Office officials, amongst others. The meeting with potential funders was initiated by local North Belfast MLA Fred Cobain after a chance meeting with MRA committee member Barbara McPhee. However, Stephen Hamilton, another Merville resident, joined the committee and formally set up Merville House Limited in February 2002 to help garner funding for the project. Other key players in the Merville House team included the late Jacqui Thompson, and Carol Magill and Colin Simms who assisted with grant applications. Carol Magill was Chair of Merville House and with her husband Colin and Patricia presented and secured the £1.2m funds for the restoration. The scheme was ultimately funded by Ulster Garden Villages Limited, International Fund for Ireland, Newtownabbey Borough Council, Newtownabbey Local Strategy Partnership and Belfast Local Strategy Partnership and a private donor. The house was officially re-opened on 27 April 2006 by Baroness Blood, a well-known community activist in west Belfast. Today Merville House is utilised by the whole community.
On 25 September 2009 a celebration was organised by Merville Residents' Association to mark the 60th anniversary of the completion of the village with guest of honour Thomas Prentice Mawson, [3] the son of Edward Prentice Mawson. Thomas was a member of the original Merville design team led by his father. Other dignitaries at the event included incumbent Alderman John Scott, Mayor of Newtownabbey, and Tony Hopkins CBE, the head of Ulster Garden Villages Limited.
Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population of about 28,634 at the 2021 UK census and is within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district. For some purposes, Lurgan is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area" along with neighbouring Craigavon and Portadown.
Craigavon is a town in northern County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Its construction began in 1965 and it was named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of a new linear city incorporating Lurgan and Portadown, but this plan was mostly abandoned and later described as having been flawed. Among local people today, "Craigavon" refers to the area between the two towns. It is built beside a pair of artificial lakes and is made up of a large residential area (Brownlow), a second smaller one (Mandeville), plus a central area (Highfield) that includes a substantial shopping centre, a courthouse and the district council headquarters. The area around the lakes is a public park and wildlife haven made up of woodland with walking trails. There is also a watersports centre, golf course and ski slope in the area. In most of Craigavon, motor vehicles are completely separated from pedestrians, and roundabouts are used extensively. It hosted the headquarters of the former Craigavon Borough Council.
Newtownabbey Borough Council was a Local Authority in County Antrim in Northern Ireland, on the north shore of Belfast Lough just immediately north of Belfast. The Council merged with Antrim Borough Council in April 2015 under local government reform in Northern Ireland to form Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
Newtownabbey is a large settlement north of Belfast city centre in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of several small villages including Whiteabbey, Glengormley and Carnmoney. At the 2011 census, Metropolitan Newtownabbey Settlement had a population of 65,646, making it the third largest settlement in Northern Ireland. It is part of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.
Ballycraigy is a townland and housing estate in Antrim town, Northern Ireland. According to the census for Ballycraigy ward the estate has approximately 865 residents.
Whiteabbey is a townland in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Rathcoole is a housing estate in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was built in the 1950s to house many of those displaced by the demolition of inner city housing in Belfast city. Rathcoole is within the wider Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough. Its approximate borders are provided by O'Neill Road on the north, Doagh Road on the east, Shore Road on the south and Church Road and Merville Garden Village on the west.
Donaghcloney or Donacloney is a village, townland and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Lagan between Lurgan and Dromore. In the 2011 census it had a population of 1701. It is colloquially referred to as "The 'Cloney" by locals.
Gosford Castle is a 19th-century country house situated in Gosford, a townland of Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was built for Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, and designed in the Norman revival style by London architect Thomas Hopper. It is a Grade A listed building, and is said to be Ulster's largest. The Earls of Gosford occupied the castle until 1921, and the estate was later purchased by the Ministry of Agriculture to form Gosford Forest Park. The building subsequently deteriorated and in 2006 was sold to a development company who converted the castle into private dwellings.
Thomas Arlow McGrath (1896–1988) was a Northern Irish builder born in Lurgan, County Armagh, who founded Ulster Garden Villages in 1946 with the purpose of planning and building affordable, high quality post-war housing.
Thomas Hayton Mawson, known as T. H. Mawson, was a British garden designer, landscape architect, and town planner.
Cregagh is an area southeast of Belfast in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the name of a townland and has been adopted as the name of an electoral ward of Belfast City council. The townland dates back to medieval times, when it was part of the territory held by the O'Neills of Clannaboy. The area is centred on the Cregagh Road. The Woodstock/Cregagh Road is a continuous arterial route in the city, with the Woodstock making up the lower half of the route and the Cregagh the upper half. It runs from the Albertbridge Road, close to the Short Strand, to the A55 Outer Ring road.
Jordanstown is a townland and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the urban area of Newtownabbey and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is also situated in the civil parish of Carnmoney and the historic barony of Belfast Lower. It had a population of 6,225 in the 2011 census, with an average age of 40.
The Protestant Action Force (PAF) was a front group used by Ulster loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland when claiming responsibility for a number of attacks during the Troubles. First used in 1974, attacks by individuals claiming to be members of the PAF killed at least 41 Catholic civilians. The PAF was most commonly used by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). All of the attacks claimed by the PAF in Armagh and Tyrone counties from 1974 to 1976 have been linked to the Glenanne gang, which was a group consisting of members of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade along with rogue Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police officers. A six-year period of no attacks claimed by the PAF ended in 1982; during the 1980's, the PAF claimed 15 attacks in the Belfast area and two in County Armagh. UDR soldiers were convicted of two attacks in Armagh. The PAF claimed its last attacks in the early 1990's, all of which were in north Armagh and were alleged to involve members of the security forces.
The Georgian Merville House at Merville Garden Village, to be found in the district of Whitehouse on the northern shoreline of Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland was constructed in the year 1795 by John Brown (c.1730-1800), a distinguished banker and merchant of Belfast, who leased around 24 acres (97,000 m2) of the ancient townland of Drumnadrough, one of three townlands that formed the village of Whitehouse, the other two being White House and Ballygolan, to construct his own private estate. Brown was a partner in the so-called 'Bank of the Four Johns' that was established in Ann Street in the town in 1787.
Randalstown is a townland and small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, between Antrim and Toome. It has a very prominent disused railway viaduct and lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate. The town is bypassed by the M22 motorway with junctions at both the eastern and western ends of the town. It had a population of 5,151 people in the 2021 Census.
James Bernard Neilly is a BBC broadcaster and sports commentator from Northern Ireland.
Edward Prentice Mawson was the eldest of the nine children of Thomas Hayton Mawson, and, like his father a British garden designer, landscape architect, and town planner.
The Shore Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs through north Belfast and Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland. It forms part of the A2 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to the County Antrim coast.
Sir Edward Coey was a 19th-century entrepreneur and philanthropist from Larne in County Antrim. He helped fund the establishment of Larne Grammar School in his town of birth, and was mayor of Belfast.
54°39′21″N5°54′46″W / 54.65583°N 5.91278°W
