117 Hillhall Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The building forms part of a south-facing group built along the Hillhall Road about one mile from the centre of Lisburn when travelling towards Belfast.
The original three dwellings of the terrace have been divided into two occupancies.
Nos. 113-115 to the west that form one dwelling is statutorily listed (HB19/09/004A). No. 117 remains as single unit to the east.
The thatched roof is covered with corrugated iron and the wall heads have been raised to accommodate the new construction. A red brick chimney stack, corbelled and with two pots, rises over the position of the central hearth. The roof oversails at the gable and is finished with a plain bargeboard.
The wall finish is roughcast with a slightly recessed base and the termination feature at the gable is smooth.
A sheeted entrance door with plain rectangular fanlight is flanked to left by one, and to the right by three, plain sashed windows. All openings at front are within plain plastered surrounds. The sills of the two rightmost windows drop to follow the slope of the pavement. The east gable is blank without openings. Rainwater good are of metal
At the rear the windows are plain sashed and are not provided with plastered surrounds.
There is a slated lean-to extension with an entrance on the west side and there are two plain windows.

Historical information

The terrace to which this building belongs is shown on the OS map of 1833-34, but none of the properties within it are noted in the near contemporary first valuation. Eleven thatched houses are recorded within the terrace in the second valuation of c.1860, however, given the scale of the map, it is difficult to say which house is which. The details of each of the properties are given as: house ‘a’ 7yrds x 6 ½ x 1½(storeys), occupied by Robert Henry leasing from Arthur Mussen, and rated at 15/-; ‘b’ 4 x 6 x 1, George Neill / Arthur Mussen, £1-5-0; ‘c’ 7 x 6 x 1, Margaret May / Arthur Mussen, £1-15-0; ‘d’ 14 x 5 x 1, Edward McGurty / Arthur Mussen, £1-15-0; ‘e’ 9 x 6½ x 1½, £1-10-0; ‘f’ 6½ x 5 x 1, John Cooke / William John McKibben, £1-15-0; ‘g’ 6½ x 5 x 1, Thomas Best / Marquis of Hertford, £1-5-0; ‘h’ 7 x 5 x 1, Mary Culbert / Marquis of Hertford, £1-5-0; ‘i’ 5 x [?5] x 1, vacant / William John McKibben, 15/-; ‘j’ 7½ x [?5] x 1, Mary McAfee / William John McKibben, £1-5-0; ‘k’ 12 x 5 x 1, £2. One of these dwellings may has served as a toll-keeper’s house at some time prior to this for the legend ‘old turnpike’ is written beside the terrace on the revised OS map of 1857.

Much of the terrace was demolished in the mid 1900s, with only this and the two smaller dwellings to the west surviving.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/3/14 OS map, County Down sheet 14, with valuation
references, (1834-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/3/14C Revised OS map, County Down sheet 14, with valuation references, (1858-c.60)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/3/24A Second valuation, Blaris (c.1860)
4 OS map, st. Edition 1883, Co. Antrim 68.

Secondary sources
1 Brett, C.E.B and Lady Dunleath, ‘Lists of Historic Buildings…in the Borough of Lisburn’ (Belfast, 1969), p.17
2 Brett, C.E.B., ‘The Buildings of North County Down’ (Belfast, 2002)
3 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, Lisburn, entry number 77, page 17.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

D. Plan Form
F. Structural System
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This house firms part of a south facing group along the Hillhall Road about a mile from rthe centre of Lisburn travelling towards Belfast. They are of considerable importance as a pair that has assumed an urban context from an original rural location.
The external appearance has changed and the internal layout has been altered a little but the original arrrangement may still be ascertained.
The roof structure has been strengthened but retains much of the original timbers together with the scraws and remainder of the thatch.
These houses are of at least early 19th. C origin but could be much older.