32-34 Castle Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-storey mid-terrace former rectory, five windows wide built c.1785. Rectangular plan form with three/two-storey rear return. Located on Castle Street, east of Lisburn Market Square; adjoining building (HB19/16/005) and opposite Lisburn College.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles; replacement red-brick and rendered chimneys. uPVC replacement rainwater goods. Red-brick Flemish bond walling. 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with horns; masonry cills and single-brick flat arched heads. Timber replacement front door installed as part of the ground floor façade alterations c.1950.

The front elevation faces north and has five equally spaced windows to upper floors over an asymmetrical ground floor. The front door is located on the far left; centrally positioned are a pair of glazed shop fronts with individual doors. To the far right is a elliptical-arched coach entrance with long-and-short surrounds; moulded cornice at impost level; projecting key-block with decorative urn.

The left gable is abutted by 38 Castle Street (HB19/16/005).

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged and largely abutted by various returns. Coach entrance to the left hand side with a flat roofed two-storey extension to the right, with external steps accessing the principal building at the half landing between ground and first floor. Projected chimney rising over flat-roofed extension right of centre on the exposed portion of the rear elevation; flanked by single first floor windows (varying levels) and diminished second floor windows (central window 6/3 Georgian style). The right hand side is abutted by a single bay three-storey return with matching eaves level, further abutted by a subservient three-storey return; both with varying opening, largely replaced with casement windows, one Georgian 6/6 sliding sash. The return is further extended to adjoin a series of haphazard two-storey outbuildings which enclose the rear yard and adjoin the rear return of the neighboring building 30 Castle Street.

The right gable is abutted by two-storey 30 Castle Street. The upper portion of the gable is blank.

Changes since Second Survey report as per final pre-listing inspection 11.03.2014:

The ground floor layout and facade of the building has been changed, the 1950s shopfront has been removed and replaced by matching brickwork with 3 window openings and a door opening in line with the original sash windows at first and second floor. The new timber windowframes are recessed into the wall and are not visible from the street, they are floor to ceiling with no openings, there are new granite sills and plinth to the base of the facade. The ground level has been opened up to form 1 large gallery space with a small office to rear.
There have been some changes to the roof structure of the return, the rafters have been replaced and a new insulated slate roof installed.
The external steps accessing the half landing between ground and first floor, have been removed and the opening off the landing and the rear window have been removed and blocked up and rendered. The 6/6 Georgian window over the door at the landing has been replaced by a new timber sash window.

Final pre-listing inspection re-done on 05-02-2016:
There does not appear to have been any change to the external fabric and detailing of the building since the previous inspection on 11.03.14. The left gable is abutted by No.38 Castle Street (HB19/16/005) which is currently under scaffolding. The collapse of the chimney to No.38 caused damage to the roof of Nos 32-34. At the time of survey remedial works to the roof structure and party wall of Nos 32-34 was on-going.

Setting:

The immediate
setting to the front is the predominantly historic townscape setting of the adjoining and opposite Georgian terraces, although some buildings have been replaced with modern structures. The rear of the building opens to a yard encompassed by a variety of two-storey outbuildings and converted offices.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Red-brick
Windows: Timber sliding sash
RWG: uPVC replacement

Historical information

Lisburn Cathedral rectory was built by the Scot, Rev William Traill, Rector of Lisburn from 1781 to 1796. Traill was a talented mathematician, being appointed Professor of Mathematics at Marischal College, Aberdeen when he was only 20 years old. On becoming incumbent of Lisburn, Traill took responsibility for paving the streets of Lisburn but also built a new dwelling house for the rectors of Lisburn cathedral. He presented a memorial to build a new glebe house in 1781 and was granted a site in perpetuity by the Marquess of Hertford. Building began on 28th May, 1784, Dr Traill having raised £600 for the purpose. The debt owed on the house was passed from Dr Traill to Dr Cupples and Dean Stannus, subsequent Rectors and thence to the Irish Church Temporalities Commissioners. It was finally settled after disestablishment in 1871 when the Representative Church Body repaid the debt to the Commissioners and did some repairs to the house. (Lisburn Cathedral and its Past Rectors, Carmody)

Griffith’s Valuation lists the occupier as Mary Vaughan, who rents the house from the Very Rev. James Stannus. It is a house, offices and yard valued at £44. Although the rectory was still in the possession of the church at this time, it appears that Dean Stannus, who was a wealthy man, lived elsewhere.

The census of 1901 records William D Pounden, Rector of Lisburn from 1884 to 1917 as resident in the house, which was of the first class and contained 19 rooms. Rev Pounden, a native of County Galway, lived with his niece from County Wexford and a small staff of two, a cook and a general domestic servant. In 1911 at the age of 80 he remained resident in the house with his niece and retained the services of the same cook, Isabella Ewart. This period in the life of the rectory is captured in a photograph of the early 1900s. (1901, 1911 census; Mackey, p.58)

In 1926 the house was still in use as the cathedral rectory, but sometime in the ensuing decades was sold as a private residence. (Mackey, p.58, Carmody) Between 1953 and 1972 the house was the home of well-known local jeweller and optician, James Leslie Boyle (www.lisburn.com) and it was during this period in the 1950's that the ground floor was converted to shops. (owner informations)

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/1/B/168 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/61B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/9A-T – Annual Revisions (1863-1924)
9. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/1/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1877-c1898)
10. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/2/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1898-c1907)
11. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/4 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1907-c1927)

Secondary Sources
1. “Clergy of Connor, from Patrician Times to the Present Day” based on the unpublished Succession Lists compiled by JB Leslie, Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation and Library Committee of the Dioceses of Down, Conor and Dromore, 1993
2. Dean, Arthur, “Coulson’s of Lisburn” Belfast Museum and Art Gallery Quarterly Note, No LVII, June 1938 (available at www.lisburn.com)
3. Kee, R “Lisburn Miscellany” Lisburn Historical Society, 1976 (available at www.lisburn.com)
4. Mackey, Brian “Lisburn, the Town and its People, 1873-1973” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A three-storey five-bay mid-terrace former rectory with outbuildings built c.1785 by Rev William Traill, Rector of Lisburn from 1781 to 1796, located on the south side of Castle Street in Lisburn, immediately north-east of Lisburn Cathedral (HB19/16/001) with which it has group value. The Georgian proportions and style of the original rectory largely remain, despite both internal and external modern alternations to the ground floor. The original coach arch remains and gives access to an extensive range of outbuildings to the rear. This former rectory is of significant local interest as it was built as the rectory to the Cathedral.