Springfield

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay two-storey stucco-fronted country house, built c.1860, extended to the north c.1900. Rectangular on plan facing west with a central two-storey canted bay to both north and south elevations, located at the end of a long bitmac avenue on the north side of Ballinderry Road.

Hipped natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and eleven rendered profiled chimneystacks with decorative clay pots. Guttering hidden behind overhanging sheeted eaves cornice supported by pairs of shaped brackets with drop finials and string course below. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling with moulded plinth course and rusticated render quoins. Square-headed window openings to ground floor, segmental-headed to first floor, all having moulded architrave surrounds, painted masonry sills and timber sash windows.

Symmetrical three-bay front elevation with shallow entrance breakfront and recessed north wing being three windows wide. 2/2 timber sash windows to the first floor and the north wing with single-pane timber sash windows to the ground floor of the principal elevation having plain frieze and cornice above. Elaborate tripartite moulded stucco doorcase with original diamond panelled timber door and rectangular overlight flanked by plain sidelights in turn flanked by slender pilasters with oversized console brackets to a stepped lintel cornice, plain stepped frieze and dentilated cornice above. Door opens onto stone step to front gravel area.

North side elevation obscured by range of single-storey out offices and has a two-storey three-sided canted bay to the centre. This elevation has no decorative eaves brackets and few windows.

Multi-bay east rear elevation is five windows wide with the recessed north wing extending by a further three windows. 2/2 timber sash windows to the first floor, single-pane to the ground floor with plain frieze and cornice over.

South garden elevation has a two-storey three-sided canted bay with windows and detailing as per front elevation.

Setting:
Located at the end of a long bitmac avenue to the north of Ballinderry Road on its own landscaped grounds with mature trees and an ornamental garden and two redbrick walled garden structures to the north. Avenue opens onto the road via pair of swan-neck railed walls with decorative cast-iron railings and moulded concrete piers with decorative iron gates.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Hidden behind eaves cornice
Walling Ruled and lined render
Windows Original timber sash

Historical information

Springfield house first appears in its current form on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map for the Magheragall area (1900-01). This new villa replaced an earlier building which is located a short distance to the west. The earlier house appears on the first edition map (1834) and consisted of an oblong building and three out offices.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) tells us that Springfield was the seat of Major Richard Haughton. The writer described the house as ‘a very neat oblong house, slated and stands one-storey high … entrance from the road by a neat wrought iron gate at which stands a neat Porters Lodge.’ The Memoir describes that the house was originally a simple farmhouse but in c. 1777 a Mr. Edward Wakefield occupied it and rebuilt the house residing there until his lease expired in 1811. Major Haughton came into possession of the house in that year and made Springfield his seat until his death in 1828. His son Captain Richard Haughton, a local magistrate, then occupied the house and made improvements to the property. The Townland Valuation (c. 1830s) valued the house and its offices at £12. 18s.

By 1859 the site was occupied by a Mr. Joseph Richardson, a local merchant and Quaker; Griffith’s Valuation records that Springfield House, a gate house and its offices were valued at £80. The second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) shows that an extension to the house had been built connecting it to one of its out offices. During this period work began on the construction of a new house at Springfield; due to the high increase in value noted in Griffith’s Valuation it is likely that work began between 1857 and 1859. In 1863 the valuer observed that the value of the house appeared to be very low in comparison to similar houses in the county, stating that the low value was due to the house being unfinished. He concluded by stating that the new house cost £4,000 to build. The value of the house was not altered until 1872 when it was raised to £85; however, this was due to the addition of a second Gate House in that year. Joseph Richardson bought the property in 1906 by which time the house was depicted on the third edition Ordnance Survey map (1900-01) as a square building with a small out office to its north side. The former house had greatly expanded at this time, although it is unclear whether it was still used as a dwelling.

The 1901 Census records that Joseph Richardson (79) lived at Springfield with his wife Eliza (71) who was involved in the Flax, Corn and Linen Industry. The house was recorded as an extensive 1st class dwelling consisting of 16 inhabited rooms (22 in 1911) and almost 20 out offices, the majority of which were situated around the earlier house. Joseph Richardson died in 1906 and left effects of £83,120. 12s. 5d. to his son Joseph Robert Richardson who was noted as the occupant and owner of the house until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1928 (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 18/06/1906).

Rankin tells us that Joseph Richardson (1821-1906) married the daughter of Major Richard Haughton in 1850 and after he retired from the family business in Liverpool he acquired the original Springfield House in 1855. The Richardson family possessed a number of fine gentlemen’s seat such as Glenmore House, Old Forge and Lissue House. Upon coming into possession of Springfield Richardson employed the family’s trusted architect Thomas Jackson (1807-1890), a fellow Quaker and architect to the Ulster Bank and also Banbridge, Lisburn and Belfast Railway (Dictionary of Irish Architects). Jackson designed and built the new house and a new gate lodge at Springfield in his neo-classical style.

Rankin states that Springfield is exceptional being one of the last Linen Houses still held in private ownership with the majority of its original features intact. The house was occupied by the Richardson family until the end of the Annual Revisions but in 1928 a Mr. Fergus Wilson (1872-1957) came into possession of the house. Wilson was the director of Blackstaff Flax Spinning and Weaving Co. and later became the CO of the company. Wilson occupied Springfield with his sister until her death in 1950 when he moved to Belfast (Rankin, pp 101-102).

The first gate lodge built at Springfield was erected c. 1845; many of its neo-classical features were added by Thomas Jackson during his commission. ‘Lisburn Lodge’ was constructed at the same time as Springfield House c. 1857-59 by Jackson in his distinctive neo-classical style. During Fergus Wilson’s occupancy this second lodge was used as a residence for his chauffeur and family (Dean, p. 28). Brett states that the original Springfield house is still standing, describing it as a ‘pleasant 18th – century cottage with Georgian glazing’ and now possessing a slated roof (Brett, p. 113).

Springfield house was listed in 1977 and in 1992 renovation work was carried out on the roof of the house (NIEA File). The earlier house at Springfield has become a separate dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/63 – Field Map c.1830
2. PRONI VAL/1/B/174 – Townland Valuation
3. PRONI OS/6/1/63/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832
4. PRONI OS/6/1/63/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1857
5. PRONI OS/6/1/63/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-1901
6. PRONI OS/6/1/63/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1921
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/62 – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 A – Annual Revisions 1863-1865
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 B – Annual Revisions 1869-1881
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 C – Annual Revisions 1881-1894
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 D – Annual Revisions 1895-1908
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/13 E – Annual Revisions 1909-1928
13. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1906).

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of County Antrim’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1996.
2. Rankin, K., ‘The linen houses of the Lagan Valley’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
3. NIEA File – HB19/03/004.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached multi-bay two-storey stucco-fronted country house, built c.1860 and designed by Thomas Jackson, extended to the north c.1900. Located at the end of a long bitmac avenue on the north side of Ballinderry Road the original gate houses are still extant, now altered and in separate ownership. A substantial former linen merchant's house in its own extensive landscaped grounds the structure is of a standard Victorian design, but noteworthy for its level of intactness both internally and externally and the survival of its walled garden structures, adding to the wealth of architectural heritage in the rural Lisburn area.