Lavery's

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid-terrace two-storey-with-attic, three-bay former house built c.1800 and remodelled c.1870 into a public house; located south of Chapel Hill in the centre of Lisburn. Rectangular on plan with two-storey return and flat-roof extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles, red-brick chimneystacks and modern rooflights. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on yellow brick eaves course. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick with yellow-brick quoins, projecting eaves course, and string course between floors; smooth rendered chamfered plinth. Windows are 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars, horns, yellow brick keyblock to lintels and projecting painted masonry sills (to ground floor they are segmental-headed); replacement uPVC to rear.

The principal elevation faces north and is five windows wide to first floor; to ground floor is central pub-front (1870’s) flanked by a window to each side. Pub-front comprises bipartite segmental-headed window over raised-and-fielded panel flanked by entrance doors; double-leaf two-panelled doors to left flanked by pilasters on plinths; four-panelled door to right having brass door furniture and transom light flanked by pilasters on plinths.

The east elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

The south elevation has a window to left and right at first floor; ground floor is abutted a modern extension; to left is the two-storey modern return and flat-roof extension (of no interest).

The west elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

Setting:

Street-fronted. Flag-stones to rear yard enclosed by high metal fence and gate.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Flemish-bonded red brick
Windows: Timber-framed sliding sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The first edition OS map of 1833 shows a building on the site, but this earlier structure has been replaced by a building of Victorian character and appearance. The Belfast Newsletter records that a spirit license was granted in 1877 to an Edward Lavery of Lisburn who appears to have been the original owner of the public house and it may be that he was responsible for building or remodelling at around this time. (Belfast Newsletter)

Edward Lavery died in 1898 leaving the premises to his wife Sarah who was 52 at the time of the 1901 census and had seven children, ranging in age from 22 to 11 years. Her two oldest sons were studying law and her three eldest daughters were working as shop assistants. All the family members were able to speak Irish as well as English. By 1911 Sarah’s eldest son, Michael, was practising as a solicitor and her younger son was a solicitor’s clerk. (1901, 1911 census) Sarah continued to run the public house with the assistance of her daughters until her death in 1921. (Will of Sarah Lavery) Michael Lavery, solicitor, practised in Lisburn and Belfast and for some years represented Nationalists in the Revision Courts (where decisions are made on applications to join the electoral register).

He died in the District Hospital in Lisburn following an operation in 1928. (Irish Independent)
The pub is a local landmark forming part of the folk memory of Lisburn town. Samuel Dugan, for example, as a boy in the 1950s, recalls drinkers being called into the bar on a Sunday in accordance with a ‘strange ritual’. “This involved men standing on the opposite side of the street and going 'on patrol', possibly as far as the Antrim Street and Smithfield Corners. ‘I only learned years later they were called in one at a time according to their pecking order, for a Sunday drink. The pecking order was decided according to how well they behaved when they were drunk,’ he added. Police visited the bar one Sunday with officers setting a trap for the drinkers by waiting at the rear of the premises while someone else knocked on the front door. Samuel's father was in the bar when this happened but quick thinking meant he was not among those whose names appeared in print: ‘My Dad was cute. He walked into the kitchen and said he was fixing a tap,’ he added.” (www.lisburn.com)

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 Will of Edward Lavery, died 6th January 1898
8. PRONI Will of Sarah Lavery, died 4th December 1921
9. Belfast Newsletter, 31st October 1877
10. Irish Independent, 15th September 1928

Secondary Sources

1. www.lisburn.com

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Laverys is a well-preserved mid-terrace two-storey-with-attic, three-bay former house, built c.1800 and remodelled c.1870 into a public house; located south of Chapel Hill in the centre of Lisburn. Retaining much of its interior fittings and traditional pub-front (c.1870), it is a good example of a traditional public house, now increasingly rare in N Ireland. Despite some alteration to the rear to include a modern extension and beer garden, it displays much of its original victorian character and is of social and local interest in the Lisburn area.

General comments

Criteria R, S and T also apply.