69 Lisnagade Road, Loughbrickland, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3QN

A group of vernacular farm buildings dating to circa 1840, located on the west side of Lisnagade Road north of Loughbrickland. The group comprises a single-storey three-bay rubble stone hearth-lobby house, a single-storey four-bay roughcast rendered direct-entry house, and associated outbuildings, arranged in a traditional grouping. The setting is largely original and much of the early character has survived, though the buildings have been altered and do not represent the best examples of their type. As a grouping, such arrangements are increasingly rare.

The rubble stone hearth-lobby house has random rubble walling, a tin roof with raised stone verges and replacement chimneystack. Rainwater goods are uPVC half-round with timber fascias. Windows are 1/1 timber casements with timber lintels and concrete block sills. The house is rectangular on plan with a north-facing elevation and a projecting catslide porch to the front. The porch, positioned right of centre, has a timber-sheeted entrance door with a window to its right and two windows to its left. The east gable is blank. The south (rear) elevation contains a window to the left and a further opening to the left. The west gable is abutted by a wall and slated canopy connecting to the neighbouring roughcast rendered house.

The roughcast rendered house features painted roughcast render on a smooth rendered plinth with quoins, with a pitched natural slate roof (artificial slates to rear slope) and blue-black angled ridge tiles. Chimneystacks are replacement rendered. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are fitted. Windows are predominantly 1/1 timber sliding sash with projecting sills, except replacement timber windows to the rear. The north-facing elevation has a replacement timber-sheeted door left of centre with windows either side. An additional bay to the left contains a replacement timber-sheeted half-door and a 2/2 timber casement window. The east gable is abutted by a wall and slated canopy connecting to the neighbouring rubble stone dwelling. The south (rear) elevation comprises four replacement windows at various locations and sizes. The west elevation is abutted by a single-storey byre.

The byre to the west has a pitched natural slate roof with blue-black angled ridge tiles and two flush rooflights on the left of the north-facing slope. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present. Walling is mainly random rubble stone with ashlar quoins, red-brick dressings and relieving arches. Timber casement windows are fitted. Timber-sheeted doors are positioned left and centre, with two windows right of centre, the rightmost being multi-paned. A pair of timber-sheeted doors occupies the far right. The east gable abuts the adjoining single-storey house. The south (rear) elevation is blank. The west gable has an opening at its centre apex, sheeted in corrugated metal.

A rubble stone barn to the northeast of the yard has red-brick quoins and a natural slate roof. Its elevations are blank except the west gable, which has a timber-sheeted sliding door with brick infill at the door opening centre.

The buildings are closely grouped on a large site, accessed via a long lane and surrounded by farmland with a yard to the front. At the entrance to the yard stands a pair of original wrought-iron gates on simple stone piers. To the far west of the yard is a modern agricultural shed and rubble stone wall. The site is bounded by mature trees and hedgerow.

Historical Context

These buildings form a group formerly known as 'The Hill Head' and were listed throughout valuation records as three separate holdings. The two central dwelling houses date to before 1834. They appear on the first Ordnance Survey map of 1834, captioned 'The Hill Head' and situated near a small rath. A third dwelling house to the south has since been demolished.

The group does not appear in the Townland Valuation, as the buildings would not have reached the valuation threshold of £3 for inclusion. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–1864 lists two occupiers: George Burns and Margaret, subsequently James Patterson. The farmhouses were valued at £1 10 shillings and £2 15 shillings respectively, situated on plots of land exceeding 11 acres and 23 acres. James Patterson's house is described as 'partly slated'. The Burns and Patterson families remained resident until the early twentieth century, appearing in the censuses of 1901 and 1911. In 1901, George Burns was a 54-year-old widower with ten children aged between 5 and 30; his older sons assisted with the farm while his sisters worked in the home. James and Alexander Patterson were unmarried brothers living with Mary Jane Tuft, a domestic servant. Both houses were thatched in 1901 and designated 'third class' according to their size and construction materials, each containing three rooms. By 1911, fewer adult children remained with George Burns. James Patterson lived alone with his servant. Both houses were then roofed with more permanent materials, probably corrugated iron and slate.

James Patterson's house passed to William Teggart in 1929, with subsequent occupiers including Robert Jardine (1938) and Patrick McKiveregan (1943). In the First General Revaluation of the early 1930s, the house was partly slated and partly roofed with corrugated iron. Its interior comprised a reception, kitchen, bedroom and attic, and the house was described as in 'medium condition'. By 1955, George Burns' house was redesignated an agricultural outbuilding and revalued at £1. Its internal accommodation then comprised two bedrooms and a kitchen, roofed with corrugated iron.