Dromara Masonic Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical two-storey stone mid nineteenth-century Masonic Hall. Rectangular on plan facing east, with two-storey extension to rear built c.1980 and located on the west side of Hillsborough Road in the village of Dromara.

Hipped natural slate roof with lead ridges and cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to stone eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Random coursed rough-hewn basalt walling with lime pointing, granite squared quoins and projecting granite plinth course. Square-headed window openings with projecting granite surrounds, granite sills and replacement 8/8 timber sash windows.

Symmetrical two-storey front elevation with central square-headed door opening having projecting granite surround and replacement timber panelled door and four-pane overlight. Stone plaque above door opening stating; 'Dromara / Masonic Hall' with Mason's square and compass symbol.

South side elevation is blank.

Rear elevation abutted by flat-roofed two-storey pebble-dash rendered extension having uPVC windows and door.

North side elevation has a single square-headed window opening to the ground floor with projecting granite surround and granite sill with 6-pane timber window.

Setting:

Concrete paved front parking area enclosed to south by concrete block wall, to north by hedgerow and enclosed to the road by rubblestone wall with stone saddleback coping and pair of cast-iron gates on rubblestone piers with pyramidal capstones.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Random coursed basalt / granite
Windows Replacement timber sash

Historical information

This Masonic Hall in Dromara was originally recorded as a ‘Market House’ when it first appeared on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map for the area in 1859. A single oblong building situated slightly north of the village centre, this Market House possessed no out offices and showed no discernable changes on the later editions of the maps (1903-1920). The Market House was constructed sometime between 1833 and 1858 and was recorded in Griffith's Valuation (1861) as a ‘Market House’ owned by the Marquis of Downshire. The building was valued at £5, the valuer described the Market House as a 1a- class building and stated that it ‘was never [lofted] and seems to be only used as a lumber yard;’ the valuer recorded the dimensions as 40.6 by 22.6ft. In 1865 the Annual Revisions recorded the building as a ‘petty session’s house’ which was then valued at £4. There was no change to the description or valuation of the property until 1924 when the building was occupied by the Masonic Society.

Brett describes the building as ‘a very plain simple stone Market House; three-bay and two-storey, of some charm, recently much diminished by the insertion of unsuitable modern T-frame windows in place of the old glazing-bars,’ He tells us that Dromara was originally the possession of the Gaelic McGuiness clan until it passed into the possession of the Hill family and then the Downshires after the Plantation. He states that it was the Marquis of Downshire that provided the town with this Market House. Brett suggests that the current building was constructed as early as c. 1830 as a replacement for the original Market House which dated from 1770 but was blown down in a gale on 11 May 1829 (Brett UAHS, pp 31-32). Brett states that the building’s curved Georgian window arches and arcades were filled in with Blackstone (this occurred in 1970 before the buildings listing); other windows were replaced with unsuitable modern frames, and original granite outside staircase at the rear has been removed (Brett, Court Houses and Market Houses, p. 67).

This former Market House and current Masonic Hall was listed in September 1977. Since that time the building has undergone a number of alterations; repairs were carried out in the year of its listing, a two-storey rear extension was constructed c. 1980, and new windows were installed in 2000 (NIEA File).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/28/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/28/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/28/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/28/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/36 – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/9A – Annual Revisions 1865-1879
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/9B – Annual Revisions 1880-1892
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/9C – Annual Revisions 1893-1908
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/9D – Annual Revisions 1909-1929

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Court houses and market houses of the province of Ulster’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1973.
2. NIEA File – HB 19/07/001

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical two-storey stone mid nineteenth-century Masonic Hall. Rectangular on plan facing east, with two-storey extension to rear built c.1980 and located on the west side of Hillsborough Road in the village of Dromara. An austere and well proportioned mid-nineteenth-century building expressing quality stone masonry skills but somewhat compromised by the twentieth-century rear extension. The hall is complemented by the front gates gate pillars and stone boundary walling.

General comments

Listing criteria R - Age also applies