Market Yard

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey hipped three-bay house in Italianate style with single storey hipped wings to each side and a rectangular market yard behind.

Main entrance to house faces north. Entrance front three windows wide on first floor: segmental headed timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 2 over 2, with horns, with horizontal glazing bars; smooth cement rendered surrounds; painted sandstone cills. Coupled windows to ground floor, semi-circular headed, timber sliding sashes as first floor, with surrounds and cills as first floor; one pair of windows to each side of central round-headed doorway containing original vertical rectangular 4-panel door with plain fanlight of translucent glass. Walls dry dashed with pebbles; smooth cement render string courses at cill level each floor, and vertical strips at extremities, not original. Roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with two centrally placed chimneys in red brick with yellow brick dentil cornice. Cast iron gutter.

Wings to each side set back slightly from main block: walls of basalt rubble, blank except for small window in east wing, metal bottom-hung casement, four-pane, in timber subframe, later insertion with cement and brick jambs; outlet for original trough still visible in wall to left of small window; roofs similar to main house.

Extending to each side from wings: twin gateways with square piers of regularly coursed sandstone surmounted by concrete capstones, but easternmost pier of eastern gateway missing capstone; similar wrought iron double gates to each gateway with spike finials in two tiers.

Extending beyond each gateway, front boundary walling of course basalt rubble, returning at extremities to east and west boundaries; with sandstone coping at east end, but inappropriate later painted fascia at west end.

Exterior face of boundary walling to east: plain basalt rubble walling with weathered sandstone coping. At left hand extremity, wall raised to form end of toilet block; timber fascia; PVC gutter; to right of that, gateway with pair of square basalt piers with weathered sandstone capstones; gateway closed by corrugated iron. In centre area, coping of wall is of concrete along extent of east shelter behind; wall of shelter above concrete coping is red brick; timber fascia; cast iron rainwater goods; corrugated asbestos roof sheets of shelter beyond.

Exterior boundary walling to south: basalt rubble walls in rough courses; long portion to left hand side surmounted by cement coping on which is mounted iron angle posts to support wire fencing; corrugated asbestos roof of shelter behind. Long portion to right hand side: at top, timber fascia with PVC gutter; slated roof of shelter behind. Near right hand extremity, small rectangular window with firebrick jambs, cement rendered cill, concrete lintel, bottom-hung, four pane iron casement in timber subframe; abutting wall to right of window, new rustic brick screen wall as part of entrance screen to housing development to south of market yard.

Exterior face of boundary walling to west: firebrick with rough cement coping; above that PVC guttering, asbestos corrugated sheeting to roof of west shelter; raised ground level outside partly obscures lower courses of basalt below red firebricks.

East elevation of house: two-storey blank wall rendered with dry dash of stone chippings; hipped roof as previous; PVC gutter and cast iron downpipe, partially repaired; ground floor abutted by single-storey wing.

Rear elevation of house: two-storey, three-bay, with hipped roof as previous; PVC gutter; wall rendered as west wall, with smooth cement rendered vertical strips to corners and similar string courses at cill level to both floors. Three windows to first floor, as previous to entrance front, except no rendered surrounds and right hand one is sashed 1 over 1. Ground floor windows similar to entrance front but without rendered surrounds; central rectangular doorway with flush timber door, glazed panel of wired glass, modern chromium handle, door a later replacement. Across rear facade of house small flower beds each side of modern iron framed gate and similar railings, with chicken wire.

West elevation of house: two-storey blank wall rendered with dry dash of stone chippings; hipped roof as previous; PVC downpipe; ground floor abutted by single-storey wing.

Wing to west: four-bay open-colonnaded shed with five cast iron circular columns, four across south side and one to the north side; shaped timber brackets with chamfered beams over. Extreme left hand column on south side enclosed to front and sides by timber boarding; hipped roof, slated as main house, with red terracotta ridge tiles; iron upstand at end of angled ridge; wooden fascia to eaves; PVC gutter and downpipe. West wall of wing tongued and grooved sheeted, with four windows, fixed lights, across front of supporting columns; PVC gutter and downpipe. Within wing, back wall of basalt whitened; enclosed gable of house, white painted brickwork; ceiling sheeted in plywood panelling, painted; floor of concrete. In right hand corner, timber stud walled room containing sinks, with flush door, poor quality addition.

