The Shambles

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached symmetrical U-plan range of rubblestone single-storey market building, built 1829. Located on the east side of Dromore Road arranged around a green space enclosed to Dromore Road by decorative cast-iron railings. No longer in use.

Arranged around a lawned space with the central spine on a north-south axis to the east of the green having a central raised carriage house and pair of projections to the north and south. Single pitched natural slate roof with black brick coping to the wall. Hipped natural slate roof to the central carriage house with lead ridges. Cast-iron rainwater goods on iron brackets. Rubblestone walling with redbrick window and gate linings to the carriage house, north screen wall and rear east elevation, painted brick walling to remainder. Elliptical-headed openings to ground level with replacement glazed timber doors and fixed-pane windows. The south projection is largely an open arcade with cast-iron columns supporting the roof

The raised carriage house has roughly squared sandstone quoins and a three-centred redbrick carrige arch with cobbled floor and sandstone eaves course.

East elevation fronting onto Park Lane has a central gable (corresponding to the carriage house) and diminutive elliptical-headed redbrick lined window openings on a raised continuous sandstone sill course with fixed-pane glazing. Single round-headed opening to the carriage house formed in redbrick with iron pedestrian gate.

Setting:
To the west elevation of the north projection is a tall rubblestone screen wall with sandstone coping and a single square-headed window opening formed in redbrick. The wall also encloses the rear yard to No.1 Park Lane (HB19/05/149B), and continues at an angle with an elliptical-headed opening formed in redbrick with steel pedestrian gate. Cobblestone front the entire elevation facing the green with an iron weighbridge to the north screen wall and three granite bollards. The green is enclosed to Dromore Road by decorative cast-iron railings on a low plinth wall with sandstone coping and matching gates and cylindrical decorative cast-iron piers.

Roof Single pitched natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rubblestone / painted brick
Windows Replacement fixed-pane

Historical information

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs for Hillsborough state that the Shambles was built in 1829 ‘at the expense of the Marquis of Downshire’ occupying ‘a space 60 feet long and 30 feet broad.’ It replaced an earlier ‘Shambles’ and pound which appear on an 1803 plan of Hillsborough opposite the Old Rectory on the modern Dromore Road. An earlier map of the town c.1800 shows that a commisary yard, which probably stored army provisions, originally occupied the site of the current shambles.

In 1834 the Townland Valuations list the Shambles as ‘Shambles, sheds and yard’ and value the buildings at £5. 4s. after one third of its worth had been deducted. Griffith’s Valuation records the Shambles as a ‘market place and sheds’ occupied by Thomas Crozier a Weigh master who operated the weigh bridge in the Shambles until 1870 when David Caruthers replaced him. After 1874 the Marquis of Downshire appears as the sole occupant of the Shambles and from the period of Griffith’s Valuation until 1930 the Shambles was continually valued at £ 10.

Barry suggests that the first shambles dated from the time of Wills Hill (1718 – 1793) and that it was most likely replaced due to ‘a raising of the road level’ to facilitate the building of the Moira Road in 1826 and because after this date the Shambles would have fallen within the ‘newly-enclosed area of the Castle grounds’ (Barry p. 35). Brett notes that the Shambles was used as a ‘pen for cattle travelling the Dublin Road’ (Brett: ‘Historic Buildings,’ p. 17). The weigh bridge was installed around 1830 by H. Pooley & Son and is still survives in the yard (Brett: ‘Buildings Co. Down’, p. 218).

In 1970 the Shambles were modified for a new use as an Art Centre providing an open air exhibit space for artists, although the centre did not fulfil its potential. Brett states that ‘no doubt because of the troubles, the Art Centre has not really flourished: and apart from a thin scattering of outdoor sculptures too heavy to be conveniently stolen, has been converted into offices’ (Brett). Since the opening of the Hillsborough Village Centre on Ballynahinch Street in 2005, the Shambles has not been used as an art centre. Despite this the Shambles today are well presented and preserved.

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

Secondary Sources

1. Barry, J., ‘Hillsborough: A parish in the Ulster plantation’ (3rd ed.), Belfast, Universities Press., 1982.
2. 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.
3. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of North County Down’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002.

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

Evaluation

Attached symmetrical U-plan range of rubblestone single-storey market structures, built 1829. Located on the east side of Dromore Road arranged around a green space, the structures are enclosed to the Dromore Road with original cast-iron railings and include the original 19th century weighbridge. Although not in use, this former market structure remains in good condition with most materials intact. The symmetrical composition and agricultural associations make this a rare remnant of the former farming economy of the town. With its associations with Hillsborough Castle and located south of The Square it has group value with the Castle(HB19/05/076A) and Court House (HB19/05/030) and contributes to the rich built heritage of the town.

General comments

This record has been re-numbered, formerly HB19/05/073
Criteria R,S and T also apply.