20 Orken Lane

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Formal two-storey plus attic semidetached late Georgian style house with large return, built c.1840, but with its almost identical attached neighbour seemingly earlier, possibly c.1820s. The house is set off a relatively secluded country road about 1.2km NW of Aghalee, with a large collection of outbuildings (which appear to belong to no.18) to the S and a short distance to the NW, a Methodist Church of 1846, whose history is closely linked with this property and its neighbour.

The house consists of the main two-storey plus attic gabled front block, the two-storey gabled return, and to the W, a relatively recent single-storey hip-roofed extension with attached sunroom / conservatory. The walls are finished in painted render. All of the various sections of the roof are gabled and covered in natural Welsh slate, whilst all of the chimneystacks appear to have been rebuilt in what seems to be concrete brick.

Front (N) elevation - Formal but asymmetric. Off-centre entrance with panelled timber door, ‘double sunburst’ elliptical fanlight and sidelights with intertwining tracery on painted brick aprons. Window to left of entrance and another to left with three to first floor aligned with ground floor openings. All of these windows are square with tripartite sash frames (2/2, 4/4, 2/2) and painted stone cills.

W elevation - Window to extension with two more to the return (one now contained within the conservatory) and two in line with these to the first floor; all have 6/6 timber sash frames. There is a single attic window which looks as if it has been enlarged and has a six-pane timber frame.

S elevation - This elevation appears to consist of the gable of the return only. Here there is a window to the right on the ground floor with 6/6 sash frame [CHECK], and one roughly to the centre of the first floor with replacement frame. [NOTE: It is unclear whether the section that abuts the E side of the return belongs to this property or no.18.]

Historical information

A house with long rear return, roughly similar to the footprint of the present no.18, is shown on the OS map of 1832, along with outbuildings to south and east that do not appear to equate exactly to anything we see today. In the valuation of 1834 the property is recorded as the home of Mr. Henry Shillington, with the dwelling itself referred to as a ‘not new’ slated structure in good condition (graded ‘1B+’). The main front section of the house is noted as measuring 32½ft x 18 x 20½, with a ‘kitchen return’ of 19½ x 19 x 13½, ‘stores’ (which were probably attached to the return) of 51 x 21½ x 10½, ‘sheds’ of 26 x 7 x 4 and 12½ x 9 x 5, ‘scullery’ of 18½ x 8 x 4, thatched ‘offices’ measuring 65 x 16 x 5, 31½ x 16½ x 5½, 42 x 17½ x 6 and 28 x 18½ x 13, a ‘kitchen’ with returns of 34½ x 18 x 6 and 15 x 6 x 5, a ‘barn’ of 34 x 19 x 8, and lastly, a stable measuring 19 x 17 x 6½.

The Shillington family (whose name is commemorated in nearby ‘Shillington’s Hill’ just east of this property) is believed to have held land in Ballymacilrany townland since the later 17th century, and it is probable that a dwelling has existed on this site from that period. Henry Shillington (c.1774-1864) referred to above was a farmer and prominent Methodist in the Aghagallon area, and is mentioned in the OS Memoirs of 1838 as that sect’s ‘principal class leader’ in the district. In 1845 he set aside a plot to the west of his home for the building of the adjacent Methodist church.

Both the church and no.20 are shown on the revised OS map of 1858, along with a different configuration of outbuildings to the south and east that once again do not appear to compare precisely to any of the present structures (although given the small scale of the map it is difficult to be certain.) No.20 is recorded in the c.1860 valuation as measuring 34ft x 18 x 20, with additional sections (presumably returns) of 17 x 21 x 16 and 10 x 6 x 6, whilst the dimensions of no.18 are much the same as those noted in 1834, but with the 19 x 19 return now 20ft as opposed to 13ft high, with two sections of 17 x 12 x 6 and 8 x 13 x 16 also mentioned. The valuers grade the main front portions of both houses as ‘1A’, suggesting that, no.18 had either been rebuilt or refurbished at some point after 1834 – more likely the latter.

