2 Inns Court

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-storey rubblestone house, built c.1800, as one of four similar houses. Square on plan facing west onto cobbled cul-de-sac to the west of Park Lane. Currently vacant the building is interconnected to the adjoining house No.1 (HB19/05/064A).

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and two rooflights to the rear pitch. Replacement metal guttering on iron brackets to brick eaves course. Random rubblestone walling with redbrick surrounds to all openings. Square-headed window openings formed in redbrick with stone sills, 2/2 timber sash windows and exposed sash boxes.

Front elevation is two windows wide with a square-headed door opening formed in redbrick with replacement vertically-sheeted timber door.

North elevation abutted by adjoining house No.1 (HB19/05/064A).

Rear elevation has a single square-headed door opening with replacement timber glazed door.

South elevation abutted by adjoining house No.3 (HB19/05/064C).

Setting:
Rear garden shared with adjoining house No.1 enclosed to Park Lane by tall rubblestone walls. Front door opens onto cobbled cul-de-sac enclosed to Dromore Road by tall rubblestone wall with stone coping.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Metal
Walling Rubblestone
Windows Timber sash

Historical information

No. 2 Inns Court, one of a terrace of four two-storey houses (HB 19/05/064A-D) situated between Park Lane and the Dromore Road was constructed c. 1800 when the terrace first appears on an illustrated plan of Hillsborough in that year occupied by a Mr. Hanna. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and the contemporary Townland Valuation map (c. 1830) depict No. 2 Inns Court as a square shaped building on West Lane (a court off ‘Inns Lane,’ as Park Lane was known at that time); the Townland Valuation tells us that the house was valued less than £3 and was therefore exempt from valuation.

Griffith’s Valuation tells us that the first recorded occupant of No. 2 Inns Court (then known as Barrack Court) was a Mr. Samuel Burroughs who let the property from the Marquis of Downshire at a weekly rent of 9d in 1861. The valuer described the house as a 1B class dwelling which measured 5 ½ by 4 ½ ft and was valued at £2. Samuel Burroughs resided at No. 2 Barrack Court until 1868 when the property passed to a Mr. John Wilson who lived at this address for over a decade. In 1883 the house passed to Thomas McNamara whose son Hugh lived at the house until 1903; the 1901 Census tells us that Hugh McNamara, a 35 year old Roman Catholic store keeper resided at No. 2 Barrack Court with his wife Annie (34) and their five young children. The Census Building Return described the building as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of three rooms and possessed no out offices. In 1903 the house passed to a Mr. Albert Johnston and by 1911 James McConway, a local carpenter, had taken over possession of the house residing there until 1915. The dwelling changed hands twice more until a Mr. Arthur Walker became the last recorded occupant of the house in 1921 residing at No. 2 Barrack Court until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

Brett tells us that Inns Court was formerly known as Barrack Court; however he was not aware of any Barrack in the area to justify the name. He suggested that the officers of the South Down Militia (who resided at their headquarters in No. 7 The Square) may have quartered their grooms, batmen and other staff in these houses (Brett; Buildings of North County Down, p. 218). This is a likely theory as a c. 1800 map of Hillsborough records that a Commissary yard, used to store army provisions and perhaps horses, was situated to the south side of Barrack Court where the Shambles now stands; further, nos 3-4 Sleeping Place (HB 19/05/064C + D) was formerly used as a store and office although it is not known if this was for army use. Simon Walker suggests that the name Barrack Court came from a former barracks which was situated in Moira Street to the west of the houses but was closed c. 1820 when the area was enclosed within Hillsborough Castle Grounds (Walker, p. 16). In 1974 Brett described nos. 1-4 Inns Court as ‘two-storey houses of stone with brick trim, most windows unhappily altered, the upper pair (nos. 1 and 2) very aggressively re-pointed’ (Brett; Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, p. 17). Since that time nos. 1 and 2 Inns Court have been interconnected on both the ground and first floor in order to convert the buildings into an art gallery which operated from the buildings c. 1980.

No. 2 Inns Court is now once more primarily used as a private dwelling although the interconnection between it and No. 2 remain; the house is in a good state of preservation despite the significant alteration to its original layout, although both houses are vacant at this time.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI VAL/1/B/344 A-B – Townland Valuations 1834
2. PRONI VAL/1/A/3/14 – Field Map 1834
3. PRONI D671/M/8/25 – Hillsborough Map c.1800
4. PRONI D671/M/8/57/1 – Hillsborough Illustrated Map 1803
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
15. Census of Ireland 1901 / 1911

Secondary Sources

1. 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.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of North County Down’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002.
3. Walker, S., ‘Hillsborough: An illustrated history and companion’ Belfast: Cottage Publications, 1994).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid terraced two-storey rubblestone house, built c.1800. One of four similar houses, possibly the former quarters of auxiliary staff of the South Down Militia (who resided at their headquarters in No. 7 The Square), it retains its modest historic features to the exterior. Despite being remodelled internally to incorporate no. 1 Inns Court (HB19/05/064A), it retains some early fabric including a timber stair and forms part of an intact terrace with group value with nos. 3 & 4 Inns Court (HB19/05/064 C-D). Situated in the historic centre of Hillsborough village near the main Square, it is set within its original cobbled cul-de-sac bounded by high rubble stone walls and is a good example of a Georgian utilitarian terrace building.

General comments

The record was renumbered from HB19/05/064.
Listing Criteria U, R, S & T also apply.