Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB22/08/008

Address :
Carrickfergus Borough Council Town Hall Joymount Carrickfergus Co. Antrim BT38 7DL

Townland:
East Central Ward

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
25/02/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Town Hall

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:
98-16NE

IG Ref:
J4148 8752

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A detached multi-bay double-height Georgian former courthouse, dated 1779, located at the east end of High Street. T-plan, facing west; central two-storey canted return to centre east flanked on either side by two-storey wings, two-stage round stair tower with conical roof to east; diminutive two-storey addition to east; multi-bay two-storey block, (refurbished c.1980) to north. Hipped natural slate roofs, angled red clay ridge and hip tiles, simple rendered chimneystacks, variety of replacement half-round and ogee uPVC gutters. Walling is painted render over plinth, chamfered quoins. Windows are square-headed painted timber 6/6 sashes with smooth-rendered reveals, architraves and sills. Principal (west) elevation is symmetrical, seven openings wide arranged about central entrance (central three openings contained in a breakfront). Parapet with ball finials terminating breakfront corners, central gablet surmounted by round-headed gablet with clock supporting flagpole. Windows are tall triangular pedimented windows with moulded architraves. Door is square-headed raised-and-fielded-four-panel painted timber flanked by Doric half-columns with triangular pediment over, date inscribed in pediment, glazed terracotta town crest roundel over pediment; modern metal historic information plaque affixed to right of doorcase. North elevation is entirely abutted by lower modern rebuilt block containing nineteenth-century (west) façade retention. Rear (east) elevation is entirely abutted two-storey return (each storey being double-height), which is further abutted to left and right by flanking wings, and to right by stair tower. Exposed section right end has squared basalt walling, three windows to each floor to canted (east) elevation (ground floor right window replaced with modern door), first floor has multi-light casements with stained glass inserts. Stair tower is blank with squared basalt walling. Right wing has two windows to each floor; left cheek is entirely abutted by return; right cheek is abutted by block to right; exposed section has single uPVC casement window to each floor. Left wing is detailed as right wing but abutted to front by addition; left cheek is continuous with south elevation. Addition east gable is blank surmounted by chimneystack; right cheek is blank, left cheek has single uPVC casement window to each floor with architraves and keyblocks. South elevation is asymmetrical, windows are uPVC casements with architraves and keyblocks; first floor has four windows, ground floor has single tripartite window to right end and variety of 1/1 sashes; offset square-headed raised-and-fielded-six-panelled door flanked by Doric half-columns with triangular pediment over to left of tripartite; square-headed raised-and-fielded eight-panelled door to left end. The former courthouse is situated close to the coast and within a walled enclosure that contains a former prison and barracks (HB22/08/034).

