Cherryville

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c.1840, east bay later, built c.1860, located to the east side of Stockdam Road, Lisburn. Rectangular-on-plan with single-storey entrance porch with pitched roof at west and single-storey extension to south gable. Series of single-storey and two-storey outbuildings at east.

Roof is pitched natural slate; blue/black clay ridge tiles; four corbelled brick chimneystacks with no pots; ogee profile replacement uPVC rainwater goods. Walls are ruled-and-lined smooth rendered; windows are camber-headed timber framed 2/2 horizontally divided sliding sashes (few uPVC replacement windows at east); with plastered reveals and projecting masonry cills unless otherwise stated.

Principal elevation faces west and is six windows wide (unequally spaced). Ground floor contains three windows at right, abutted at left by single-storey entrance porch with pitched roof, two windows at left; six windows at first floor.

Entrance porch has unequal pitched roof, extended at north c1985. Entrance at south cheek comprises timber panelled door with obscured elliptical window; north gable contains one window, diminished replacement timber casement window to north cheek.

North gable is blank.

Rear (east) elevation two bays at right contain four windows at ground and first floor, (former entrance centred on two right bays is evident by close inspection of render). Single bay at left has a symmetrical arrangement comprising replacement timber sheeted door flanked at each side by replacement uPVC windows; two sliding sash windows at first floor.

South gable is abutted by single-storey modern extension of no interest. Tiled pitched roof, replacement rainwater goods; walls are red brick; large multi-pane uPVC window to each elevation. Exposed section of south gable is blank.

Series of single-storey and two-storey outbuildings to east. Most notable is the east-west aligned block located north of the house. Roof is pitched natural slate; walls are roughcast rendered. Original timber fenestration is largely intact including square-headed vertically sheeted timber doors; farmyard at east.

Set within unspoiled rural landscape with expansive garden to west, and traditional farmyard to east; the house is accessed from road to west through modest entrance with low rubble stone plinth wall, timber fence and hedging. Original cow-tail water pump is located adjacent to the rear entrance of the house.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Windows: Square-headed timber framed 2/2 horizontally divided sliding sashes.
RWG: Replacement ogee profile uPVC

Historical information

The house is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832-3 as a rectangular structure with an outbuilding to the rear which appears to have survived. At the time of the first edition (1832-3) the area was largely rural and dotted with farmhouses, becoming gradually more developed as Lisburn expanded. The Townland Valuation (1828-40) gives dimensions for a house in two parts and outbuildings, all thatched and together valued at £5.16s.8d. The occupier is James Maze.

By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1862) an orchard is shown to the west of the property and this remains until c1920. In 1862, James Maze was renting the 25 acre farm from the Marquess of Hertford. The house and outbuildings were valued at £2.10s at this time, suggesting that the dwelling house was then much smaller than it is today.

The house appears to have remained in the Maze family and in 1900 was left by James Maze to his son Andrew Maze. Andrew Maze had eight sisters, two of whom continued to live in the house with him and who are listed in the 1901 census. Also resident at the house is Robert Lennon, a farm labourer who had been born in Australia. By 1911, Andrew had married and his sisters were no longer resident, but the labourer Robert Lennon continued to work on the farm. In both census returns the house is noted to have eight windows to the front facade and this suggests that two bays to the south of the property are a later addition.

According to the history of the William Foote Memorial School (now demolished) the Maze family was a very well-known and highly respected Methodist family in Lisburn and for two generations the children and grandchildren of Mr and Mrs Andrew Maze attended the School which formerly stood to the rear of Seymour Street Methodist Church. During the 1920s and 1930s the first generation to become pupils were Jimmy, Johnny, Andy, Lily, Kitty, Samuel and Hubert (twins) and Ross. (Reynolds)

From the turn into the twentieth century the area around the farm began to become more developed. A large mansion, Magheralave House, was constructed to the south and a reservoir supplying water for Lisburn’s expanding population to the north-west. In recent years housing development has all but swallowed up open farmland in the area. The farm is first captioned ‘Cherryville’ on the fourth edition of 1920-1.

The Maze family continued to be prominent in Methodist church affairs and in 1975 a harvest fair was held at Cherryville farm to raise money to clear the debt on Seymour Street Methodist Church. (Orr)

The porch to the front facade is not large enough to have been emphasised on any of the historic six-inch maps but could have been a Victorian addition. Some of the detailing to the house, such as glazing and chimneys suggests an early twentieth century date and this may be when the house was extended to the south. The porch appears to have been extended with the addition of an assymetrical roof, perhaps in the late twentieth century. A single storey extension to the south also appears to be of late twentieth century date.

References:

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/64/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3
2. PRONI OS/6/1/64/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/64/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901
4. PRONI OS/6/1/64/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1
5. PRONI OS/6/1/64/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1920-31
6. PRONI OS/6/1/64/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1920-39
7. Griffith’s Valuation online (1862)
8. 1901 census online
9. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources
1. Orr, George E “Methodist in Lisburn, the First Two Hundred and Fifty Years” 2000
2. Reynolds, P “The William Foote Memorial School – A Short History and School-day Reminiscences” (available at www.lisburn.com)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c.1840, located to the east side of Stockdam Road, Lisburn. Rectangular-on-plan with single-storey entrance porch with pitched roof at west and single-storey extension to south gable. Despite only some of the original internal features remaining the traditional characteristics of the east and west façade make this an interesting building. The house with associated outbuildings and mature garden contributes to the rural architectural heritage of the local area. Whilst of interest, 20th century extensions and alterations to the windows and interior, detract from the buildings character and it is not considered worthy of listing.