The Plough Inn

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced former pair of two-storey rendered buildings, built c.1780. Facing west on the east side of The Square, adjacent to the gates of Hillsborough Fort (HB19/05/043), with several extensions to the rear elevation and an incorporated carriage arch.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, rendered chimneystack to the south gable and rebuilt brick chimneystack to the north, both having terracotta pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to moulded eaves course; cast-iron downpipes. Painted ruled and lined render walling and projecting plinth course. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement tripartite timber sash windows to the first floor.

Two-storey front elevation, four windows wide with square-headed carriage-arch opening to the left bay, glazed fascia to the centre and vernacular type shopfront to the right hand bay. Below the fascia are three shop display windows (c.1900) with three small leaded coloured lights to the top of each, also square-headed former door opening with double leaf glazed timber doors and two lights over, as above. To the right hand bay is an early twentieth-century triple-arched shopfront window with fixed glazing and a square-headed door opening with replacement glazed timber door with rectangular overlight.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.2 (HB19/05/31B).

Rear elevation abutted by several gabled and flat-roofed extensions to eaves level of the rear pitch, dating from the late twentieth-century.

South gabled side elevation is blank, abutting gate screen to Hillsborough Fort (HB19/05/043).

Setting:
Street-fronted, facing west terminating the terrace at its north end abutted by the gates to Hillsborough Fort (HB19/05/043). Facing the former Market House and Hillsborough Castle with its long rear plot retaining the rubblestone boundary wall to Hillsborough Forest Park.

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

Historical information

A date for this building is difficult to establish as it has been much altered over the years and although buildings are shown on early estate maps, these may have been replaced or remodelled. There are no buildings on the site on an estate map of 1777, but, by 1788 a schematic row of buildings occupies the eastern side of the square. An estate map of c.1800 shows a single building on the site occupying the footprint of what is now numbers 3 and 4 the Square. It is shown as rectangular on plan with a small return and outbuildings to the rear. The house is noted to be the residence of ‘Halliday’.

By the time of the Townland Valuation (1828-40), numbers three and four are shown and listed as two separate dwellings. The current house is listed as the residence of William Ellis with a valuation of £14.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) gives Thomas Loughlin as the occupier and he leases the property from Dr John Munroe. It is now stated to be a public house valued at £15.15s, later raised to £17. Dimensions are given for a house and gateway and four outoffices.

An 1877 street directory lists the building as the ‘Plough Hotel’, run by Mrs Loughlin.

Annual Revisions describe the building as a house until 1891 when it is again described as a public house. It remains the property of the Laughlin family for some years, eventually passing to James Crothers in 1891 and Joseph Crothers (1906), A number of occupiers follow, Thomas McManus in 1907, Thomas McCabe (1908), William Brown (1909) and William Henry Loane in 1923. It remains a licensed premises throughout this period.

In 1976 the building was listed and there have been a number of extensions and additions to the rear. In 2000, what had been a second floor flat was converted into a licensed area, and the building remains in use as a pub, ‘The Plough Inn’.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/344A-B – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/5 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c.1834)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14/A-E – Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
9. PRONI VAL/12/E/102/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan ([c.1864]-1909)
10. D671/M/8/2 – Map of Hillsborough, 1771
11. T3153/1 – Map of Hillsborough, 1788
12. D671/M/8/25 – Map of Hillsborough c.1800
13. D671/M/8/57 – Map of Hillsborough 1803
14. Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory, 1877

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Terraced two-storey rendered pair of former houses, No's 3 and 4 built c.1800, now incorporated into one building, set on the east side of The Square, facing west. This building has been much altered throughout the twentieth century and now retains little historic fabric or detailing, apart from some early twentieth century ground floor windows to the front elevation. Its scale and proportions, however, continue to add significant interest to Hillsborough Conservation Area.