Plantation House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1800 with two-storey rendered return. Set on an elevated site to the north of Plantation Road accessed via a long tree-lined bitmac avenue opening onto the road to the southwest through rendered swept entrance screen. Rear return attached to an L-plan range of rubblestone outbuildings enclosing a rear yard. Domed shell house to the front of the house.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles and concrete coping to either gable end surmounted by a rendered profiled chimneystack. Ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering to moulded eaves cornice and cast-iron downpipes. Ruled and lined cement rendered walling with moulded render plinth course and rusticated moulded render quoins. Square-headed window openings with lugged moulded architrave surrounds, keystones, concrete sills and replacement timber casement windows.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front north elevation with central three-centred arched door opening housing a replacement hardwood doorcase.

East gabled elevation has moulded cement coping surmounted by rendered profiled chimneystack with square-headed window openings and replacement timber casement windows.

Rear elevation abutted by central lower two-bay two-storey rendered return with a flat-roofed rear porch, built c.1972 and a lean-to uPVC conservatory to the west side, added c.2000.

The return has a flat roof with the remnants of a balustraded parapet wall and cornice below. The south end of the return is surmounted by a rendered profiled chimneystack.

Setting:
The rear of the return is abutted by an L-plan range of two-storey outbuildings enclosing a concrete paved rear yard to the southeast of the house having pitched natural slate roofs, lime rendered rubblestone and redbrick walling, some timber sash windows and sheeted timber doors. The interiors are largely intact with original A-trusses, cobbled floors and ramped timber stalls. The south range has a stone stair, sheeted timber doors with architrave surrounds and a cast-iron fire surround to the upper floor. To the front of the house is a sunken shell-house with conical roof. A large landscaped garden is located to the west of the house along the bitmac lime tree lined avenue opening onto Plantation Road via swept ruled and lined rendered gate screen.

Historical information

Plantation House first appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for the townland of Ballymullan in 1833 where it is depicted, along the current layout, as an oblong house possessing a return and adjoining outbuilding to the rear. This outbuilding is abutted on the east side by a similar sized office range, which in turn is abutted on the north side by another, forming a small courtyard to the rear of the house. This house was located to the east of a large ‘Old Thread Manufactory’ which had been constructed by John Barbour in 1784 (Rankin). There was little change to the site by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1858 when the building is recorded as ‘Plantation House’ for the first time; the former thread manufactory was renamed as ‘The Plantation’ on the same map although there was no connection between the two sites although Barbour’s three-storey house was also named Plantation House leading to some confusion in subsequent secondary sources (Rankin). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation of 1861 tells us that a Mr. John Sloan occupied Plantation House which he let from the Marquis of Hertford. The house and its associated offices were valued at £18 and included a gate lodge which had been erected since 1858.

John Sloan was a sewed muslin manufacturer (a light cotton fabric used to make light clothing and curtains) and was also appointed as a town commissioner for Lisburn in 1861 (Ulster Town Directory); Sloan continued to reside at Plantation House until his death in 1871 at which time he left the house and effects of £800 to his widow Jane Sloan (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 4 December 1871). Jane Sloan lived at Plantation House until her own death in 1903; the 1901 Census tells us that Sloan, an 89 year old Presbyterian farmer resided at the property with her son James Edgar Sloan (52) and her two daughters Mary Jane (59) and Jessie (45); James Edgar Sloan operated a bakery business which operated under the name James E. Sloan & Co. Bakers in Sloan Street, Lisburn. The Census Building Return describes the house as a second class dwelling which consisted of eight rooms and possessed a large number of out offices which were housed in the rear outbuildings. Jane Sloan died in 1903 leaving Plantation House to her children; in her will Jane Sloan bequeathed her considerable holding of 14 properties, situated at Bridge End Hill and Gregg Street in Lisburn, to her daughter Anna Black (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 9 August 1903). James Edgar Sloan and his unmarried sisters continued to reside at Plantation House until his death in 1910 after which time Mary Jane and Jessie Sloan resided there alone (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 20 September 1910). The 1911 Census described Plantation House as a 1st class dwelling; the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map (c. 1902-03) could now be examined, however, the fourth edition shows that the single-storey oblong outbuilding to the north-east of the house had been constructed by 1919-20. The Sloan family continued to reside at Plantation House until at least 1915 when Jessie Sloan died leaving Mary Jane Sloan as the sole occupant (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 28 February 1915).

Dean tells us that the gate lodge to Plantation House was erected c. 1860 although he attributes this lodge to the western Plantation House, built by John Barbour, who he claims sold it to John Sloan in 1863; however, we know that the gate lodge was constructed on Sloan’s plot of land and was included in the valuation of his house (Dean, p. 89) The gate lodge was taken down sometime after 1961 when it appears on the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map (165 11). Field inspection indicates that the house originally possessed a projecting porch which was removed c. 1970 along with the original doorcase and a number of the windows. A flat roofed rear porch was constructed c. 1972 and most recently a lean-to uPVC conservatory was added to the west side c. 2000.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/25C – Griffiths Valuation 1861
6. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1871; 1903; 1910; 1915)
7. Ulster Town Directory (1861; 1880; 1901; 1907)
8. Ordnance Survey Map – 165-11 (1961)

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Evaluation

Symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1800 with two-storey rendered return. Whilst remaining of significant local interest - due in large part to its interesting history - the front of the house has been compromised by the removal of its porch, windows and doorcase, and the building does not meet the test for listing.

General comments

This record has been re-numbered and was previously HB19/09/13