Lake House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1830. T-shaped on plan, facing north on an elevated site on the south side of Magheraconluce Road, with detached lofted rubblestone outbuilding to the east.
Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and replacement redbrick chimneystack to either end. Replacement metal rainwater goods and timber boxed fascia with some original cast-iron downpipes to the rear. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling, rough-cast render to return with circular blue plaque to the front elevation stating; 'Birth Place / of / Harry George Ferguson / Engineer & Inventor / 1884-1960'. Elliptical-headed and square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and uPVC windows.

Symmetrical three-bay front elevation with elliptical-headed window openings, paired above the central door opening and to the ground floor openings. Central elliptical-headed door opening with uPVC door, sidelights and fanlight. Door opens into small front garden area enclosed to the road by rendered wall curved to either end with steel pedestrian gate to the road.

East gable is abutted by a carriage arch screen attached to the outbuilding. Two square-headed window openings to the first floor only.

The rear elevation is abutted by a gable-ended two-storey return with pitched artificial slate roof and enlarged square-headed window openings. The east elevation of the return is abutted by a lean-to rear porch, the south gable end of the return is abutted by a lean-to extension attached to a further single-storey outbuilding while the west elevation is abutted by a uPVC conservatory.

The west gable has a single round-headed window opening to the first floor.

Setting:

Set on an elevated site on the south side of Magheraconluce Road with a memorial garden and commemorative statue on the opposite side of the road, erected in 2008. Gable-fronted lofted rubblestone outbuilding situated to the east of the house with pitched natural slate roof and terracotta ridge tiles. Rough-cast rendered west and front north elevations, square-headed window openings to the front gable with uPVC windows. To the rear south gable is a flight of stone steps with various square-headed door and window openings having sheeted timber doors and shutters.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement metal
Walling Painted ruled and lined render
Windows uPVC

Historical information

The two-storey farmhouse is historically significant as it is the birthplace of one of Ireland’s most famous inventors, Henry (Harry) Ferguson (1884 – 1960), the first Irishman to attempt a powered flight and also the developer of the modern tractor.

Ferguson's family home, Lake House is first recorded on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map for the Dromore region where it was depicted as an oblong building situated in the townland of Growell north of Dromara; at that time the current two-storey outbuilding to the rear of the house had been constructed. By 1859 an additional small out office was added to the farm, although this was soon replaced as it did not appear on the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. Griffiths Valuation (1861) tells us that the farm was occupied at this time by a Mr. James Ferguson who let the property from the Marquis of Downshire. The farm was valued at £2 5s; although Ferguson also possessed a large amount of arable land and three small houses which he let out to lodgers and were valued between £1 5s. and 5s (however it is unclear whether these houses were located at the farm).

James Ferguson died in March 1871; in his will he left effects of under £1,000 and Lake House to his widow Eliza Ferguson (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 05/03/1871). It is not clear when Lake House passed to Henry Ferguson’s father James; however it was certainly some time before Henry’s birth in 1884. In 1901 the census of that year tells us that James Ferguson (50) and his wife Mary (45) lived at Lake House with eight of their children; Henry Ferguson, then 16, was employed as a farm labourer. The 1901 Census Building Return described Lake House as a 2nd class dwelling which possessed a slated roof and contained six inhabited rooms; although described as an extensive farm in later secondary sources (Clarke; Wymer) in 1901 the only farm buildings attached to the site were a stable, cow house and a barn, although the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps shows that the outbuilding, which abuts the rear return to the south-east of the house, had been constructed at Lake House by 1903. By 1911 only two of James and Marys 11 children continued to reside at Lake House; Henry Ferguson, and his older brother Joseph, had left the family home c. 1902 and were residing in Belfast. The farm, however had expanded by 1911 when the census recorded that the out offices contained a stable, coach house, cow house, piggery, fowl house, barn and a coal house.

Henry Ferguson was born on the 4th November 1884 in Lake House; his father’s family had settled in the Dromara area over 200 years previously and Lake House had been the family home from at least 1861. Henry’s parents, James and Mary, were members of the Plymouth Brethren, a Christian Sect which had split from the Established Church; the denomination advocated the literal interpretation of the bible and dispensed with salaried clergy. Originally this sect met in the homes of its members and Lake House was likely the location for a number of these gatherings until James Ferguson donated a plot of his land, located north of the farm, for the construction of a Mission Hall (Clarke, pp 7-10).

Although James Ferguson owned much of the land that he farmed, the farm was not able to adequately support his family; at the age of four Henry Ferguson was sent to a local school, however, lack of funds resulted in his return shortly after he had learned to read and write. As mentioned above Henry worked as a farm labourer until he was 16, however he was disinterested in farm work and planned to emigrate to Canada; his older brother Joseph Ferguson persuaded Henry to leave Lake House and travel to Belfast where they opened a garage which sold and repaired automobiles (which were still an uncommon sight in Ireland c. 1902).

Henry Ferguson’s initial interest in automobiles expanded to aeronautics when he began to attend international airshows; by 1909, six years after the Wright Brothers first powered flight, he had designed his own Monoplane and on 31 December of that year became the first Irishman to fly when he flew three miles along the Newcastle strand in Co. Down. His later achievements included the invention of the first four-wheel drive Formula One car, the Ferguson P99, and the development of the first Agricultural Tractor which revolutionised international agriculture to this day. Ferguson lived in England until his death in 1960; his birthplace of Lake House has since become one of a number of sites to bear a commemorative plaque which reads: “Birthplace of ‘Harry’ George Ferguson – Engineer and Inventor” (Wymer, pp 9-11).

Lake House continues to be occupied and is occasionally the location of events aimed at commemorating the life of Henry Ferguson; in August 2002 the Harry Ferguson Celebration Committee held a Homestead Working day at Lake House to celebrate his life and achievements (Belfast Newsletter, 10 August 2002). In 2008 a memorial garden and commemorative statue to Henry Ferguson was erected in front of the entrance to the house.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38E – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
6. Census of Ireland 1901 / 1911
7. Belfast Newsletter (2002)

Secondary Sources

1. Clarke, M., ‘Harry Ferguson: Before the plough’ Donaghadee: Ballyhay Books, 2009.
2. Newman, K., ‘Dictionary of Ulster Biography’ Antrim: W & G Baird Ltd, 1993.
3. Wymer, N., ‘Harry Ferguson’ London: Roy Publishers, 1961.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1830. T-shaped on plan, facing north on an elevated site on the south side of Magheraconluce Road, with detached lofted rubblestone outbuilding to the east. With its historic associations with the Ulster born engineer & inventor, Harry Ferguson, the house is of significant local importance. It is not considered suitable for listing as it is not of sufficient architectural interest and replacement of the original door and fenestration detract from its character.

General comments

This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.