79 Lisburn Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-storey, thatch-under-tin, three-bay hearth-lobby plan vernacular dwelling with adjoining store; pre-dating 1830. Located at the crest of a short lane, of the Lisburn Road on the south side, approximately 1 mile southeast of Glenavy.

Pitched corrugated tin roof over thatch remains; chimneys removed. Cast-iron rainwater goods (largely removed.) Exposed field stone walling with upper brick course (lime render largely eroded). Various timber window types; 1/1 sliding sash and 6 pane casement; generally frames only and in very poor condition. Timber panelled front door; only partially remaining and in very poor condition.

The principal elevation faces northwest and is asymmetrically arranged. The abutting windbreak porch is located left of centre. Porch comprises very shallow pitched stone slab roof; lime rendered brick walling; small window openings to the left and right cheeks. One window to the left and two windows to the right; store entrance to the far right.

The left gable is blank.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with various window openings.

The right gable abutment has a single window.

Setting:

Secluded site located at the end of a short lane, flanked by hedges and overgrown vegetation, climbing to the crest of a hill. Small yard to the front of the dwelling with a small two-storey rubble masonry with red brick surrounds, slated roof barn to the east. North of the yard is a dilapidated corrugated tin shed. The overall surroundings are primarily open rural landscape.

Roofing: Corrugated tin over thatch;sawn rafters;unsawn purlins
Walling: Field stone (lime rendered eroded)
Windows: Remnants of timber sliding sash and casement.
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The parish of Glenavy comprises a low-lying fertile agricultural area to the east of Lough Neagh, with the upper part of the parish giving way to hilly pasture. (Parliamentary Gazetteer, p.264) The first edition map of 1832-3 shows the area dotted with cottages and farmsteads and it has remained largely agricultural up to the present day. Lewis’s topographical survey of 1837 found that ‘the soil is well cultivated, and there is very little waste land or bog’. A quarterly fair in Glenavy town was principally ‘for horned cattle and pigs’ and there was also access to additional income from the cotton and linen industries, ‘[In Glenavy] is a large cotton-mill, and much flax is spun and woven in the cottages.’ (Lewis, p.658)

The current house is sited within the better arable land in the district, lying between the 100 foot and 300 foot contours, the land below 100 feet being liable to flooding in winter and that above 300 feet running to pasture, furze and rough grazing. The whole area was subject to a decline in population during the second half of the nineteenth century when a drift began from rural districts into Belfast and in many cases, only the older generation remained to work the farmland. (Ulster Folklife Society) The current house is an example of the hearth-lobby type which is prevalent in this area and throughout much of central and south-west Ulster. (Ulster Folklife Society)

The house is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832-3 but is not listed in the Townland Valuation of the same area, most likely because it did not reach the valuation threshold required. No outbuildings are shown on the earliest edition but a small structure, square in plan, is shown opposite the house on the 1858 edition and by the third edition of 1901-02 this is shown as a rectangular building corresponding to the surviving stone outbuilding.

By the time of Griffith’s Valuation of 1862 the house was occupied by Robert Sloane and was situated on a plot of 12 acres. Robert Sloane leased the farm from local landowner the Marquis of Hertford, later Sir Richard Wallace and the house and outbuildings were valued at £1.10s. (Griffith’s Valuation) In 1894, Robert Sloan became the owner in fee, most likely under land purchase legislation of the period. The 1901 census lists the occupier of the house as James Robert Sloan, a forty-eight-year-old farmer, unable to read or write and living alone. By 1911 the house had been taken over by Selena Hamill, a widow of 75, also illiterate and living with her son, a farmer, and her nine-year-old niece. The census returns from both years show that the house was roofed with thatch or other perishable material, in common with the majority of houses in the area at the time. (Annual Revisions; 1901, 1911 census)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/59/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3
2. PRONI OS/6/1/59/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/59/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901-02
4. PRONI OS/6/1/59/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/4A-D – Annual Revisions (1869-1929)
6. Griffith’s Valuation online
7. 1901 census online
8. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Lewis, Samuel. “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837
2. “Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland” Dublin, London & Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co, 1846
3. Ulster Folklife Society “Field Excursions in Ulster, Ballinderry and district, County Antrim” Holywood: Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, 1982

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A single-storey, thatch-under-tin, three-bay hearth-lobby vernacular dwelling with adjoining store and outbuildings; pre-dating 1830. There is evidence of some remaining thatch although many of the original roof timbers have been replaced. Although its style and proportion are still largely intact, the loss of most of its original windows and other original detailing detracts from its character and it does not meet the criteria for listing.