Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/05/030

Address :
The Courthouse The Square Hillsborough County Down BT26 6AG

Townland:
Hillsborough

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Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
23/04/2015 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Gallery/ Museum

Former Use
Court House

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
184/5

IG Ref:
J2425 5864

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Palladian Style, part single, part two-storey, former market house and court house, now a visitor centre, built c.1760, possibly to designs by William Forsyth or James McBlaine, and extended c.1820, possibly to plans by James McBlaine Jnr. The building is prominently located on sloping ground at the centre of the Hillsborough’s town square, immediately E of Hillsborough Castle, with the busy Dromore Road / Main Street brushing close to the SE. The structure consists of three blocks of roughly similar footprint, symmetrically arranged in a rectangular plan with the long front elevation facing E. The original central section is itself symmetrical, having single-storey flat-roofed E and W ends, between which rises a square upper level, capped with a shallow pyramidal roof and a square, domed clock tower, the lot sandwiched by single-storey hipped-roof pavilion-like outer blocks – the additions of c.1820. The whole is set on a tall base and projecting plinth, which due to the falling ground level increases in height to the NE. The plinth, base and the lower halves of the pavilion walls are all in cut granite with their upper halves - and the recessed E and W faces of the central portion – largely in cut sandstone rising to a parapet adorned with ball finials. The upper level is rendered, with cut sandstone architraves topped either with cornice ‘hoods’ or tympanums, a sill course, and a projecting eaves cornice with corner urn finials. The tower appears to be largely timber-built and has corner pilasters, gold on black clock faces (on two sides), a projecting cornice with urns (more decorative than those to the main building), and a lead-clad pointed dome with weathervane. To the E, W and S sides of the building there are large central double flights of steps, fronted in cut granite, with decorative iron railings, from which - to the front steps - there extends an elaborate lamp fitting. Those flights to the S and W were constructed c.1997 to replace original splayed steps. Set on the plinth along the N, S and E sides there are granite planters (of c.1990s). The front steps lead to a narrow paved area (enclosed with similar railings), beyond which there is an ‘arcade’ of three tall semicircular-headed openings with plain architraves (in cut granite to impost level) and keystones, and an impost stringcourse which continues around the entire building. The openings are now in-filled with modern plate glass, that to the centre incorporating the main entrance. The E faces of the ‘pavilions’ each have a similar arcade, largely blind save for an upper (i.e. semicircular) window to each and a flat-headed doorway to the central arches. The windows have timber frames with Georgian panes, whilst the doorways have a studded timber sheeted double doors, with that to the right (N) reached via a splayed flight of granite steps with curving iron railings. The smaller upper storey has three flat-headed windows, a tympanum over the middle of these and cornice ‘hoods’ over the others, with horned 6/6 timber sash frames to all. The other elevations of this level are identical, but with an arch-headed louvered opening to the N and S sides of the tower rather than a clock face. The shorter S elevation has an arcade similar to the front of the pavilions, albeit consisting of five arches with larger windows, and a doorway to the central opening (reached via the double steps). The door itself is in the same style as those to the front. The W elevation matches the front but without the outer doorways, whilst the outer arches of the central portion have windows as those to their counterparts on the pavilions. The granite face of the steps to this side contains a stone inscribed ‘EHS 1997’, the date when the steps were altered to their present form. The N elevation is as the S, minus the doorway and steps. The pitched sections of the roof are covered in natural slate with lead flashings and valleys, whilst the flat areas appear to have lead coverings. The downspouts are cast-iron and have decorative fan-like hoppers.

