241 Moira Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-bay one and a half storey rendered local authority house, built c.1910. Rectangular on plan facing north with front entrance porch and lean-to to rear, located on the south side of Moira Road within its own site.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and cement verges. Two redbrick chimneystacks to either gable end with moulded timber bargeboards supported on decorative timber brackets to the gables and cast-iron guttering on timber fascia, timber sheeted eaves and cast-iron downpipes. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling with projecting render plinth course. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and 6/6 timber sash windows with ogee horns.

Two-bay single-storey front elevation abutted by gable-fronted entrance porch having terracotta ball finial to the pitched roof and a square-headed door opening to the west cheek with original sheeted and glazed timber door.

East gable has a pair of window openings to the upper level.

Rear elevation has a single window opening to the right and abutted by a rendered redbrick lean-to having felt-covered roof and sheeted timber door.

West gable has two window openings to the upper level and a single slender window opening to the ground floor with 4/4 timber sash window.

Setting:
Positioned to the south of Moira Road with a small front garden enclosed by hedgerow and pair of wrought-iron gates on iron posts.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Ruled and lined render
Windows Timber sash

Historical information

This two-storey Local Authority House first appears on the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1920-21) where it is depicted as a small square building situated in the Townland of Broughmore along the Moira Road. The house was constructed in 1911 by Lisburn Rural District Council, was valued at £1 10s. and was purchased outright from the council in 1911 by a Mr. James Johnston (Annual Revisions). The 1911 Census tells us that James Johnston, a 34 year old Methodist farm labourer resided in the house with his wife Mary (34) and their three young children. The Census Building Return describes the Authority House as a 2nd class private dwelling which contained five rooms and possessed a fowl house and a shed as its only out offices.

The construction of public housing for small labourers and farmers throughout Ireland was made possible with the Labourer’s Acts, first passed in 1883, which allowed local authorities, such as the Lisburn Rural District Council, to construct over 50,000 new cottages for landless labourers, with the aid of financial assistance from the state. The majority of these cottages were simple, functional dwellings which were constructed in the outskirts of major urban areas and villages. In the province of Ulster just under 10,000 such cottages were built or improved between the years 1891 and 1911, although construction of their type continued for some time after Partition (Aalen, pp 161-163).

This Local Authority House is typical of this type of labourers’ cottage which was prevalent throughout Ireland; No. 241 Moira Road has lain vacant for some years and has fallen into a state of dilapidation; field inspection has found that a shed at the rear of the yard was formerly used as a religious meeting hall, however this has similarily fallen into a state of ruin. Planning Permission was granted in 2011 for this building to be replaced with a new dwelling.

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/67/1 - First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1832-33
2. PRONI OS/6/1/67/2 - Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/67/3 - Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1900
4. PRONI OS/6/1/67/4 - Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-21
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/56A – Griffith’s Valuation 1860
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/12A – Annual Revisions 1863-1880
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/12B – Annual Revisions 1880-1889
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/12C – Annual Revisions 1889-1901
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/12D – Annual Revisions 1901-1912
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/12E – Annual Revisions 1912-1929

Secondary Sources
1. Aalen, F. H. A.; Whelan, K.; Stout, M., ‘Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape’ Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached two-bay one and a half storey rendered local authority house, built c.1910. A typical example of an early twentieth-century local authority house retaining all original fabric but in an advanced state of disrepair. The construction of public housing for small labourers and farmers throughout Ireland was made possible with the Labourer’s Acts, first passed in 1883, which allowed local authorities, such as the Lisburn Rural District Council, to construct over 50,000 new cottages for landless labourers, with the aid of financial assistance from the state. About 10,000 were built in n Ireland.