3 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 with single-storey rear extension and conservatory.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and single redbrick chimneystack to the south. 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 rendered reveals, stone sills, replacement 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 half door.

North elevation abutted by adjoining house No.2 (HB19/05/064B).

Rear elevation not visible.

South elevation abutted by adjoining house No.4 (HB19/05/064D).

Setting:
Rear extension and conservatory enclosed to Park Lane by tall rubblestone wall. 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. 3 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. 3 Inns Court as an oblong 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. No. 3 Inns court was originally a single property with the adjoining No. 4, both buildings being used as offices and a store house until converted into two houses in 1895.

Nos 3-4 Barrack Court (as West Lane was know from c. 1860) were simply recorded as offices in the 1861 Griffith’s Valuation, however the description was altered to ‘Store’ in the same year; the valuer tells us that the building was let from the Marquis of Downshire by a Ms. Sarah Lutton (who resided in No. 8 The Square) . The building was described as a 1B+ store which measured 10 ½ by 4 ½ yds and was valued at £3. Sarah Lutton continued to possess the store until her death in 1869 when her son Samuel Lutton came into possession of all her property; Samuel Lutton similarly possessed the store until his own death in 1882 (Graveyard Inscriptions p. 76). In 1883 a Mr. Robert Johnston came into possession of the store and it was during his occupancy that the building was converted into two houses (nos 3 and 4 Barrack Court) in 1895. No. 4 Barrack Court continued to be occupied by Robert Johnston whilst No. 3 came into the possession of a Mr. Joseph Waters in 1895, and then by Samuel Lilly who the 1901 Census tells us was a 36 year old Anglican labourer who resided at this address with his wife Catherine (38) and their two young daughters. The Census Building Return of 1911 described the newly converted house as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of five rooms and possessed a piggery and workshop as it’s only out offices. By 1911 the house had passed to James Henry Thompson, a 62 year old Presbyterian Mason who lived there with his wife Eliza (57); following her husband’s death c. 1911, Eliza Thompson vacated the house which passed in 1912 to a Mr. Arthur Walker who resided there for a decade. The final recorded occupants of the house were a Mr. Thomas Green, who occupied the dwelling between 1921 and 1928, and Henry McKeown who came into possession of the house in 1928 and resided there until at least 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 Barracks 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 perhaps suggesting why nos 3-4 Inns Court were formerly used as a store and office (although it cannot be confirmed if the building as used 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 Place 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).

No. 3 Inns court continues to be occupied and is in a good state of preservation although the house was extensively renovated c. 1990 resulting in the loss of some original features.

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).
4. ‘Gravestone Inscriptions: Vol. 18 Co. Down’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1979.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
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 character to the exterior. Despite being renovated c.1990 with some original fabric replaced, it forms part of an intact terrace and has group value with the nos. 1, 2 & 4 (HB19/05/064 A, B & 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.