Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/12/020 B

Address :
51 Market Square Lisburn County Antrim Bt28 1AG

Townland:
Old Warren

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
23/03/2016 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Shop

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
165/6

IG Ref:
J2671 6426

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

A three-storey, three-bay end-terrace Georgian townhouse (now commercial premises) dated 1709; rectangular plan form extended to the rear with various single and two-storey returns. Located south of the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum in the city centre; east of the junction between Market Place and Market Square. Hipped artificial slate roof with clay ridge tiles; replacement red-brick chimney. Cast-iron rainwater goods; ogee moulded gutters with circular down pipes. Ruled-and-lined rendered walling with long-and-short quoins. 1/1 timber sliding sash windows; horns; rectangular masonry cills. The front door forms part of a modern shop front. The principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged; the entire ground floor comprises a modern shop-front; with non-illuminated signage over. Uniformly arranged first and second floor; three windows wide. Side hung, non-illuminated canvas signage located on first floor. Date stone inscribed with “WMM 1709” located on the first floor adjacent to the adjoining building’s quoins. The left gable is abutted by 49 Market Square (HB19/12/020A). The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with various sliding sash and casement windows. The right is abutted by a two-storey gable ended subservient return, with single-storey cat slide roof to the left; various first floor window openings. The ground floor is further abutted by a red-brick flat roof extension. The right elevation is blank rough cast with smooth plaster quoins. Setting: The front elevation is largely encompassed by Georgian terraces, partially modified, facing onto the former market square; now occupied by the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum. Small enclosed yard to the rear with large car park serving the adjacent church (HB19/12/011) to the west. Roofing: Artificial slate Walling: Ruled-and-lined render Windows: Timber sliding sash RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The town of Lisnagarvey, as it was known until the 1660s, was first established in the early seventeenth century when James I granted Sir Fulke Conway the south Antrim manor of Killultagh. Sir Fulke established the headquarters of his Killultagh estates at Lisburn and began to lay out its foundations in the early 1620s (Mackey, p.1) By 1640 the town had been laid out very much along its present lines, with a central market place and streets radiating from it. (Mackey, p.x) After a disastrous fire in 1707, the town was quickly rebuilt to its former street plan using improved materials, brick replacing wood and slates and tiles replacing shingles. Rebuilding was encouraged in the aftermath of the fire by Lord Conway who granted forty-one year leases on the waste holdings. (Ulster Star 20/04/2007; Mackey, p.4) There is a tradition that this building was one of a very few which were not burned down in 1707, but the datestone would appear to indicate that it was rebuilt after the fire. The initials MMW accompany the datestone but the individual referred to is unknown. (Lisburn Miscellany) The two buildings at number 49 and 51 Market Square are difficult to separate in historical sources and may have been treated at times as one structure. The 1819 street directory for Lisburn indicates that the building was occupied by a surgeon, Samuel Musgrave. (Lisburn Miscellany) The house remained a doctor’s residence for at least fifty years and by the mid-nineteenth century both number 49 and its neighbour, were rented by Michael McHarg, who had his surgery in number 49 and let the other house to James Silcock, a grocer. The grocery shop was valued at £14 and the rent was £20. Dimensions are given for the house and a portion of the dwelling which projected into the adjoining house. The dwelling had a cellar kitchen. Dr McHarg’s surgery also had a cellar, used as a store, and comprised a parlour with bedroom over, a shop, surgery, hall and rooms over. The valuer commented that a large portion of the house was taken up with a ‘large wide old-fashioned staircase’. The valuation of this house was £34.5s and the rent £32.10s. The differences in rent and valuation show that, at this period number 49 was considerably bigger than number 51. The valuation town plan of the period confirms this and suggests that number 49 had a centrally placed doorway perhaps indicating that the two dwellings may have been differently divided at the time. The town plan shows steps down to the cellar of number 49. (Griffith’s Valuation) In the 1860s Michael McHarg’s surgery and dwelling was reduced in valuation to £29. The next two occupants of the house were also doctors, Ebenezer E Sloane (1873) and John S Ward (1877). In 1900 James Silcock took over both the buildings and they are then valued as one at £69 and described as a shop and dwelling. The 1901 census informs us that James Silcock, grocer, was a Quaker who lived with his son and assistant, also James Silcock, and a daughter. The family had one general domestic servant. By 1911 James Junior had married and brought his wife to live at the house. The census return indicates that the family was living at number 49, which had eight windows, probably indicating that there were an additional two windows at ground level at this time. Number 51 was used as the grocer’s shop. (Annual Revisions; 1901, 1911 census) By the 1970s number 51 was in use as a bank and has remained a bank until very recently. It is now in use as a charity shop, as is its neighbour at number 49. 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/2/B/1/61A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/9A-T – Annual Revisions (1863-1924) 8. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/1/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1877-c1898) Secondary Sources 1. Kee, F “Lisburn Miscellany” Lisburn Historical Society, 1976 (available at www.lisburn.com) 2. Mackey, Brian “Lisburn, the Town and its People, 1873-1973” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000 3. Ulster Star 20/04/2007

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance X. Local Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A three-storey, three-bay end-terrace Georgian townhouse (now commercial premises) dated 1709 and enjoying a prominent position in the historic centre of Lisburn. The interior has been subjected to significant alterations resulting in the loss of much historic fabric to the ground floor, however the remaining portion of the stairs is a rare example of early Georgian joinery work. The building's principal interests are the overall proportions of the front façade, its early construction date which makes it a rare survivor, and its group value with the two close by, former houses from the same period ( HB19.12.020A and HB19.12.019).

General Comments

Date of Survey

01 February 2011