Magheralave House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick Jacobethan former house, built c.1880. Irregular on plan facing west with series of gabled projections and projecting entrance porch. Converted c.1938 for use as Officer's Mess, attached to 1950s wing to west via modern entrance porch with gabled wing to east attached to 1960s flat-roofed two-storey extensions to east and south. Set on a slightly elevated site to the east of Duncan's Road in the northern suburbs of Lisburn.

Pitched natural slate roofs with terracotta ridge tiles and several tall decorative redbrick chimneystacks set behind redbrick parapet walls and curvilinear gables with red sandstone coping and red sandstone pierced panels to the parapets. Original cast-iron and replacement metal downpipes. Continuous red sandstone cornice to base of parapet wall, further continuous projecting red sandstone course above first floor and redbrick walling laid in English garden wall bond with chamfered projecting plinth course. Square-headed window openings with stop-chamfered red sandstone surrounds, red sandstone sills and uPVC windows.

West entrance elevation has a pair of full-height projecting bay windows to either end surmounted by curvilinear gables having blind loop-holes formed in red sandstone. Window openings are quatrepartite to the first floor and tripartite to the ground floor. The central recessed bay is abutted by a flat-roofed entrance porch formed entirely in red sandstone ashlar with a quatrefoil pierced parapet, deep moulded cornice and plain frieze supported by engaged corner piers having diamond-pointed rusticated blocks. A square-headed window opening to the front of the porch has lugged and kneed architrave surround while the south cheek is abutted by a decorative modern entrance porch (c.2000), while retaining the original double-leaf oak doors with raised and fielded panels and brass furniture.

The north elevation has an off-centre two-storey gabled projection with paired window openings and a recessed three-storey bay to the east.

The east elevation is surmounted by a pair of oversized brick chimneystacks rising from curvilinear gables with a random arrangement of window openings detailed as above. The north end is abutted by a single-storey L-plan redbrick wing also having a decorative curvilinear gable and window openings as per above. This elevation opens onto a small yard enclosed to the east by a flat-roofed two-storey redbrick wing, built c.1960.

South elevation is five windows wide with an off-centre two-storey bay surmounted by curvilinear gable, abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed redbrick extension.

Setting:
Set on an elevated landscaped site to the east of Duncan's Road within Thiepval Barracks in the northern suburbs of Lisburn. Cobblelock pathways encircle the building with a bitmac forecourt to the front elevation and pair of twentieth-century blocks to the west.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron / plastic
Walling Redbrick
Windows UPVC

Historical information

The redbrick Jacobethan House first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map (c. 1900) where it is depicted as an irregular shaped building situated in the townland of Magheralave to the north of Lisburn; the map shows that Magheralave house possessed a large outbuilding to its east (however this has since been replaced). Field inspection supports a late 19th-century date of construction. Magheralave House was the residence of Thomas Stannus, the son of the Rev. James Stannus who was the land agent to the 4th Marquis of Hertford, Sir Richard Wallace. Thomas Stannus became Rector of Lisburn Cathedral after his father’s death in 1876 and constructed Magheralave House in 1893 in which he resided until his own death in 1907 (PRONI Wills Catalogue 28 January 1876; 8 November 1907). Magherlave House was sold in 1907 to a Mr. Thomas Gregory who occupied the site until the late 1930s. There was no change to the site on the later editions of the Ordnance Survey map (including the 1939 map which continued to record the building as ‘Magheralave House.’

Gregory sold the house and its 100 acres of land to the War Department in June 1938; the estate was renamed Thiepval Barracks in memory of the Ulster Division’s contribution to the Battle of the Somme and replaced Victoria Barracks in Belfast as the British Army’s headquarters in Northern Ireland (Mackey, p. 122). Since that time a number of extensions have been added to Magheralave House and military offices constructed surrounding the former dwelling; with its purchase by the War Department Magheralave House has been used as an Officer’s Mess. A modern entrance porch extension was added to the west side of the house connecting it to an office wing added c. 1950. Similarly, two flat-roof extensions were installed c. 1960 linking the house to eastern office wings constructed to its south and east sides. Magheralave House continues to be used as the headquarters for the British Army in Northern Ireland; however, the numerous alterations to the house have resulted in the loss of some of its original Jacobethan character.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1857
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map c. 1900
4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1921
5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1939
6. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1876; 1907)
7. Ulster Town’s Directory (1901; 1907)

Secondary Sources

1. Mackey, B., ‘Lisburn: The town and its people 1873-1973’ Belfast: Blackstaff Press Ltd, 2000.

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick Jacobethan former house, built c.1880. Irregular on plan facing west with series of gabled projections and projecting entrance porch. Adapted for military use in the late 1930s, the house has been altered and extended during the 20th century to meet the changing needs of Thiepval Barracks. Despite significant alterations externally, the building retains a wealth of original fabric internally. Originally the residence of Thomas Stannus, former Rector of Lisburn Cathedral and son of Rev. James Stannus, land agent to the 4th Marquis of Hertford, it has historical connections to the city of Lisburn and is of historical interest as a functioning military barracks.

General comments

This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Additional listing criteria apply-R-Age, S- Authenticity - added 06/04/2016