Legacurry House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey, three bay detached house, built c.1855 on the site of an earlier dwelling, and located north of Crossan Road Lisburn. L-shaped on plan with full-height flat-roof extension and glass conservatory to rear; single-storey porch to north and east.

Hipped natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles; painted masonry centred chimneystacks with three tall terracotta pots on plinth. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is painted roughcast render with quoins and smooth rendered plinth. Windows are 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash with horns in moulded surrounds to first floor having label moulds to ground floor (east elevation only).

The principal elevation faces west and is three openings wide; rectangular porch to centre accessed by three curved slated steps, with four raised-and-fielded panelled timber door (those to top section are segmental-headed).

The north elevation has a window to ground and first floor.

The east elevation is abutted by full-height flat-roof return having two modern timber-framed windows to first floor and two diminutive windows to left at ground floor. Exposed section to north has a single window to ground floor. Left wing is blank to gable; south elevation has two windows to first floor; modern glass conservatory to ground floor with modern glazed timber door to right.

The south elevation is four openings wide; three windows to left with central gabled porch and a window at each floor to right bay at some distance. Porch has four-panelled replacement timber door with brass door furniture; surmounted by transom light.

Setting:

Single-storey vernacular dwelling, now outbuilding, to east with low rubblestone retaining wall to small raised woodland area; outbuilding having replacement natural slates to pitched roof and rubble stone chimney to gable; small rubble stone extension to east with natural slate roof. Main elevation faces south and is three openings wide with central timber-sheeted door; modern timber garage doors to north elevation.

Situated in mature grounds on the junction of Upper Ballynahinch Road and Crossan Road. Gravelled entrance accessed via polygonal sandstone gate piers with plinth and pointed caps; decorative wrought iron gates and railings and low rubblestone wall mounted with cast metal railings to south boundary; enclosed by mature trees to all sides.

Roof: Hipped natural slate
Walling: Roughcast
Windows: Mainly 6/6 sliding sash with horns
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Legacurry House first appears on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map as an oblong building situated to the north of Legacurry village. The single-storey vernacular dwelling which survives at the current site is shown from the first edition map situated to the east of the house. The larger western dwelling recorded in the 1834 Ordnance Survey map was originally also a single-storey dwelling and was occupied by the Morrow family from as early as 1834 when a Mr. James Morrow was recorded in the Townland Valuation. At that time the house was recorded as a C+ class dwelling measuring 50ft by 21ft which possessed a number of outbuildings including a corn kiln and mill. The entire site was valued at £57 2s. whilst a flax mill associated with the site was valued separately at £13 13s. 6d. The valuer observed that the mill (not specified) did not have a constant supply of water for around 8 months in the year resulting in very little production. The mill was originally located to the south of the house but has now been taken down and built over by a residential area.

The current Victorian two-storey dwelling and its rear return were constructed by 1859 on the site of the previous property; the layout of the site has not been changed since 1859 except that a small outbuilding recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of that year has since been taken down. Griffith’s Valuation records that a Mr. Robert Morrow had taken over the site in 1861 by which time the combined value of the house and the mill had decreased to £38. The valuer observed that the mill was still not operating at full capacity as of the ‘three stones in this mill, only two [are] used at one time and [the] third occasionally for grinding flour ... it seems not to be used more than once per week during the season which is about eight months.’

Robert Morrow occupied the house until his death in 1897 by which time the corn mill and its kiln had fallen out of use; the value of the site was subsequently split between the house which was valued at £17 and the mill which was worth £18. Morrow’s will records that he died on 9th January 1897 and left effects of £2478 6s. 6d. to a Mr. Hugh G. Morrow, a Belfast Mill Manager and Andrew John Morrow (43) of Duneight House (HB 19/06/019A), presumably his sons (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 19/01/1897).

With Morrow’s death Legacurry House briefly passed to a Mr. Francis B. Walkington who occupied the house until 1902 at which time Samuel Brown bought the disused mill and the house, residing there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The 1901 and 1911 Census tell us that Brown occupied Legacurry House with his wife Annabella and their four children. Brown was born c. 1855 and was recorded as a farmer in the 1901 census but was later described as a farmer and mill owner by 1911. Both the 1901 and 1911 census described Legacurry house as a 1st class dwelling; however while the 1901 return indicates that the house had 10 rooms, the latter census notes that it possessed 17 rooms. The census records that Brown possessed a large number of farm buildings including a stable, two cow houses, a dairy, piggery, barn, fowl house and a boiling house. By 1911 Brown had added a coal house to his already extensive holdings. The annual revisions record that the Corn mill lay vacant until 1920 when Samuel Brown briefly reoccupied it; however it fell vacant again in 1922 and remained so until the end of the Annual Revisions.

Because of the difficulties faced by the business due to the sporadic production of the mill, Brett found it difficult to explain how the construction of the new house (c.1850) was supported. He described the new house as a ‘three-bay, two-storey ... with Georgian-glazed windows and label mouldings below.’ Brett tells us that the house changed hands a number of times in its recent history. Legacurry house continues to be occupied; the current owners have added a modern glass conservatory to the rear of the building and some double glazed sliding-sash windows. Both the house and its single-storey vernacular outbuilding have been well preserved although the original corn and flax mill associated with the house has been lost.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/15/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/15/2 –Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/15/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map c. 1900
4. PRONI OS/6/3/15/4 –Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/25C – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/3A – Annual Revisions 1868-1876
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/3B – Annual Revisions 1877-1885
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/3C – Annual Revisions 1886-1896
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/3D – Annual Revisions 1897-1914
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/3E – Annual Revisions 1915-1929
11. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1897)
12. Census of Ireland 1901 / 1911

Secondary Sources

1. 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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A well-proportioned symmetrical two-storey, three-bay detached mid 19th century house on the site of an earlier dwelling, set in mature grounds to the north of Crossan Road, Lisburn. The house has been sympathetically restored in recent years and architectural detailing is largely intact. A small glass extension to the rear of the property does not compromise the integrity of the original design, and the house has retained much of its original character. A well-detailed single-storey vernacular building to east contributes to the historic character of the site. This is a good example of a middle-sized Victorian country house, enhanced by its unspoiled semi-rural setting and original entrance with sandstone piers and boundary iron-work.