Outbuildings

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A group of largely two-storey buildings arranged informally around an irregular yard which is closed at one end by a screen wall and gateway. The group stands to the west of Lissan House with two of the blocks attached to the house.

The group consists of four distinct blocks, as follows: the Great Barn, which occupies the west side; the Agent's House and Donkey House, which occupies the north side and joins the corner of the long gallery wing of the main house; the Turf Barn, which occupies the south end of the east side and abuts the Creamery; and the Creamery, which runs at right angles from the Turf Barn to the main house which it joins at its north-east corner.

THE GREAT BARN

A long two-storey 10-bay building. Roofing is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with one chimney and a number of metal-cowled vents. Walling to the main front, which faces east, is of rubble stonework with brick dressings to openings, finished with harling. There are three large rectangular timber sheeted doors at the south end of the main front, set in elliptically arched openings, and all sheltered by a later lean-to roofed arrangement of corrugated sheeting carried on iron and timber posts. Other ground floor openings are shallow segmental arched windows and doorways mainly containing timber sheeted doors and vertically hung sliding sash windows, 8 over 8, without horns. Openings to the first floor are semi-circular arched, some containing timber louvres, others now open or containing remnants of small paned windows with timber sheeted panels above. The two gables are of exposed rubble stonework, the one to the north surmounted by a cut stone bellcote with a semi-circular arched opening, now missing its bell, and a gabled top. The rear elevation is also of rubble stonework, part of it forming the wall of the walled garden to the west.

THE AGENT'S HOUSE AND DONKEY HOUSE

A two-storey building, L-shaped in plan, comprising a donkey house to the west, a carpenter's workshop to the east, and an Agent's house upstairs. The donkey house, which projects to the south, has lost its rear half, demolished following a fire, and now presents only half a gable to the front, with its roof now in the form of a monopitch which is not its original shape. Roofs are of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with one chimney, built of brick. Walling to the entrance fronts is of rubble stonework and brickwork, finished with harling and smooth cement render. Window and door openings are rectangular, containing timber boarded doors and vertically hung sliding sash windows, 6 over 6 without horns, but with some windows now boarded up and, the one over the central doorway in the Agent's house, glazed with plate glass. Two external stairs, semi-circular arched to the underside, lead up to the first floor, one at each end of the main block, and a further short flight leads to a ground floor door.

At the east end of the main block is a larger arched coachway under the projecting rendered landing providing access to the main yard form the north.

The south facing gable is harled, the walls to the rear are of exposed rubble stonework incorporating field stones, with brick dressings to openings some of which are blocked with corrugated iron. At the east end is a large elliptically arched coachway leading into a vehicular passage which has harled interior walls, and an exposed timber beamed ceiling, and is mounted with a pair of old looped ironwork gates. Above the archway is a timber window with exposed sash box, in poor condition. The east gable is of exposed rubble stonework mostly covered with overgrown creeper.

THE TURF BARN

A single-storey building which has arcaded openings along its two long sides. Roofing is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. Walling is of rubble stone with brick dressings to the arches, and a projecting brick eaves course, finished in part with a mixture of lime wash and cement render. The arcading along the east side has been later filled in with rubble stonework up to springing height or beyond. An unusual feature is the set of 12 brick dovecote openings near the south end of the west elevation. Within the open-fronted main interior there is a timber mezzanine floor to a loft which extends for most of the length of the building. The roof comprises a series of arched timber trusses of unusual form for farm buildings.

The south end of the building beyond the main interior is in ruinous condition.

At the north end of the arcaded main block is a later projecting extension, of unusual form, and uncertain function, and picturesque appearance, forming an infill block with the end of the creamery to the north. It has a gabled roof, a brick-built square corner pier, and a timber slatted panel or door at first floor level below a segmental arched lintel.

THE CREAMERY

A building of rectangular plan, of two and three-storey height as it sits on sloping ground. Its main entrance elevation faces north. Roofing is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. Walling is of rubble stonework with brick dressings to openings finished with render and limewash. These openings are both rectangular headed and segmental arched, filled with boarded doors and windows sashed mainly 6 over 6 without horns, but also including a tripartite rectangular window in a segmental arched opening.

The south or rear elevation contains a number of rectangular sashed windows in very poor condition and an unusual series of ocular windows to the second storey. The east gable is entirely smooth cement rendered and contains an unusual first floor window consisting of a triplet of Gothic arched lancets, a later insertion presumably of the early 19th century.

SETTING

The main yard which these blocks surround is closed at the south end by a screen wall and gateway consisting of a pair of square piers of roughly squared red stone finished with harling, surmounted by a sandstone coping, and carrying a segmental arch over. Mounted on the piers are a pair of iron gates with ornamented finials to the rails. Extending to the west from the gateway is a high rubble stone wall; extending to the east is a lower wall. The ground surface of the yard is grassed and contains a very old walnut tree. Laid in the ground adjacent to the end of the Creamery is a cast iron weighbridge inscribed 'A and W Smith & Co. Glasgow 1876'.

Historical information

The precise date of these buildings is not known but they all appear on the OS map of 1833. Two of them, the Great Barn and the Turf Barn, may be identified with buildings referred to in a survey of the estate in 1703 and so may be taken to date from at least the late 17th century. The others are of such similar general character and materials and are such integral elements to the whole complex that they too may be taken to date from that same period.

The Creamery was connected with the main house when the western extension to the house was built in 1878, and later connected with the Turf Barn when the latter's extension was built sometime between 1854 and 1906. The circular windows in the Creamery appear to have been installed when the roof was raised around 1878.

References - Primary Sources
1. OS Map of 1833.
2. OS Map of 1854.
3. OS Map of 1906.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a group of buildings which appears to date from at least the late 17th century. Together they display a high degree of unity in terms of scale, form, materials, texture and colour which contributes greatly to their collective quality. Individually they exhibit some unusual and uncommon features such as the brick dovecote and the arched trusses of the Turf Barn, the Gothic arched windows of the Creamery, the arched exterior steps of the Donkey House and Agent's House, and the extreme length of the Great Barn. They enjoy a fine and unspoiled setting within an important country house demesne, and constitute what may be the most complete and best example of their type and period in Northern Ireland. This intrinsic value is enhanced by their combination as a group, both with the main house itself and other estate structures that go to make up the complete estate.