Springhill, built between 1680–1700, with its Dutch-gabled pavilions flanking the forecourt evoking the style of a South African farmstead and immortalised in the book, 'An Old Ulster House' (1946) by Mina Lowry (1866–1961), was offered to the National Trust in 1956 by her son, William Lowry Lenox-Conyngham (1903–1957) and accepted shortly before his death. It was an older William Lenox-Conyngham (1792–1858) who brought some of the better portraits to the house. Of particular interest is the conversation piece of Grand Tourists participating in a course on the antiquities of Rome run by the artist-turned-banker and antiquary, James Byres. It was painted in Rome in the late eighteenth century by John Brown.