45 Lisburn Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A slightly asymmetrical two-storey three-bay pebble-dashed mid-terrace house, built c.1800 and located east of Lisburn Street in Hillsborough town centre. Rectangular on plan with, to rear, a two-storey return, a single-storey flat-roof extension and an L-shaped extension incorporating porch.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks having tall clay pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods. Walling is pebble-dash with smooth rendered plinth and plat-band under eaves; smooth rendered to rear. Windows are 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash to ground floor and 2/2 to first floor, all in smooth rendered lugged surrounds with projecting masonry sills.

The principal elevation faces west and is three openings wide. To centre of ground floor is four-panelled entrance door with brass door furniture and transom light, in smooth rendered surround.

The north elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB19/05/062C).

The east (rear) elevation is abutted at right by the two-storey return, which is further abutted by the single-storey flat-roof extension. To left is the L-shaped single-storey extension incorporating porch with half-panelled timber door; uPVC window to first floor and skylight to roof; diminutive window opening at first floor level. The two-storey return has a uPVC window at first floor left and right (asymmetrically arranged). L-shaped extension with timber-sheeted door and timber-framed window. Modern glazed timber door to south elevation of flat-roof extension and large timber-framed window to east elevation.

The south elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB19/05/062A).

Setting:

Part of a well-preserved terrace of mainly eighteenth-century houses on the approach to Hillsborough town centre. Three steps enclosed by early cast-iron railing to front. Raised and elongated landscaped garden to rear enclosed by hedgerow and concrete block wall to north.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Pebble-dash
Windows: 2/2 and 1/1 timber-framed sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

No. 45 Lisburn Street first appears on a c. 1800 map and an illustrated plan of Hillsborough dated c. 1803 both of which depict it as an oblong building, situated at the northern end of Lisburn Street and occupied at that time by a Mr. Matty (perhaps a Mr. Philip Matty who died in 1818 – Graveyard Inscriptions, p. 82). Lisburn Street is the oldest part of the town of Hillsborough and witnessed development between c. 1800 and c. 1830 when the majority of buildings on the northern half of the street were constructed; at this time Lisburn Street was known as ‘Great Newport Street in reference to the construction of the Lagan Canal in the late eighteenth century (Barry, p. 39). No. 45 Lisburn Street is one of the earliest Georgian houses that were constructed in the mid to late 18th century before the later development of the street.

The first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1833) and the Townland Valuation map of c. 1830 show that a large rear return, or a lengthy outbuilding, had been added to the house along with a smaller out office to the rear of the yard. The Townland Valuation tells us that No. 45 Lisburn Street was valued at £6 6s. and was occupied by a Mr. Francis Ford at that time. Ford had vacated the house by 1861 when Griffith’s Valuation recorded that a Mr. James McCarthy had taken over possession of the house (which he let from the Marquis of Downshire). The valuer described the house as a 1B+ class dwelling which measured 10 by 6yds and possessed a single-storey pantry measuring 3 by 3yds; the entire property was valued at £8. McCarthy lived at No. 45 Lisburn Street until his death in 1864. His will records that he was a bachelor who worked in Belfast as a Bookkeeper and with his death passed effects of £300 to his brothers (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 5 January 1864). The house then passed to a Mr. James Reid who briefly resided there until it passed to a Mr. James [Jennings] in 1878. Jennings was recorded in the Annual Revisions as a Schoolmaster; however he does not appear in the Ulster Town Directory for 1877 or 1880 as the master of Hillsborough National School or any of the other smaller schools which were recorded. Jennings resided at No. 45 Lisburn Street until 1887 when the house briefly passed to a Mr. John Taylor before falling in vacant in 1889.

The house was not reoccupied until 1900 when a Mrs Margaret McGoveny came into possession. The 1901 Census tells us that McGoveny (81) resided at No. 45 Lisburn Street with her two sisters; the Census Building return described No. 45 Lisburn Street as a 2nd class private dwelling which possessed seven rooms and no out offices (an Annual Revision map of Hillsborough dated shows that the rear return or outbuilding depicted on the Townland Valuation map had been taken down between 1890 and 1908). Margaret McGoveny died in April 1909 at which time the house was occupied by a Ms. Jane Moore (Graveyard Inscriptions, p. 83). The 1911 Census tells us that Moore (57) lived at No. 45 Lisburn Street with her daughter Elizabeth Moore who was employed as a National School Teacher; however it is unclear which of the many schools based in Hillsborough she was employed with. Jane Moore occupied the house on Lisburn Street until the end of the Annual Revision in 1930; she died in 1942 leaving effects of £555 1s. 1d. to her daughter (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 20 January 1942).

Sometime between the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1919-20) and the 1966 Ordnance Survey map the current two-storey return was added to the rear of the building; in subsequent years a single-storey flat-roof extension was added to the rear of the return.

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/D/3/5 – Town Plan 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 1861
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
15. Census of Ireland 1901 / 1911
16. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1864, 1942)
17. Ulster Towns Directory (1877, 1880, 1901, 1910)
18. Ordnance Survey Map 184-5 (1966)

Secondary Sources

1. ‘Gravestone Inscriptions: Vol. 18 Co. Down’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1979.
2. Barry, J., ‘Hillsborough: A parish in the Ulster plantation’ (3rd ed.), Belfast, Universities Press., 1982.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A slightly asymmetrical two-storey three-bay pebble-dashed mid-terrace house, built c.1800 and located east of Lisburn Street in Hillsborough town centre. Simply detailed with banding around the windows, likely a later treatment, it retains some historic fabric. Forming a terrace of three similar houses, number 45 contributes to the character of the early nineteenth-century street. Although of interest it was not considered of special interest and does not meet the criteria for listing.

General comments

The record was renumbered from HB19/05/062.