Lisnagade House, 27 Lisnagade Road, Lisnagade, Co Down, BT32 3QN

Lisnagade House is a detached, symmetrical two-storey three-bay Regency country house, built around 1827 on a large mature site to the south side of Lisnagade Road, northeast of Loughbrickland in County Down. It was built by local landowner Edward Hill Trevor, most likely as a marital home following his marriage in 1827 to Mary Lucy, daughter of Major Trevor of Loughbrickland. The house is set midway between two historically significant raths — Lisnavaragh and Lisnagade — and stands on a site described as probably the most archaeologically important area in the Banbridge district. According to local historian Magennis, the house was built on the site of an earlier castle. The ancient linear earthwork known as the Dane's Cast, which runs as far as Meigh in South Armagh, begins here.

The plan is rectangular with a central segmental projection to the front elevation. To the rear there is an L-shaped two-storey return added around 1870, and a single-storey lean-to extension. The roof is hipped natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles and some leaded hips. Rendered chimneystacks carry tall clay pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods run along projecting eaves fitted with timber soffits and paired modillions. The external walls are finished in roughcast render throughout.

Windows are timber sliding sash with projecting sills: six-over-three panes to the first floor and six-over-six panes to the ground floor.

The principal elevation faces south and is arranged symmetrically around a central two-storey segmental projection that terminates in a plain frieze. The first floor of this projection overhangs slightly and is carried on four semi-engaged columns — more closely spaced to the left and right — with a full entablature, all in painted stucco and set on a flagstone stepped plinth. At the centre of the ground floor is a raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door surmounted by a rectangular timber fanlight, and flanked by narrow round-arched timber windows with geometric glazing. A window sits above at first-floor level within the projection. The flanking bays each have one window per floor.

The west elevation has two blind windows to the first floor. At ground-floor level it is abutted by a modern timber conservatory, which is of no architectural interest. The north (rear) elevation is abutted to the left by the L-shaped two-storey hipped-roofed return, which has a ridge level lower than the main block. To the right are two first-floor windows and a single-storey lean-to extension with a right-of-centre modern timber-sheeted entrance door flanked by two windows to the left and a single window to the right. The return has a single central window to the ground floor. The left cheek has three equally spaced windows to the first floor and two windows to the ground floor positioned to the centre and left. The right cheek has two widely spaced windows to the first floor with two windows directly below and a window to the right; it is abutted to the right by the two-storey leg of the return, which incorporates a window to the first-floor north face. The east elevation is two windows wide to each floor.

The architectural detailing and historic fabric are largely intact and of good quality throughout.

The house occupies a large mature site accessed via a long gravelled lane leading to a gravelled courtyard at the rear. At the secondary entrance stand two large granite gate piers with chamfered plinth recessed panels and stepped pyramidal caps, which are included within the listing. The entrance to the rear yard is marked by two round rubble stone piers and features a metal water pump. To the west is a refurbished two-storey random rubble stone barn with red-brick dressings, replacement timber casement windows, and a variety of timber-sheeted doors set within segmental-arched surrounds. The house commands unspoiled views over the surrounding farmland.

The house and its offices appear in the Townland Valuation of 1828 to 1840 as the home of Edward Hill Trevor Esquire, with a house, a single-storey return spanning the width of the house, and a two-storey outbuilding, valued in total at £16 18 shillings. The structure is shown captioned as Lisnagade House on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, depicted as a rectangular building with a porch to the front. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) describes it as standing "on a lofty eminence, close to the ancient fort from which it is named." Edward Hill Trevor remained the occupier until 1873 and is recorded in Griffith's Valuation of 1863 as the owner in fee, with the house and offices set within over 135 acres valued at £27. A valuation increase to £33 in 1869 provides a likely date for the addition of the rear return, and the rear return itself first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903.

Trevor died around 1873 and the property passed to his representatives before being acquired by Charles Douglas in 1874. The house may have been unoccupied at the time of the 1901 census, Douglas having died in 1898 leaving a fortune equivalent to more than £2 million today. He had no children and left his estate to his sister and a female friend. By 1903 the occupier is recorded first as Miss Trevor and then as William Teggart, with the valuation reduced to £16 on a 21-year lease at a rent of £111 per year. The 1911 census records William Teggart, farmer, living in the house with his wife and three staff — two farm servants and a general domestic — in a ten-room first-class dwelling with twelve outbuildings including a stable, coach house, harness room, cow house, and piggery. The Teggart family became owners in fee under land purchase legislation in 1932, at which point the house was revalued at £16 with £5 10 shillings for agricultural outbuildings. The interior at this time comprised six bedrooms, three reception rooms, a kitchen, pantry, and scullery, though it was noted to be in poor repair.

The house was purchased in December 1945 by James Sinton for £1,900. The Sintons are descendants of Thomas Sinton, founder of the linen manufacturing firm Thomas Sinton and Co Ltd of Tandragee, which remained active until the early 1990s. A minor valuation adjustment followed the purchase, as Sinton began using part of the single-storey rear return as agricultural outbuildings. The house continues in use as a private dwelling.