Architects

Historical Information

Initially solely a market house, the dates of both the original section of this building and the later additions are uncertain. The earliest part – which is thought to have consisted of the two-storey central block surrounded by a single-storey arcade (of which the present central recessed bays to the east and west formed part) - is variously said to be of c.1760, 1772 and c.1780, and whilst c.1810 is widely given as the date of the extensions, evidence indicates they may be a decade later. In 1744 Walter Harris reported that Lord Hillsborough had 'fixed on a plan for a new town to be built in the form of a large square, with a stately market house in the centre'. No building is marked on this site on maps of 1745 or 1755, but a market house of some description was standing somewhere in the town in at least 1763, for there are regular
references to it in Belfast News-Letter notices from April of that year onwards. It is also mentioned (but unfortunately not described) by Rev. Daniel Beaufort in his diary entry of 17 August 1765. Whether any of these sources actually relate to the present structure is unclear, for a plan and elevation of ‘Hillsborough tholsel, Ireland’, showing a design very similar to the building as we believe it stood before the 1800s changes, was drawn up by William Forsyth at some point in the 1770s. This could suggest a number of things: that an entirely new build was then in prospect (and presumably carried out at some point in that decade or shortly after); that alterations were being planned to the existing structure, or that the drawing was simply produced as a scheme (based the structure as it then stood) to be followed elsewhere. The architecture itself is not inconsistent with the early 1760s, (or even slightly earlier), and so could quite possibly represent the 'stately' edifice invisaged in 1744. Unfortunately the closest pictorial evidence in terms of date – a Kilwarlin estate map of 1771, is of too small a scale to be able to draw any conclusion, but the original portion of the current structure does appear to be that shown on William Byers’ map of 1788. The debate over dating raises questions of authorship. Forsyth’s design is very similar to those produced by James McBlaine (d.1792) for the market house planned for Lord Downshire at Edenderry, Co. Offaly. James worked on Hillsborough parish church in the early 1770s, and according to Charles Brett someone of this name is recorded as residing in the town in rentals up to 1780, and again in 1787; by the latter date, however, McBlaine was in the employ of Earl-Bishop Hervey at Downhill, so it is likely (as Brett surmised), that this particular rental entry refers to his son- also, incidentally, an architect. At any rate, the plans for the Edenderry building (which were not executed) are undated, so their role in course of events cannot be determined. Forsyth was clerk of works during the initial stages of the extending and remodelling of Hillsborough Castle in the mid-1790s, but appears to have had a less distinguished career than McBlaine. As such his drawing may simply be interpretation based on the work of the latter, but like the dating the evidence as it stands is inconclusive. The building was the scene of a seemingly drink-induced ‘serious affray’ involving the ‘Kilwarlin boys’ in October 1795. Thomas Lane, reporting the incident to Lord Downshire, states that it (‘the Tholsel’) was threatened by the troublemakers, but that ‘Our high constable, Wright, behaved nobly and I am much indebted to him for his manly exertions. At the peril of his life and with the loss of clothes, four were lodged in the Black Hole, but unfortunately some of the most active escaped. I got through Lord Doneraile a sergeant's guard from the camp...and the sovereign accompanied me to every public house and forbid [sic] the sale of liquor. Numbers appeared at times in the square who, disregarding my admonitions, I ordered the guard to parade and clear it. They did so effectually, and the night was tranquil. ...'