8 The Square

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Semi-detached three-storey over basement rendered Georgian townhouse, built c.1740, as one of a pair. Rectangular on plan facing north with railed basement area located on the south side of The Square on the corner of Park Lane.

Pitched natural slate roof, black clay ridge tiles and large rendered chimneystack rising from south gable. Cast-iron guttering supported on iron brackets to moulded sandstone eaves cornice returning to the gable with cast-iron downpipe. Dry-dash rendered walling with smooth render quoins and painted render plinth course above basement . Square-headed window openings with smooth render surrounds, painted masonry sills and timber sash windows.

Front north elevation is three windows wide with door opening to the right hand side bay. Largely original timber sash windows including 3/3 to the second floor and 6/6 to the remainder with continuous sill course to the ground floor, no horns and some cylinder glass. Single-pane timber sash window to the basement and other replacements. Round-arched door opening with painted quadrant moulded surround having impost mouldings, keystone and original timber door with six raised and fielded panels above three flush panels, lintel cornice and webbed timber fanlight over. Door opens onto granite paved platform, shared with neighbouring house, and five granite steps enclosed to basement area by wrought-iron railing on low rendered plinth wall with stone coping enclosing basement area.

East gable is blank, fronting onto Park Lane.

Four-storey rear elevation with an irregular window pattern resulting from the windows to the half-landings. The basement and ground floor levels are two windows wide while the first and second floors are three windows wide. Largely original timber sash windows including 3/3 to second floor, 6/6 to remainder except the basement having 8/4. A single square-headed door opening at basement level with timber panelled and glazed timber door opening into the garden.

West elevation abutted by neighbouring house.

Setting
One of a pair of houses dominating the south side of The Square overlooking the former Market House and Hillsborough Castle, built on a slender plot between Dromore Road to the west and Park Lane to the east. The pair of houses also dominate the long streetscape of Main Street when looking uphill from the north end. Small rear garden enclosed by rubblestone walls with small brick shed to the south end.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Dry-dash render
Windows Timber sash

Historical information

The current house appears to have originally been part of a row of houses, built c.1740 as part of the plans of Lord Hillsborough to develop the town and foster linen-making and, as such, is one of the oldest buildings in this part of Hillsborough.

A map of 1745 shows a terrace of houses running along the south side of the square and it may be one of the ranges which is referred to in Harris’s survey of County Down (1744). “The present Right Honourable Lord [Wills Hill, later first Marquess of Downshire]...has fixed on a Plan for a new Town to be built in the Form of a large Square, with a stately Market House in the centre; to settle in which great Encouragement will be given to Linen Manufacturers. His Lordship has already erected two Ranges of commodious Houses, to each of which are annexed a Garden...” An estate map of c.1800 shows the resident of the current house as Mr Magill and the house is rectangular on plan with outbuildings to the rear. (Harris, p.95)

The remainder of the row had been partially demolished by the first edition of 1833, as part of Lord Downshire’s scheme to re-route the Moira Road away from Hillsborough Castle, and was completely cleared by the second edition (1858).

The current house and its neighbour are listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) as a single dwelling occupied by Henry Jefferson and valued at £16.16s.

By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house was listed as two separate dwellings. The current building was occupied by Anne Green, a ‘tea and coffee dealer’ who ran a small shop on the premises. The valuation was £13.10s, later raised to £15 and the yearly rent was £10 which the valuer describes as ‘low’. Dimensions are given for the house, basement and scullery.

The house remained the residence of the Green family until 1906, when following the death of Charlotte Green, Spinster, the property passed to the Rev. Charles W Harkness in 1907. Rev. Harkness was Curate at Hillsborough from 1901-4 and Rector of Kilwarlin Parish Church from 1906 to 1928. (Clergy of Down and Connor, Part II, p.127, 152)

A number of tenants follow: Isabella McCanna (1908), William J Biller (1912) and Eleanor Payne (1920)

The house was listed in 1976 and remains in use as a private residence. (NIEA file)

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/A/3/14 – Townland Valuation Field Map (c.1830)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/344A-B – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/5 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c.1834)
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14/A-E – Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
10. PRONI VAL/12/E/102/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan ([c.1864]-1909)
11. PRONI D671/M/8/2 – Map of Hillsborough, 1771
12. PRONI T3153/1 – Map of Hillsborough, 1788
13. PRONI D671/M/8/25 – Map of Hillsborough c.1800
14. PRONI D671/M/8/57 – Map of Hillsborough 1803
15. PRONI Will of Charlotte Green, died 28/4/03
16. Copy map of 1845, supplied by estate office
17. Harris, W. and Smith, C. “The Antient and Present State of the County of Down” Dublin: A. Reilly, 1744 (Reprinted Ballynahinch: Davidson, 1977)
18. NIEA file – HB19/05/038A

Secondary Sources

1. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996

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

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Semi-detached three-storey over basement rendered Georgian townhouse, built c.1740. Facing north on the south side of The Square, the house retains its early appearance and includes a variety of original materials both internally and externally. Part of a group of two with no. 9 The Square, (HB19/05/038B) and located beside Hillsborough Castle (HB19/05/076A) and the Court House, the buildings dominate the south side of the square. The houses, originating from plans of Lord Downshire to develop the town during the 18th century, exhibit fine Georgian proportions and contribute greatly to the character of Hillsborough when approaching the town from the north or the south.

General comments

This record has been renumbered it was previously HB19/05/038.