Wing to east: roof as previous but walls closed in. South elevation from left to right: small lean-to projection in angle with house, a later addition of poor quality; cement rendered wall containing modern window, timber fixed light with side hung casement each side; PVC gutter and downpipe; roof of asbestos slates. To right, set back, cement rendered wall of wing, containing flush door, glazed; to right of that, walling of timber horizontal boarding containing two ledged timber doors and one metal garage door; timber fascia; cast iron gutter. Flush door leads into kitchen extension of house. Ledged door to right of that leads to coal house; wall on left inside, red brick; wall on right inside, timber boards; one cast iron original column stands near door with part of shaped bracket revealed; floor of red brick. Ledged door, to right of first, and garage door further to right, leads into garage and workshop in poor state of repair created inside originally open shed, with original cast iron column still in position.

East elevation of wing: broad vertical timber boarding, partially clad in steel sheeting; PVC gutter; cast iron downpipe.

Other buildings within market yard are as follows.

To the east side of yard: an open sided shed built against boundary wall; gabled, segmental profile to roof, 6 Belfast trusses supported on raised east boundary wall, of basalt, later rendered to inside, and raised by some courses of brickwork, and on circular cast iron columns to west and along central axis, mainly with octagonal flanges to top; roof of corrugated asbestos sheets; two triangular gabled rooflights of corrugated perspex, later replacements; end trusses clad in tongued and grooved timber boarding; timber fascia to west side; cast iron gutter and downpipe. Within shed, a low flat roofed timber framed office partially clad in steel sheeting; two small two-light windows; one door, ledged timber with steel sheeting attached to exterior; poor quality building overall; interior contains weighbridge scales in cast iron, ornamentally treated. Set in ground outside, cast iron weighbridge inscribed ‘H. Pooley & Son Ltd, Liverpool and Glasgow’. Animal pens within area of shed and extending beyond it to north; iron posts with rounded tops; circular section rails; supplemented by later Kee Klamp additions.

To the south side of yard: a hipped roof single-storey shelter runs along the south boundary wall with a gabled block projecting northwards at the centre. At left hand extremity of shelter, a red brick toilet block, later insertion, cement rendered half way up window height; contains, from left to right, a ledged timber door, partially iron sheeted, in flat brick arch; a window, timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 2 over 2, but lower sash obscured; rectangular doorway fitted with smaller modern hinged three-quarter door open at top and bottom, set in timber frame in similar arched head to window; another window, obscured as previous; interior walls faced with white glazed tiles, internal doors, four-panel timber. West end of toilet block, brickwork painted above later render; in right hand corner, open doorway to a toilet. Open shelter along south boundary wall, to left of central block, carried on circular section cast iron posts with square bases bolted down to original stone pads of sandstone and of schist; capitals of bell form with square plates on top carrying shaped timber brackets with chamfered timber beam above; wooden fascia; cast iron gutter and downpipe; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; colonnade partially closed by cast iron gates and rails, look original; Kee Klamp railings, new; cement rendered concrete walling, all to mid height. Ceiling inside of chipboard panels, later addition, poor condition.

To right of central block, shelter continues with colonnading as previous, partially closed by later flat-iron gates clamped around columns, and later circular railings; ground finish of concrete, with no original padstones showing; PVC gutter and cast iron downpipe; roof of corrugated asbestos sheets on open timber trusses consisting of principal rafters, tie beam and braces. Back wall of shelter, basalt rubble, painted, with lower portion later cement rendered. To right hand extremity, painted brick walling, lower part rendered, up to bottom of trusses, with room beyond; gable end of modern concrete block above rendered stonework.

Central block projecting northwards from shelter along south boundary: hipped roof to rear, gabled to front; Bangor blue slates in regular courses; to west side, open roof vent, with later corrugated perspex, similar to east side, plus larger dormer-like construction projecting from roof with tongued and grooved cheeks and ledged front access panel. Cast iron columns around three sides, detailed as previous to south shelter, but open-colonnaded only to north-east corner; rest closed in with later tongued and grooved sheeting, partially clad in thin steel sheets, and also wooden boarding similarly clad, to west side; east side timber boarded, with later lean-to addition, rendered concrete wall, corrugated asbestos roof; to north side, gable clad in timber boards with curved ends; right hand portion below filled with tongued and grooved horizontal wooden cladding containing wooden window, 10-pane, fixed lights with one opening hatch. In apex of gable, a gabled canopy with cusped and trefoil-fretted front, surmounting a bell; asbestos slates to canopy roof with underside of tongued and grooved sheeting; iron bell on iron mount with rope pull, all functioning and still used to signal start of market. Concrete finish to ground around and within enclosed area of colonnade; column bases buried in concrete except for two on east side. On ground across front front of north gable: large iron weighbridge inscribed on two panels - ‘S. Parsons & Co Ltd, Makers, Bradford. To weigh 20 tons’; ramped cobbled approach to each side. Interior of block at north end, viewed from outside: open timber Queen post trusses visible above the flat roofs of the later insertions within the original shelter. Insertions include a tongued and grooved sheeted office raised above ground level on concrete block and brick base-walls and partially enclosing bottom of trusses. Ceiling area closed off with chipboard sheets in rotting condition at north end.

