Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/17/014 A

Address :
Hilden House Grand Street Lisburn Co.Antrim BT27 4TY

Townland:
Lambeg South

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
06/05/1987 00:00:00

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:
165/07

IG Ref:
J2787 6531

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached five-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1825, with three-bay side elevations. Facing west with a lower five-bay two-storey return and accretions added c.1880-1900. Set within its own landscaped grounds on the north side of Grand Street, Hilden with U-plan range of outbuildings to the north run as a micro-brewery (HB19/17/014B). O-plan hipped natural slate roof, rolled lead ridges and flashing, with two rendered redbrick chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Original ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering to moulded eaves course with blocking course and cast-iron downpipes. Half-round cast-iron guttering to southeast accretions. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling with projecting plinth course throughout, moulded to the north two bays only. Rusticated render quoins to all corners. Camber-headed window openings, painted masonry sills with original 6/6 timber sash windows, no horns and much cylinder glass. Symmetrical five-bay two-storey front elevation with continuous sill course to ground floor. Central three-centred arched door opening with keystone and archivolt moulding to impost mouldings and plain pilasters to either side. Late nineteenth-century doorcase comprises; timber panelled door with five panels, having stop-chamfered mouldings and the upper two panels glazed with decorative brass door furniture. Door set within stop-chamfered timber frame and sidelights with diagonally sheeted panels below. Dog-tooth lintel cornice and glazed overlight divided in two with cylinder glass. Door opens onto timber step and concrete platform with further semi-circular concrete step. To either side, red coloured concrete floor to former full-width verandah, now removed. Three-bay north side elevation abutted by single-storey gabled entrance porch with natural slate roof, ogee-moulded cast-iron rainwater goods, original flat-panelled timber door having brass furniture and concrete step. Tripartite timber casement window to the gabled side and replacement timber casement window to the cheek of porch. Lower multi-bay two-storey rendered return runs flush with side elevation and has natural slate roof and combination of timber sash windows (some paired) and replacement timber casement windows. Rear elevation abutted by return and further two-bay two-storey extension to the inner corner with a square-plan rendered tower rising above. The tower has a pyramidal roof with angled natural slate rolled lead ridges and timber sash windows to each floor including a decorative leaded sash window to ground floor. Single exposed bay to rear with original 6/6 timber sash window to first floor. Three-bay south side elevation to main house with 6/6 timber sash windows having cylinder glass and round-headed stairhall window with original upper sash and incorporated fanlight, lower sash replaced by timber glazed door opening onto steel steps. Bitmac area to north encircles rear and south side of house with gravel front parking area and curved bitmac avenue leading southwest through large front lawn opening onto Grand Street via early twentieth-century iron gates and swan-neck walls with rail. Section of coursed rubble walling South of house at top of avenue. Tall rough-cast rendered quadrant wall abutting north side elevation of house with gothic-arched pedestrian gateway, terminating at the north side elevation of the U-plan range of outbuildings. Well and wheel pump located to North face of rendered wall. Roof Natural slate RWG Ogee-moulded cast-iron Walling Painted ruled and lined render Windows Original timber sash

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Hilden House dates from 1824 and has undergone some remodelling dating from c.1850. John Barbour arrived in Ireland in the late eighteenth century, from Scotland, and established a thread factory at the Plantation. In 1824 his son William bought the former bleach green at Hilden and built a thread factory. According to Rankin, this premises formerly belonged to the Delacherois family who were Huguenots who had fled religious persecution in France in the 1680s and assisted in the development of the linen industry in the Lisburn area. The home that the Delacherois had built was falling into decay and William Barbour set about building a new house next to his prospering business concern. He took up residence in 1824 with his wife Eliza Kennedy and they brought up their large family in the house. (Rankin, p.47-8) The house is shown, uncaptioned, on the first edition OS map of 1833 and the OS Memoirs of the same period comment that,“The house is a very commodious, square building, 2 storeys high and slated. The yards are well enclosed, the offices extensive, all slated and chiefly 2 storeys high. The garden, containing about 2 English acres, is enclosed by a stone and lime wall about 12 feet high and well stocked with fruit trees. It is tastefully laid off in every particular and contains a handsome glass-roofed greenhouse, where good grape and a variety of cape flowers are annually reared and other glasshouses or hot beds for melons. It also contains a sundial, a good garden house, a good metal pump and water engine for watering the garden.” (OS Memoirs, p.138) The OS map of the period (1833) shows a protrusion to the south facade which may be indicate the presence of a former staircase leading from a door on the first floor, now replaced in metal. This has gone by the second edition (1857). An extension at right angles to the return is shown on OS maps before 1973. The house is listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) as a house of dimensions 45x41x23.6 with various outbuildings – a wareroom, wareroom and workshop, store and workshop, offices, byre, storehouse and workshop and a porter’s lodge. A garden house and piggery are also listed. The property is occupied by William Barbour Esq and valued at £42.4s. The nearby thread mill is also his property. On the second edition (1857) the house is captioned ‘Hillden’ and we learn from Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) that the property is leased from the Marquis of Hertford. The house and outbuildings are now valued at £65 and dimensions are given for a house of two storeys, a single-storey porch and a two-storey return. It appears that some improvements have taken place, leading to an increase in valuation, including the addition of a porch and a new doorway to the front facade. Dimensions are also given for four outbuildings and a lodge, but the tower abutting the return, which is shown on the 1857 map is not listed. By 1875 the house has passed to John Dougherty Barbour who had taken over the firm and his two brothers Robert and Thomas. The lessor is now Sir Richard Wallace. A plan of the house is shown in the valuation town plan dating from 1907-c1935 and this shows, for the first time, the minor extension to the rear. According to Rankin, Hilden House was then occupied by their sister Maria Pirrie and subsequently her sons Malcolm and William Gordon who were both involved in the Barbour company. The house has now passed out of the Barbour family and is privately occupied. The outbuildings have been converted into the Hilden Brewery. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/64/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3 2. PRONI OS/6/1/64/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/64/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1901 4. PRONI OS/6/1/64/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1 5. PRONI OS/6/1/64/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1920-31 6. PRONI OS/6/1/64/6 – Sixth Edition OS Map 1920-39 7. PRONI VAL/1/B/172 – Townland Valuation (1828-40) 8. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/59 – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/7A-D – Annual Revisions (1867-1929) 10. PRONI VAL/12/E/38/1– Annual Revisions Town Plan (1907-c1935) Secondary Sources 1.Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Volume 8, Parishes of County Antrim II, 1832-8” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991 2.Rankin, K “The Linen Houses of the Lagan Valley, The story of their families” Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002

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

X. Local Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

This fine five-bay two-storey rendered house, dating from 1825 and set within landscaped grounds in the village of Hilden retains its original external appearance in a reduced but nonetheless appropriate setting. The internal fabric has been retained with many original features intact. Together with its attendant outbuildings, now in use as a brewery (HB19/17/014B), the house, with its historical connections to the Linen industrialists Delacherois and Barbour and group value with the Barbour mill buildings adjacent to the site (19/17/013), stands as one of the more prominent and elegant buildings in the village.

General Comments

Date of Survey

27 May 2010