30 Bridge Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A vacant three-storey two-bay mid-terrace commercial property, pre-dating 1730 and located south of Bridge Street in the centre of Lisburn. Rectangular on plan with two-storey return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and red-brick chimneystack (one lost). Cast-iron half round rainwater goods. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render; return is roughcast render over red-brick. Windows are 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash (only partially glazed and in poor condition).

The principal elevation faces north and is two openings wide to upper floors. Timber-sheeted door to left at ground floor leads to passage to rear yard; twentieth-century shop-front to right of centre comprising central double-leaf replacement timber doors with transom light (boarded) and fluted pilasters, framed by plate glass windows (boarded).

The east elevation is abutted by adjoining building, No.32 Bridge Street (HB19/12/017).

The south elevation is almost entirely concealed by vegetative growth. Alleyway to right with two windows to upper floor; to left is a blind window with metal bars.

The west elevation is abutted by adjoining building, No.28 Bridge Street.

Setting
At the centre of Bridge Street, with Market Square to west. Overgrown yard to rear bounded to car-park of Lisburn Health Centre by concrete block wall with metal railings.

Materials
Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Windows: 6/6 timber-framed sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The town of Lisnagarvey, as it was known until the 1660s, was founded in the early seventeenth century when James I granted Sir Fulke Conway the south Antrim manor of Killultagh. Sir Fulke established the headquarters of his Killultagh estates at Lisburn and one of his first building projects was a timber bridge which formerly stood at the foot of Bridge Street. Bridge Street is shown stretching down to this river-crossing on an early map of Lisburn dating from 1640 which also shows both sides of the street lined with buildings. (Mackey, p.1) After a disastrous fire in 1707, the town was quickly rebuilt to its former street plan using improved materials, brick replacing wood and slates and tiles replacing shingles. (Ulster Star 20/04/2007) Oak beams taken from 34 Bridge Street have been dated by the School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queen’s University, Belfast who give an estimated felling date of c1710, suggesting that these buildings were among the earliest to be constructed following the fire. (Turner, p.17) A building on the site is shown on Pattison’s 1833 map of Lisburn. In the early nineteenth century many of the shops on the south side of Bridge Street were grocers’ shops, as is recalled in Turner’s history of the area. (Turner, p.14)

The current building is listed in Griffith’s Valuation as a ‘house, small shop and garden’ valued at £9. The house was occupied by Joseph McNeight who paid a rent of £8 a year and the valuer notes that he paid only the ‘poor rate’. The house comprised a shop and kitchen with two rooms over, the top floor being occupied by lodgers. In the later 1860s the house and shop were taken over by John Fullerton and the valuation was reduced to £6. The landlord was Hugh Seeds, and by the late 1870’s an entry, called ‘Seed’s Entry’, situated between 30 and 32 Bridge Street led to some small houses in the rear. These were still inhabited in the 1960s and Turner’s history contains the reminiscence of someone who lived in Seed’s Entry as a girl. (Turner, p.46)

By 1872 the occupier was George Sharpe and a cellar is mentioned in connection with the house and shop. The valuation is raised to £7.10s the same year, indicating additions or improvements. George Sharpe ran a fruit shop on the premises and lived with his wife, son and two daughters, all of whom assisted in the shop. (Annual Revisions; 1901 census)

Fredrick Kee’s ‘Lisburn Miscellany’ recounts the story of an appearance by George Sharpe in the local law courts and suggests that as well as running shops in Bridge Street, grocers in the area were also accustomed to sell their wares from stalls in the Market Square. “ On the 13th December, 1890, George Sharpe, a shopkeeper, of Bridge Street, appeared in court on a charge of causing an obstruction in Market Square by leaving his fruit stall in the Square from the 20th to the 29th November, 1890. The solicitors were Wellington Young, for the Commissioners, and F. W. Charley, of Messrs. Charley and Allen, for the defendant. After some evidence Mr. Charley stated, "Stall-holders had left their stalls in Market Place for a century, and Sharpe for thirty-seven years, and they were entitled to keep them there to "Eternity's Bell". Case adjourned, and no wonder, after that broadside. When everyone had recovered, the case was resumed again on the 7th February, 1891. Mr. Young: "On Tuesday, there were, he supposed, sixty stalls in the Square, but they were all removed by the owners, except Sharpe, who refused to obey the Town Inspector, Robert Bailey. He kept his stall at the corner of Mr. Duncan's shop from Tuesday night till Saturday." Town Inspector: "Sharpe had a shop in Bridge Street and sold articles in the Square on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The covered stall, eleven feet by three feet, was placed in front of Duncan's on Tuesday, and at the side for the rest of the week, no goods exposed, the fittings taken off, leaving the table. The table, to my recollection, has been there for eight or nine years." Francis Turner, collector of stall dues, said, "Sharpe's stall has been there for over twenty years!" Result: Sharpe fined five shillings and, in default, one week's imprisonment. It looks like a foregone conclusion. A rather unfair sentence, as it would almost seem that he acquired a squatter's right to the spot after all those years.” (Lisburn Miscellany)

By 1911 George Sharpe senior had died and the shop was being run by his son. The valuation is raised to £10 in 1914 and £13 in 1918 indicating considerable improvements. After George Sharpe junior’s death, Eleanor J Sharpe, his sister, becomes the owner in fee in 1922. (1911 census; Annual Revisions)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second Edition OS map 1857
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third Edition OS Map c1900
4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1921
5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/9A-T – Annual Revisions (1863-1924)
7. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/1/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1877-c1898)
8. Griffith’s Valuation online
9. 1901 census online
10. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources
1. Kee, F “Lisburn Miscellany” Lisburn Historical Society, 1976 (available at www.lisburn.com)
2. Mackey, Brian “Lisburn, the Town and its People, 1873-1973” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000
3. Turner, Brian S “Voices from the Street - Bridge Street and the Quay of Lisburn” Lisburn City Centre Management, 2006
4. Ulster Star 20/04/2007

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A vacant three-storey two-bay mid-terrace commercial property; pre-dating 1730 and located at the south of Bridge Street in the centre of Lisburn. Much of the building's original character has been degraded by the addition of a twentieth century shopfront and the loss of historic fabric and detailing to the interior and rear. Bridge Street was an important commercial thoroughfare in Lisburn during the 17th and 18th centuries and, despite its condition, this building contributes to the historic interest of the Conservation Area. It does not however retain sufficient architectural interest to be considered special.