4 Inns Court

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace two-storey rubblestone house, built c.1800, as one of four similar houses. Rectangular on plan facing west onto cobbled cul-de-sac to the west of Park Lane. Renovated c.1986.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and a redbrick chimneystack to the south. Replacement metal guttering on iron brackets to brick eaves course. Random rubblestone walling with squared granite quoins and redbrick surrounds to all openings. Square-headed window openings formed in redbrick with stone sills and replacement timber sash windows.

Front elevation is two windows wide with a recessed bay to the south. 2/2 timber sash windows to the first floor with exposed sash boxes, 3/3 to the ground floor. Square-headed door opening formed in redbrick with replacement glazed door.

North elevation abutted by adjoining house No.3 (HB19/05/064C) with north elevation to rear section overlooking the accretions to No.3 having a single window opening.

Rear gabled elevation fronting onto Park Lane with a single recessed door opening formed in redbrick and opening directly onto the street.

South elevation fronting onto the cobbled lane opening onto Park Lane. Large window opening to the upper floor with fixed-pane landscape window. To the ground floor is a further landscape window opening with timber casement windows and a square-headed door opening with modern tripartite timber doorcase and two concrete steps.

Setting:
Former front door opens onto cobbled cul-de-sac enclosed to Dromore Road by tall rubblestone wall with stone coping, while the current front door opens directly onto the cobbled lane which opens onto Park Lane.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Metal
Walling Rubblestone
Windows Timber sash

Historical information

No. 4 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. 4 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 building was valued less than £3 and was therefore exempt from valuation. No. 4 Inns Court was originally a single property with the adjoining No. 3, both buildings being used as an office and 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 and later by his son Edward Johnston; the 1901 Census described Edward Johnston as a 37 year old Anglican joiner who lived at this address with his wife Rebecca (38) and their five young children. The 1901 Census Building Return described the newly converted house as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of three rooms and continued to be let from the Marquis of Downshire. By 1911 the house had passed to John Bradley, a 76 year old labourer, who lived at the property in that year with his wife Elizabeth (73), until his death in 1917 (PRONI Wills Catalogue, 8 January 1917), after which the building changed hands a number of times before being occupied in 1928 by Thomas Thompson who was the last occupant to be recorded in the Annual Revisions which ended 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 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).

No. 4 Inns court is unique amongst the buildings on this small terrace as the main entrance has been moved to the south elevation whilst the original door has been converted into a window; field research conducted at the site has found that the house was extensively renovated c. 1986 when the interior was remodelled and a modern sunroom was added to the south elevation resulting in the loss of most 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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1917)
16. 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

End of terrace 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 and extended c.1986 with relocation of the main entrance to south, it forms part of an intact terrace and has group value with the nos. 1-3 (HB19/05/064 A-C). 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.