Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/17/035

Address :
The Priory 45 Lambeg Road Lambeg Lisburn BT27 4QA

Townland:
Lambeg North

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
165-03 SW

IG Ref:
J2786 6631

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Relatively substantial and relatively plain, two-storey gable-ended house of possible mid 18th century construction, but with replacement overhanging roof and window frames of c.1890s. Originally detached but now set at the end of a mixed terrace, there is a long two-storey 'terrace' attached to the rear of the building, now consisting of several separate properties, which, in a shorter pre c.1840 single-storey form, appears to have served as an outbuilding for this house, and which may contain the fabric of a late 17th century dwelling. The property is street-fronted, set on Lambeg Road, at the junction with Bell's Lane, roughly 2.4km north-west of Lisburn City centre. The a long rear terrace fronts to a private vehicular cul-de-sac. In plan the building is basically rectangular but with a (later) single-storey section attached at an angle to the south gable, latterly used as a garage, and a shallow full-height projection to the rear (probably largely c.1890s). The walls are finished in painted roughcast and the roof is pitched and covered with natural slate. Eaves are overhanging with a timber fascia board and exposed rafter tails; barges also overhanging and have continuous timber bargeboards. Rainwater goods appear to be cast-iron. There is a plain rendered chimneystack to either side of the ridge. The east-facing front façade is symmetrical with five evenly spaced, flat-headed window openings to first floor and two similar openings either side of a central door opening. Window openings have smooth narrow rendered bands and cut-stone sills. Window frames are 2/2 timber sash with horizontal glazing bars. The door opening is flat-headed and is surmounted by bracketed gabled open canopy. The opening is relatively wide suggesting that the frame may incorporate sidelights. The north gable is blank. The right side of the rear (west) façade is obscured by the mono-pitch, full-height projection. The pitch rises awkwardly creating an internal valley gutter to the south side and a high blank wall section at roof level on the south face. Window openings are flat-headed, as before; these are informally arranged and include one 1/1 sash frame, one 2/2 frame; a third window opening and the door opening are boarded over. The east gable is blank. To the centre there is a reducing chimneybreast. Attached to the gable is the single-storey garage which has a flat roof and paired side-hung, flush timber doors. The back of the garage is accessed from the other side of the former outbuildings. The rear of the garage has a pedestrian door to the left and the rest of the rear wall is obscured with undergrowth. The slated monopitch roof is partialy colapsed. To the left of this is a mono- pitched corrugated roof covering the scullery; walls are single skin rendered blockwork with a large window. To the left of this are two small external stores, with similar construction; all of little interest.

