11 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terrace two-storey over basement late eighteenth century stone and brick house, with railed basement area and three-storey rendered return built c.2005. Rectangular on plan facing east located on the west side of Main Street Hillsborough, with semi-detached two-storey stone mews building, now in residential use.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and single redbrick chimneystack with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to redbrick eaves course, cast-iron hopper and downpipe shared with adjoining house No.13 (HB19/05/020). Rubblestone walling with lime pointing. Square-headed window openings formed in redbrick with replacement 6/6 timber sash windows and sandstone sills.

Front elevation is three windows wide with off-centre front entrance and railed basement area. Elliptical-headed door opening formed in redbrick containing replacement timber panelled door flanked by pair of sidelights with interlacing tracery supporting lintel cornice and original timber webbed fanlight above. Door opens onto two concrete steps bridging basement area enclosed by decorative cast-iron railings, also enclosing basement area on low render plinth wall. Replacement multi-pane timber casement window to basement.

South side elevation abutted by No.13.

Rear elevation abutted by gabled three-storey cement rendered return and further flat-roofed projection at basement level. Replacement 6/6 timber sash windows to the exposed rubblestone section of the rear elevation, that to the ground floor having exposed sash box. Square-headed door opening to basement level with replacement sheeted half-door and sidelights. Glazed doors to the lower projection all opening onto gravel rear yard.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.9 (HB19/05/018) and its carriage arch.

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of houses of varying dates lining the west side of Main Street Hillsborough on a sloping site. Semi-detached two-storey rubblestone and redbrick former coach house to rear, now in use as a dwelling with pitched natural slate roof, square-headed window openings formed in modern redbrick with fixed pane windows and a former redbrick carriage arch now used as the front entrance.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rubblestone / redbrick
Windows Replacement timber sash

Historical information

A building first appears on the site on a plan of Hillsborough, c.1800 as a single oblong building which incorporates both Nos. 9 and No. 11 Main Street; an oblong out office is also depicted, at that time shared between the two houses, and the entire site is recorded as the property of a Mr. McIlboy. On the first Ordnance Survey map of Hillsborough in 1833, No. 11 is depicted as a small terraced house with a return situated at the bottom of the hill on Main Street. The house was exempt from the Townland Valuation of the 1830s, presumably as it was not worth the minimum £3 value, however, No. 9 Main Street, with which it shared a coach-arch, was worth £4. 4s. and was occupied by a Mr William Wright.

By Griffith’s Valuation (1861) both Nos 9 and 11 Main Street were owned by a Ms. Mary Kincaid; both were unoccupied at this time, however, a note by the valuer stated that No. 9 Main Street had until recently been occupied by a Mr Mark Wardhaugh, an agent of Lord Downshire, who very likely occupied No. 11 as well. The value of No. 11 increased greatly to £12. 10s. since the 1830s, the valuers describing the house as a 1B+ class house measuring eight by eight yards and two-storeys tall. The valuer also recorded that the rear out office roughly measured the same size of the house and was a 1B class structure.

In 1864 the house was occupied by a Ms. Eliza Johnston and then by the Rev T. Boyd. By that time the house (and No. 9 Main Street) had been bought by the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church on Meeting Street for use as the Church Manse. In 1880 a Ms. Forbes is recorded as the sole occupant of No. 11 whilst the Rev. Galbraith Johnston occupied the next door residence. Forbes is replaced on the Valuation list in 1897 by the Rev. W. C. Steele who occupied the house until 1904 when a Mr. Samuel Johnston came into possession, although a Mrs. Steele continued to occupy No. 9 Main Street in 1916. Samuel Johnston briefly resided in the house until 1911 when a Mr. Robert Bell became the last occupant recorded by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

The 1901 Census records that the occupant of the house in 1901 was the Rev. William, Charles Steele (40) who lived in the small Manse with his wife Annie Steele (40) and their infant daughter Ruby (1). A 1st class dwelling consisting of eight inhabited rooms, the rear out office was used as a stable at that time. At some time between 1901 and 1911 No. 11 was no longer used as the Church Manse. In 1911 Robert Bell (40), a baker, lived in Main Street with his wife Mary (33) and their young son Freddy (2). In that year the out office to the rear of the house was used as a store as well as a stable.

Walker states that No. 9 and 11 Main Street were built towards the end of the 18th century when the town was being greatly expanded; Brett tells us that they were designed as a ‘single seven-bay unit with a shared coach-arch in the centre’ (Brett, p. 220; Walker). Barry states that the Presbyterian Church in Hillsborough was opened in 1833 and at some stage (the Annual Revisions state 1864) the house was purchased by Trustees of the Church who converted it into a Manse. The Manse was the residence of a number of Presbyterian Ministers including the Rev. Galbraith Johnston (incumbent 1857-88), who had served in the Crimean War (1853-56) as a chaplain to the forces. The Rev. W. C. Steele was installed as minister in 1891 and during his incumbency erected a new Manse on the Hillsborough-Lisburn Road at a cost of £1,200 (Barry, pp 84-86).

Field inspection supports a date of Lte 18th century; the rear out offices, originally used by Nos. 9 and 11 as coach houses, have since been converted into separate dwellings. In 1974 Brett described the house as ‘stucco, two-storey and basement, Victorian-glazed, with a fine wide three-light doorcase with fan, and good railing’ (Brett, UAHS, p. 22). The building was listed in 1976 and in 1980 renovation work was carried out on the house. In 1994 a conservatory was added to the rear return of the house and in 1999 renovation work was carried out on the old Victorian windows (NIEA File). In 2002 Brett returned to the house and noted the restoration work carried out in recent years: ‘Since then the stucco has all been hacked off … the work has been sensitively done and the modest façade disclosed is quite charming, perhaps the prettiest of all the pretty buildings in Hillsborough Main Street.’ Brett’s only criticism of the renovation is that No. 9 was not similarly restored in keeping with their shared design (Brett, Buildings North County Down, p. 220). The house was extended c.2005.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI D671/M/8/25 – Hillsborough Map c.1800
2. PRONI D671/M/8/57/1 – Hillsborough Illustrated Map 1803
3. PRONI VAL/1/B/344 A-B – Townland Valuations 1834
4. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/14 – Field Map 1834
5. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
6. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
7. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903
8. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920
9. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1856-64
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14A – Annual Revisions 1864-1879
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14B – Annual Revisions 1880-1889
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14C – Annual Revisions 1890-1908
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14D – Annual Revisions 1909-1928
14. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14E – Annual Revisions 1928-1930

Secondary Sources

1. Barry, J., ‘Hillsborough: A parish in the Ulster plantation’ (3rd ed.), Belfast, Universities Press., 1982.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1974.
3. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of North County Down’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002.
4. Walker, S., ‘Hillsborough: An illustrated history and companion’ Belfast: Cottage Publications, 1994).
5. NIEA File – HB19/05/019.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid-terrace two-storey over basement stone and brick house, built c.1800, located on the west side of Main Street on a sloping site. With its original style and proportions intact on the front elevation, it has group value with its neighbour no. 9 Main St., (HB19/05/018), both buildings possibly originally built as a single seven-bay unit with a shared coach-arch. Despite being altered with its render removed, it has been sensitively restored and contributes significantly to the intact Georgian character of Main St., Hillsborough.

General comments

Listing Criteria R & S also apply.