61 Soldierstown Road, Soldierstown, Ballynaghten, Magheragall, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT67 0ET

Detached two-storey three-bay stone and brick farmhouse dating to the mid-nineteenth century, set perpendicular to Soldierstown Road on its south side, facing east. The house possesses possible eighteenth-century origins, evidenced by internal joinery elements and thick internal walls including one visibly bowed out, which suggest a late eighteenth-century date despite the external appearance of mid to late nineteenth-century construction given by the brick chimneystacks. The rectangular plan comprises a pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles and four symmetrically-placed yellow brick profiled chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets sits to a redbrick eaves course with cast-iron downpipes. The walling comprises random rubblestone with square-headed window and door openings formed in painted redbrick with painted concrete sills. The front east elevation is four windows wide with replacement hardwood casement windows and an off-centre square-headed door opening formed in redbrick with replacement hardwood door, sidelight and overlight. The rear west elevation is four windows wide with replacement 2/2 hardwood sash and casement windows, and a square-headed door opening to the left bay formed in redbrick with uPVC glazed door and sidelight opening onto a concrete paved rear yard. The south gable is rendered and abutted by a lean-to redbrick carriage house having a three-centred arch brick opening with sandstone keystone. The north gable is rendered and abutted by a single-storey pebbledash rendered outbuilding with a sheeted iron roof.

The site is set perpendicular to Soldierstown Road with a front lawn, a redbrick outbuilding parallel to the rear of the house along a concrete paved lane and yard, and a further range of rubblestone outbuildings to the south. The nearest of these outbuildings has a corrugated tin roof and painted timber doors, whilst a further two-storey outbuilding to the east features a natural slate roof and painted timber doors. The front lawn is enclosed by a modern timber fence with a pair of original cast-iron gate posts to the road.

Historical Records

The Townland Valuation of approximately 1833 records a house and a number of offices on Soldierstown Road occupied first by Henry Bullock and subsequently by William H. Montgomery. The house, classed as a 2b building measuring 47 feet by 19.6 feet by 18 feet high, was valued at £4 3s 10d. The Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33 depicts the house and barn as an oblong shaped building with a large office attached in an L-shape configuration, with two similar-sized offices also depicted. This layout remained unchanged on later editions of the Ordnance Survey map. The total value for the site was £6 6s 6d. By 1859, Griffith's Valuation recorded the house and its offices valued at £8 10s, noting that Montgomery remained in occupation. In 1881 Henry Hammond took residence of the house, purchasing it outright from the Lessor Sir Richard Wallace in 1893. The property fell vacant in 1891, with its value falling slightly to £7 10s, the valuer noting that the property had originally been valued too high. Hammond occupied the house from 1881 until the Annual Revisions ended in 1928.

The 1901 Census records Henry Hammond's older brother Thomas, aged 59, as Head of the Family. Both brothers were farmers living at the property with their sister Sarah Jane Hammond, aged 45, and three servants. The house was recorded as a first-class dwelling with nine inhabited rooms. By 1911 Henry Hammond is recorded as landholder and Head of Family after his brother retired from farming. His brother and sister still resided with him, the house now recorded as possessing ten rooms. The offices attached to the house included a stable, cow house, calf house, fowl house, barn, potato house, workshop and shed.

Internal inspection reveals an evolved house; although external appearance suggests late nineteenth-century construction, the joinery elements and thick internal walls indicate late eighteenth-century origins. The road layout similarly indicates earlier origins, possibly plantation-era, as the road (which leads to the nearby plantation church at Aghalee) sweeps noticeably around the site, with outbuildings later built out to the road line. The largest office adjoining the house, recorded on the Ordnance Survey maps as originally used as a barn or stable, still possesses its original coach arch. The house was listed in 1983, and new windows were installed in 1997.