Interior of front office: tongued and grooved sheeted walls and ceiling.

Interior of main office to south: tongued and grooved sheeting to walls; panelled ceiling.

Behind main office is sale ring, approached by ledged door facing north within open colonnade, and with access for animals from pens on east side through modern steel framed passageway containing weighbridge.

Interior of sale ring: three open Queen post trusses with two rooflights above; walls timber boarded on timber studding; concrete floor; central pen with low concrete bounding wall surrounded by modern Kee Klamp railings; two rows of timber seating of crude construction around perimeter.

To the west side of yard: a long colonnaded 12-bay shed in two compartments, later addition probably from inter-war era; 13 circular section cast iron columns with circular flanged tops carrying 13 Belfast trusses, supported at the other end of the span by the west boundary wall of roughly coursed basalt rubble raised in height by painted brickwork with brick piers. South gable smooth cement rendered to outer face, with tongued and grooved sheeting to clad end truss; party wall between third and fourth bay from south end, red brick, partially painted, up to underside of truss. North end mainly open, partially closed by smooth rendered concrete block wall, with tongued and grooved sheeting to clad the end truss. Fluorescent lights fitted to interior. At 5th truss from north end, set in east boundary wall, a semi-circular brick-arched recess with brick back and cill; looks like a fountain originally, probably from original foundation of the market yard, but no trough now; brickwork all painted. Flooring of concrete to whole shelter. To left hand extremity of west shed, lean-to roof of corrugated iron and asbestos over area linking with south shelter.

The open-sided shed to the east side measures roughly 13.8m x 11.4. The trusses are of the ‘McTear’ type and have a rise of roughly 1.8m. There appear to be no visible manufacturer’s marks on any of the trusses.

The long colonnaded shed to the west side measures roughly 44m x 10.2. The trusses are of the ‘Anderson’ type and have a rise of roughly 1.6m. There appear to be no visible manufacturer’s marks on any of the trusses.

To right hand extremity of west shed: two later single-storey sheds; walls rendered, lined and blocked; ledged double doors; PVC gutter; low pitched roof of corrugated perspex; with a further two garages in same walling but pitched corrugated asbestos roof with four corrugated perspex rooflights; iron sheet covering to ridges.

Inner faces of boundary walling to north and east, smooth cement rendered.

Setting: the market yard stands within the built-up area of the town on the angle of two roads, with its associated house and flanking gateways facing directly on to street. To one side it is adjoined by a Victorian public house and a terrace of Victorian houses and to the rear it adjoins a development of modern houses.

Historical information

The precise date of erection of the market place, with its south boundary sheds and the house which is integral with it, is not recorded. They appear for the first time on the OS map of 1857 but prior to that there was a reference to “an excellent market” in the Belfast and Ulster directory for 1854. The date 1864 given in the 1892 directory as the date of formation of the market may relate to completion of another stage of development, perhaps a shed shown on the OS map of 1893 in the north-east corner but now disappeared, and is clearly not the date of the original foundation. Stylistically the house together with its wings and the corresponding open colonnaded sheds to the south, incorporating the central office projection, and the boundary walls and three gateways (all on the 1857 OS map) looks like the work of Charles Lanyon, County Surveyor for Antrim at that time, and may be attributed to him and may be dated to the early 1850s. The open shed to the east does not appear until the OS map of 1921, and so dates from the later 1890s or early 1900s; the open shed to the west does not appear until the OS map of the 1960s but was probably erected in the inter-war era. The OS map of 1893 indicated a trough projecting from the street-front elevation of the east wing of the house but it has now gone, and a track running from the sheds at the south out through the adjacent gateway to a turntable lying to the east of the market yard is also no longer there. Old photographs in the collection of Larne Historical Society show that the house was originally built of unrendered brick with stone dressings.

For background information about the Belfast Roof Trusses, see HB18/08/139.

References - Primary

1. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 40.
2. OS Map 1893, Co Antrim 40.
3. OS Map 1921, Co Antrim 40.
4. Belfast & Ulster Directory for 1854.
5. Belfast & Ulster Directory for 1892.
6. Old photographs in the collection of the Larne Historical Society.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
H-. Alterations detracting from building
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This is an early Victorian market complex of handsome proportions, which has been added to over the years. It includes a house in a style attributable to the firm of an important local architect which, although slightly spoiled by later alterations nevertheless retains much of its original appearance and fabric, and together with the market buildings which also retain a range of original features, represents an uncommon example of an essentially Victorian building complex still in working condition.