. Although this incident does not appear to have resulted in any serious damage, Beaufort, visiting Hillsborough again in 1808, describes the front of the market house (which he also sketched) as being ‘much out of repair’. Some remedial work may have been carried out in 1810 or shortly after, as the present clock mechanism is of this date, but whether the new market and court room extensions were added at the same point, as Brett believed, is not known. The fact that a ‘Design for Hillsborough Session House’ was drawn up by the aforementioned James McBlaine the younger in January 1819 (and conceived, incidentally, as a free-standing structure), would appear to indicate that work was only being contemplated around this time. The enlargements must have been completed by at least late October 1823, however, when English architect Charles Robert Cockerell made a sketch of the ‘remarkably well’ composition as it now stands. In the valuation of 1834 the building is recorded as consisting of a ‘town hall’ [the central two-storey section] measuring 35ft x 35 x 26, ‘market house’ [S pavilion] 34 x 62½ x 12, ‘court house’ [N pavilion] 34 x 62½ x 12, ‘piazas’ [the arcaded entrance front] 34 x 11 x 12½, and ‘house keeper d[welling]’ [the rear section], whilst the 1837 OS Memoir describes it as ‘a neat, stone building occupying a space 103 feet long and 64 feet broad. At one end is the sessions court, at the other a market place and between them are the grand jury room and the caretaker’s apartments.’ In the 1862 valuation there is no mention of the ‘market place’, much of its space now seemingly converted to a workshop for the estate carpenter with trading confined to its original location on the ground level of the central area, above which was now a ‘reading and band room’. By the mid-20th century the workshop had become the estate office. In 1959 the building was taken into State Care and subsequently refurbished, work that witnessed the removal of the chimneystacks from the central and northern blocks. The court room remained in periodic use until the later 1990s, whilst the former estate office became a community hall. In 1997 a further refurbishment scheme saw the building converted to its present role as a tourist information and interpretive heritage centre, with the court room itself becoming the main exhibit. The new stone steps to the southern and western sides were added at this time. References – Primary sources 1 Harris, Walter, The antient and present state of the County of Down...', (Dublin, 1744), p.95 2 PRONI D671/M/8/56 Map of the Manor of Kilwarlin, 1745 3 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 19 Apr 1763; 10 Apr 1765; 24 Nov 1767; 18 Mar 1768; 22 Mar 1768; 12 Apr 1768 etc. 4 TCD MS4024 Daniel Augustus Beaufort: a journal of tours 1764-1779 5 PRONI D671/P/8/3 Hillsborough Tholsel...W. Forsyth, 177[?] 6 PRONI D671/P/6/7 Design for a market house for Edenderry by James McBlaine,[ c.1770s?] 7 TCD MS4026 Journal of a tour in Ireland... 1787 8 PRONI T3153/1 Map of Hillsborough...by W. Byers, 1788 9 PRONI D607/C/154A Letter from Thomas Lane to Ld Downshire, 16 Oct 1795 10 PRONI D671/M/57 Map of Hillsborough, 1803 11 TCD MS 4033 Journal of a tour in the north and west of Ireland, 1807-08 12 PRONI D671/1/8/11 Design for Hillsborough Session House...by James McBlaine, [1819] 13 RIBA Diary of C.R. Cockerell (part 2)..., 1823 14 PRONI VAL1B/344A-B 1st valuation, Hillsborough parish, 1834 15 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland...Vol.12, (QUB, 1992), p.90 [1837] 16 PRONI VAL2B/3/45C 2nd valuation, Hillsborough parish, 1862 17 PRONI D1422/A/2/2/4 Photo of Hillsborough court house, c.1890s 18 PRONI T2418/4/527, 530 Photos of Hillsborough court house, c.1890s Secondary sources 1 Green, E.R.R., “A catalogue of the estate maps etc., in the Downshire office, Hillsborough, Co. Down” in ‘UJA 3rd Series, Vol.12’ (1949), pp.1-25 2 ‘Archaeological Survey of County Down’, (HMSO, Belfast, 1966), pp.411-14 3 Brett, C.E.B., ‘Court houses and market houses of Ulster’, (UAHS, 1973), pp.67-70 4 Brett, C.E.B., ‘Historic Buildings...Mid Down’, (UAHS, 1974), pp.5, 13-14 5 Brett, C.E.B., ‘North Down’, (UAHS, 2002), pp.227-28

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance Z. Rarity V. Authorship

Evaluation

Constructed of granite, sandstone and render, Hillsborough Courthouse is a characterful Palladian composition of c.1760 with extensions of c.1820. It is prominently located in the centre of what is perhaps Northern Ireland’s most complete Georgian townscape, and, axially-aligned with Hillsborough Castle and the entrance to Hillsborough Fort with which it has group value. It reflects and complements both these and other structures around it, blending authoritative Classical solidity and with 'lighter' elements in typical provincial Georgian fashion. As well as being an important element in Hillsborough's formal layout, it is also an important building in its own right, being one of the few public buildings of this period to survive, and with its virtually intact exterior and interior, (as well as a complete collection of what are thought to be original court room fittings), perhaps the best-preserved.

General Comments

The courthouse was a monument in state care: This changed when the building was listed following the handover of responsibility for it to Historic Royal Palaces from NIEA. Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.

Date of Survey

26 August 2014