Architects

Historical Information

A building which appears to match the size and orientation of the present block is shown on the OS map of 1832. In the near contemporary (c.1834) valuation this is noted as a ‘not new’ thatched dwelling occupied by a Miss Mary Craig and measuring 38ft x 21½ x 16 (to the eaves) with a ‘range of offices’ of 49 x 17 x 6 and a further ‘office’ of 11½ x 13½ x 5. The ‘range of offices’ appears to have been part of the present the long rear return, which although split into several separate properties today, seems to have originally been a long single-storey series of outbuildings which belonged to the ‘main’ house. The age of the ‘The Priory’, and the origin of its name are not certain. According to historian Grace Lawless Lee, a Huguenot blacksmith named Rene Bulmer ‘who fled just before Revocation, [of the Edict of Nantes, 1685], found his way to Lambeg and resided there in the Priory House’, where, so tradition has it, he repaired King William III’s carriage, when the latter was en route to the Boyne in 1690. Whether Rene, (whose name is believed to have been ‘localised’ by his neighbours to ‘Rainey Boomer’), built the present house is highly unlikely. However, the separate two-storey dwelling at the end of the return which abuts the property, has two date stones set close to the eaves, one -which looks like a keystone- bearing the date 1676. The mid-1830s valuation measurements noted above, show that this return was originally single-storey, so the older date stone must either have been much lower down- and moved upwards when the building was raised in height post-c.1834, or, alternatively, removed from an earlier building which once stood on or near this site. Given that there is evidence that openings have been blocked up on the front façade of this building, the former senario appears the likelier, and that the date stone was simply moved when the building was raised, but a statement in the OS Memoirs of 1837 seems to be of the belief that this stone was taken from elsewhere and refers to the date of the founding to the village of Lambeg itself. Whatever the case, there is reason to believe that there was indeed a house on this site in late 17th century. As regards the origin of the name ‘The Priory’, there is no tradition of a religious foundation of any kind within the immediate vicinity, and although ‘a small monastery’ is reputed to have been built in the 15th century on the site of Lambeg (C of I) parish Church, this is located over half a kilometer away. It is likely that if part of the return was indeed built in 1676, then present house was built to supersede it, with the older structure relegated to the status of an outbuilding as a consequence. If so, this could well have taken place before 1777, for Taylor’s and Skinner’s road map of that year, although small-scale and relatively crude, indicates that the junction of what is now Lambeg Road and Bell’s Lane had been developed at that point. Moreover, the valuers of the 1830s believed, (or were told), that the property was over 25 years old at that point, and a photograph of 1880 shows the building with a relatively steeply pitched thatched roof, hinting, perhaps that it was constructed in the early to mid 18th century. The post-1834 history of the house is almost as hard to follow as that which preceded it. This is mainly due to the fact that map of the Lambeg area which accompanies the second valuation of c.1860, is badly damaged, with many reference numbers for the various buildings obscured and therefore almost impossible to trace within the valuation books with any degree of certainty. To make matters worse, the valuation book (or books) covering the years c.1898 to c.1923 is / are missing. It appears, however, that Mary Craig, the occupant listed in the c.1834 valuation may have died shortly after this date, for there is a surviving will and probate of 3 March 1835 for someone of the same name ‘of Lambeg’. The later date stone on the attached property to the immediate rear of the house which reads ‘Henry Bell Lambeg 1840’, suggests (as mentioned above) that the return was heightened within this year, and, possibly split off from the main house and divided into separate concerns. Henry Bell, a linen merchant who had built Lambeg Cottage ‘a commodious the double house, 2-storey high and slated’ set within its own grounds to the north, in 1815, was probably the lessor of The Priory at this time, hence the appearance of his name on the stone. The photograph of 1880 shows the house complete with thatch, an open porch and hornless Georgian-paned sash frames. Judging from the present window frames with their horizontal glazing bars as well as the overhanging slate roof, the property would appear to have undergone major renovation at some stage within the decade or two following the photograph; the single-storey addition (now a garage) set at an angle behind the wall to the south-west gable may have been part of this renovation, as may the full-height projection to the rear. As stated above, it is difficult to work out the sequence of occupation / ownership of the property during these decades, but it possible that in the 1890s it was occupied by a Nathaniel Barry, who may have been succeeded in 1898 by Robert Douglas, with the four properties to the rear in the hands of Thomas Wolfenden, William McKinstry, Robert Bradley and Robert Cooke respectively. The most north-westerly of these appears to have been added around this period and, (if the writer has read the valuation correctly), may have served as a coachman’s residence, probably serving Aberdelghy, the name given to the former Lambeg Cottage after it was extended and remodeled by Alexander Richardson in c.1880. By 1923, (when it becomes much easier to locate much of Lambeg within the valuation books), The Priory was the home of Robert McCullagh, with the 'terrace' to the rear consisting of three houses occupied by Louisa Donaldson, Robert Hall and Joseph Irvine, and a Masonic Hall. John Herron followed Robert McCullagh in 1934, acquiring the freehold in or just before 1961, and seemingly, remaining there until the early 2000s. The property is now vacant. The Masonic Hall to the rear was vacated c.1960 and is listed as a ‘Swiss embroidery factory’ in 1968. References- Primary sources 1 ‘Taylor’s and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland’, (Dublin, 1777) 2 PRONI VAL/1/64 OS map, County Antrim sheet 64, with valuation
references, 1832(-c.1838) 3 PRONI VAL/1B/127 First valuation, Lambeg Parish, c.1834 4 PRONI D639/103 Johns, Elliot, Wallace & Co. Solicitors’ Papers Will and probate of Mary Craig, Lambeg, 3 March 1835 5 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.8 eds Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams, (QUB, 1991), p.134, 136-38 (1837) 6 PRONI VAL2A/1/64B OS map, County Antrim sheet 64, with valuation references, 1857(-c.1861) [This map is badly damaged and most of the references within the Lambeg area are unclear. There is a large scale valuation plan of 1859 (VAL2D/1/15) which covers a section of the village, but not The Priory.] 7 PRONI VAL2B/1/59 Second valuation, Lambeg parish, c.1860-61 8 PRONI VAL12B/8/7A Annual valuation revision book, Lambeg ED, 1867-79 9 Irish Linen Centre & Linen Museum Photograph of Lambeg village showing The Priory, 1880 10 PRONI VAL12B/8/7B Annual valuation revision book, Lambeg ED, 1880-89 11 PRONI VAL12B/8/2D Annual valuation revision book, Derryaghy ED, 1889-1900 [This valuation book contains some details relating to Lambeg North TD from the 1890s.] 12 PRONI VAL12E/38/1/2 Valuation plan of Lambeg, 1907(-c.1935) 13 PRONI VAL12B/8/7D Annual valuation revision book, Lambeg ED, 1923-29 14 PRONI VAL12F/1/14/4 Annual valuation revision book, Lambeg ED, 1930-35 15 PRONI VAL3C/1/27 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Lambeg ED, 1936-57 16 PRONI VAL4B/1/51 Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, 1957-72 Secondary sources 1 UJA Vol.I, p.135 (Belfast, 1852) 2 O’Laverty, James, ‘Diocese of Down and Connor Ancient and Modern’ vol.II, (Dublin, 1880), p.335 3 Lee, Grace Lawless, ‘The Huguenot Settlements in Ireland’ (1936), p.195 4 Rankin, Kathleen, ‘The Linen Houses of the Lagan Valley…’, pp.108-09, (Belfast, 2002) 5 Watson, Frederick Gilbert, ‘All Around Lambeg’, (Newtownards, 2008), pp.34-36

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

The Priory is a substantial pre-1830s two-storey house which may be of mid 18th century construction. Although the roof and window frames were replaced c.1890s its external appearance is otherwise largely unaltered, unlike the interior which has been substantially changed in the early twentieth century with a detrimental affect on its character. The former offices at the rear have been substantially altered and do not contribute to the main building's interest, and the monopitched garage also detracts.

General Comments

Date of Survey

03 August 2009