Architects

Historical Information

The building is shown on the first edition OS map of 1832, captioned ‘Court House'. Some additions can be seen on the OS map of 1902. The present town hall was completed in 1779 as the Antrim Court House and occupied a distinguished ancient site formerly occupied by a thirteenth-century Franciscan friary and a Jacobean manor house. The Townland Valuation of 1836 records the Court House under exemptions, with measurements given for each section of the building. This includes a “...front and north wing, an addition, a Grand [Jury] room, office, kitchen and wine cellar”. The building is valued at £86.11s.5d, later revised to £87.8s.5d. Boyle’s OS Memoirs describe the Court House as being located “…at the eastern extremity of high street of which it forms the termination…its southern side extends for 64ft along the western side of the Scotch Quarter”. The Memoirs claim that the Court House was founded in 1779 and the cost together with the adjoining gaol was £5,785.6s. (p. 22). Griffith’s Valuation of 1860 records the lessor as the Earl of Donegall. The building is free from rent, and the entry for the building includes a “front, projection, tower, porch, attached kitchen house, pantry and stable offices”. The building is valued at £70, while the total property is worth £83.16s.3d. In the Valuation Revisions from 1894-1908 onwards, the building is described as a ‘Militia Barracks, office and yard’. In 1898 it is noted that ‘improvements [are] in progress’. In 1903 the occupier is the Secretary of State for War, and extra offices are added. At this date the building valuation is revised from £70 to £140. According to McConnell it is built on the site of the Earl of Donegall’s ruined mansion,Joymount Palace, which was built in 1610 and connected to Arthur Chichester. McConnell also claims that there was a Franciscan Friary on the site (built 1232). (p. 51). The land was given to the Grand Jury of Co. Antrim in 1776, for the purposes of erecting a Court House and Gaol. Hugh de Lacy founded the second medieval ecclesiastical foundation in Carrickfergus, the Franciscan friary, which was built c.1232-1233, and is where he was buried in 1264. Lacy seized the town from John de Courcy, who had founded (c.1180) the parish church of St. Nicholas (HB22/08/001) and gifted it in 1220 to the Abbey of Woodburn. The two ecclesiastical establishments were always separately owned. The friary was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII sometime between 1536 and 1541 and afterward the buildings were used for a variety of civic functions, including civil courts (Hill p.4-5, Macneice, and Emerson p.35). A historical plaque on the present town hall indicates that the friary buildings survived until the 1560s. A Victorian rumour that first appeared in M’Comb’s ‘Guide to Belfast’ (1861) stated that a subterranean passage linked beneath the Communion Table of St. Nicholas with the Franciscan church, “but in all the changes and repairs effected during the past 120 years this passage has been searched for and never found…. The archway which was looked upon of generations as the means of communication with the Priory was only a tomb or sepulchre, and the definite conclusion has been arrived at that no underground passage exists.” (Hill p.5) For several years prior to 1593, the Parish Church of St. Nicholas was also used as a courthouse, “on account of Wyrol or Mayorality castle [had] been destroyed in some of the feuds already mentioned” (Emerson p.43). While serving civic purposes, the friary came into the possession of Sir Arthur Chichester (1563-1625), Governor of Carrickfergus from 1598 and as Lord Mountjoy, Lord Deputy of Ireland, from 1604 to 1616. Chichester built upon the site his early-seventeenth-century manor house, Joymount House, named after his 1604 title Lord Mountjoy (Emerson p.36). The town hall historical plaque indicates that “Joymount Palace” was built in 1618 and demolished in 1768. At the other end of High Street on Market Place, the Market House (HB22/08/005) was built in 1755 and featured an arcaded ground floor market (reused as a town hall in 1843) with a first floor capable of holding court. Joymount House was cleared for a new courthouse and gaol, which were commenced in 1777 and completed in 1779 at a cost of £21,785 6s 4d. The prison was capable of holding 240 prisoners. (Emerson, p.35-36) The courthouse was reused as the town hall in 1935 and the interior was gutted and redecorated in the Art Deco style. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/52/1 -First Edition OS Map (1832) 2. PRONI OS/6/1/52/2 -Second Edition OS Map (1857) 3. PRONI OS/6/1/52/3 -Third Edition OS Map (1901-2) 4. PRONI VAL/1/B/187 -Townland Valuation Fieldbook (1836) 5. PRONI VAL/2/A/1/52A -Griffith’s Valuation Map 6. PRONI VAL//2/B/22C -Griffith’s Valuation Fieldbook (1860) 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/7/7A-C -Valuation Revisions (1894-1908) 8. Boyle, J. OS Memoirs, Parishes of Co. Antrim XIV, Vol 37 (1832, 1839-40) Secondary Sources 1. McConnell, Charles. Carrickfergus: A stroll through time. Carrickfergus Publications, 1994. 2. Dr. MacNeice, Carrickfergus and Its Contacts (1928), cited in Hill, Edwin Darley. “An Historic and Descriptive Guide Relating to the Ancient Church of St. Nicholas, Carrickfergus, Diocese of Connor – Northern Ireland.” Belfast: John Aiken & Son, Ltd., Printers, Academy Street, 1932. 3. Hill, Edwin Darley. “An Historic and Descriptive Guide Relating to the Ancient Church of St. Nicholas, Carrickfergus, Diocese of Connor – Northern Ireland.” Belfast: John Aiken & Son, Ltd., Printers, Academy Street, 1932. 4. Emerson, George Hill. “An Historical Sketch of Carrickfergus.” London: W. Montgomery 25 Jewry Street, 1848. 5. Information Plaque

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A dignified detached multi-bay double-height Georgian former courthouse, dated 1779, located at the east end of High Street, that has been reused as the town hall. The substantial courthouse was part of a walled complex that included a large prison, the legacy of this former complex survives in the name of the “Hanging Gate,” which visitors must pass under to enter into the court in front of the modern entrance block. Externally, the former courthouse retains its impressive Georgian exterior and internally, the surviving Art Deco interiors dating from the town hall conversion are equally impressive. The former courthouse is also notable for occupying a prestigious site in the town at the end of High Street, a site formerly occupied by two influential and substantial building complexes.

General Comments

Date of Survey

17 December 2008