Cycle Zone, 8 Railway Street, Lisburn, Co Antrim BT28 1XG

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid terrace three-storey rendered former house, built c.1830, with aluminium shopfront inserted to ground floor and single-storey redbrick return c.1900.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, rebuilt redbrick chimneystack to north and cast-iron guttering on iron brackets with plastic downpipe. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling, rubblestone to rear. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and original timber sash windows with cylinder glass.

Front elevation is two windows wide with modern aluminium shopfront to ground floor, 6/3 timber sash windows to the second floor, 6/6 to the first floor.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.10 (HB19/13/25C).

Rear elevation has rubblestone walling with redbrick linings to window openings and original timber sash windows. Rear abutted by redbrick single-storey return having pitched timber-clad lantern on natural slate roof. Further flat-roofed projection attached to the gable end of the return, built c.1990.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.4-6 (HB19/13/025A).

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of four similar former houses lining the east side of Railway Street with the former rear plot converted to a car park.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Ruled and lined render / rubblestone
Windows Original timber sash

Historical information

This street was formerly known as Jackson’s Lane; however it was renamed Railway Street c. 1840 with the arrival of the first railway line between Lisburn and Belfast (Neill). A detailed map of the town centre by Thomas Pattison c. 1830 indicates that Nos. 4 to 12 were the earliest of the current terrace to be constructed along this street to the Railway line; field research suggests that the building was constructed c. 1830 indicated by its Georgian design.

No. 8 Railway Street has been utilised as a cycle shop for over a century; in 1901 the house lay vacant when the census was carried out, however the 1910 Ulster Towns Directory tells us that a Mr. Joseph Fletcher, a ‘cycle agent,’ occupied No. 8 Railway Street at that time (Ulster Towns Directory, 1910). Fletcher (born c. 1874), an Episcopalian ‘Cycle Mechanic’ lived at No. 8 Railway Street with his wife Anna Watson Fletcher (who he had married c. 1908) and their infant child. The census building return for 1911 described the building as a 2nd class shop which contained five inhabited rooms and was roofed with slate.

Writing in 1977 Bass tells us that Fletcher still occupied the house in 1914, and that he and his family continued to run the business for over fifty years; today the premises is still utilised as a cycle shop (Bass). In 1969 Brett described No. 8 Railway Street as a member of a terrace of ‘good three-storey Georgian brick or stucco houses with glazing bars intact... the backs of [which] are of stone’ (Brett, p. 13). Field research has found that the Georgian glazing of No. 8 has survived and that the redbrick rear return of the building was added c. 1900; this in turn was extended with a later single-storey workshop added c. 1990. The upper floors of the building, originally providing a dwelling for the shop owner, have in recent years been used as storage space for the cycle shop below.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI MIC/664/1 – Picture of Lisburn by Thomas Pattison c. 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First edition OS map 1833
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second edition OS map 1857
4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third edition OS map c.1900
5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth edition OS map 1920
6. 1901 / 1911 Census
7. Ulster Towns Directory (1910)

Secondary Sources

1. Bass, H. G., ‘A short history of an old family firm: Records and recollections of Alexander Boyd & Co. Ltd’ Lisburn: 1977 (Pamphlet).
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, buildings of architectural importance in the Borough of Lisburn’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1969).
3. Neill, T., ‘Lisburn: an illustrated history and companion’ Lisburn: Cottage Publications, 1996.

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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid terrace single-bay three-storey rendered former house, built c.1830, with shopfront inserted to ground floor and single-storey redbrick return c.1900. Despite the inappropriate shopfront, the remainder of the former house retains most original fabric both internally and externally with the later return adding further interest on this relatively intact late Georgian terrace. It has group value with numbers 4 - 6,10, and 12 Railway Street and is one of the earliest buildings constructed in Railway Street.

General comments

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