By early 1860s both houses had assumed the collective name of or ‘Craig Villa’ or ‘Craigvilla’ with No.18 in possession of Henry Shillington junior, and Henry Shillington senior in no.20. The older Henry died at the age of 90 in 1864 and with the death a younger Henry Shillington in 1875 (at only 34), both houses passed to Maria Shillington and then, in 1884, to Thomas Shillington. Changes in the rateable value suggest that new structures may have been added to the site in 1869 – or existing ones upgraded, whilst the mention in the valuation book of a ‘50ft’ chimney and 5 and 3 horse-power engines in 1874 indicate that the southern brick-built section of the L-plan outbuilding to the east of no.18 dates from this time. In 1889 the valuers reported that no.20 was ‘only partially furnished [with] 2 rooms occupied by steward Samuel [?Cowan]’, whilst the outbuildings were ‘used [for] machinery in manufacturing part of business.’ The business must have involved the winding of thread, as a ‘winding room’ is mentioned by the valuers by the 1890s. The plans of both houses, and the outbuildings to the immediate east of no.20, are shown much as present on the 1900 OS map

In 1902, Thomas Shillington (d.1914), who had become a successful businessman in Belfast, donated both houses (along with 140acres of farmland) to the Methodist Church to be used as an orphanage for boys. ‘Craigmore Boys’ Home’ opened in 1903, and over the next 34 years almost 400 children were cared for in the home and educated in a schoolhouse that was added (in 1908) along Orken Road just to the north. They were also given instruction in agricultural techniques on the farmland, whilst the younger children appear to have been catered for in a ‘playroom’ located in the former winding room. The two houses themselves were extended to cope with their new roles; however the actual extent of this is uncertain as their footprint does not appear to have changed during the period. The home was merged with that at Childhaven, near Millisle in 1937.

It is difficult to trace the ownership of both houses with certainty for the next few decades as the wider area had assumed the name ‘Craigmore’ by this date. It is likely that both were the two houses at ‘Craigmore, Aghalee’ put up for sale as one lot in September 1944 by a Mrs. M. Martin, the sale notice stating that one of them contained, ‘dining and drawing rooms, 5 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, scullery and pantry’, with the other having ‘dining and drawing rooms, 3 bedrooms, bathroom…kitchen and scullery.’ Amongst the outbuildings was a ‘milk house, coalhouse, garage, workshop, cart shed, large potato house, poultry house, byre for 3 cows, and wash-house’ all of which formed ‘a large enclosed yard.’

‘Craigmore House…two superior residences’ were up for sale again in October 1950, the advert declaring that, ‘The main Residence…is stone and lime built, and in first-class decorative order…has accommodation comprising:—entrance Hall, two large reception rooms, living-room (with parquet flooring), large Kitchen, cloakroom….three main bedrooms, two secondary bedrooms, bathroom, separate W.C.’, whilst its neighbour was of similar construction, and contained and ‘entrance Hall, two reception-rooms, kitchen (with modern range), scullery, cloakroom (with bathroom off), and five principal bedrooms’, whilst the outbuildings consisted of a ‘large Hall - 40ft. x 28ft - with partly glass roof, store with loft over 40ft x 21ft, wash-house and Fuel Store—all adjoining the main building’, as well as a ‘large garage, loose-boxes, byre, feeding-house and barn - 70ft. x 40ft, all with slated roofs, and in very good structural repair’, and a ‘large poultry-house, 20ft x 18ft., with C.I. roof.’ The pair were acquired for £2,800 by William and Eveline Anderson with whose family they remain.

The single-storey extension to the west side of no.20 was added post-1966.

References – Primary sources
1 OS maps county series, Co. Antrim sheet 66 – 1832, 1858, 1900, 1920, 1966
2 PRONI VAL1B/165A-B Valuation book (1834)
3 OS Memoirs (1838)
4 PRONI VAL2B/1/54 Valuation book (c.1860)
5 PRONI VAL12B/9/1A-E Valuation books (1864-1928)
6 ‘Newry Examiner and Louth Advertiser’, 9 March 1864, 12 October 1943
7 ‘Northern Whig’, 23 July 1875, 12 November 1937
8 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 22 September 1944, p.1
9 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 23 July 1945, p.1
10 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 12 June 1946, p.2
11 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 6 October 1950
12 ‘Ballymena Weekly Telegraph’, 20 October 1950, p.3

Secondary sources
1 Clarke, Rea, “Craigmore 1845-1995”, online article - http://lisburn.com/books/craigmore/craigmore-1.html (accessed 6 February 2019)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Some original features have remained such as the windows and rainwater goods. However, PVC window replacements can be found by the rear and a large sunroom extension to the side. Furthermore, the key interest of 20 Orken Lane stems from its group collective with HB14 08 015A and HB14 08 015C. Due to significant replacements and alterations of the 2 adjacent records, the record had lost its merit as a potential listing.