50 Plantation Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim

50 Plantation Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim

This is a late 18th-century two-storey house, built as the residence of the mill manager attached to a linen manufacturing complex, and probably constructed for or by John Barbour, who came to Lisburn from Paisley in Scotland in 1784 and established a linen thread business on this site. It stands immediately to the east of Lisburn, adjacent to the M1 motorway, and is physically attached to the larger, three-storey mill owner's house at No. 52 Plantation Road, in which John Barbour himself is said to have lived. One of Barbour's sons, William, went on to establish the linen thread factory at nearby Hilden. The building is of industrial archaeological interest as a rare surviving element of what was once an extensive manufacturing complex.

The house is rectangular in plan. Its south-facing front elevation is five bays wide and almost symmetrical, with a central rectangular doorway flanked by two windows to each side on the ground floor, with five windows directly above on the first floor. The front elevation is finished in smooth painted render. Unfortunately, the original windows and door have been replaced: the windows throughout the front elevation now have uPVC frames, and the front door is a replacement timber door. The rear elevation is finished in roughcast render and has an unusual distribution of rectangular windows. On the first floor there is an original six-over-six timber sliding sash window to the right, with two similar windows to the right-hand side; on the ground floor there is a similarly sized opening, but fitted with a replacement uPVC window matching those at the front. Rainwater goods are also uPVC. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates. The west gable is rendered and has no openings in its upper section, but a large late 20th-century lean-to garage, built in red clay brick, has been added at ground level and wraps around to the rear of the building.

The house shares its setting with the attached No. 52, which rises to three storeys. It is set back from Plantation Road behind a tall random rubble stone wall, in which a former vehicular entrance has been blocked up, with one rendered gate pier surviving. This wall may originally have served as the main access point for both houses and continues along the side of the plot. Behind it lies a mainly grassed front garden.

Although the complex is generally attributed to John Barbour following his arrival in 1784, there is evidence suggesting that a dwelling may have existed on the site before that date. A house marked "Plantation" appears in this area on Taylor's and Skinner's map of 1777, and some internal detailing — notably lugged architraves, the panelling arrangement on many of the doors, a noticeably low staircase with a thick handrail, and a simple moulded surround to one of the fireplaces — points to an early to mid 18th-century date. A Hertford estate map of 1726 records the plot, then known as "The Plantation", as being leased to Henry and William Close, who are also recorded on a rent roll of 1728, though the absence of documentary evidence for the following decades makes it impossible to confirm whether they undertook any building work. It is possible, therefore, that Barbour simply acquired an existing dwelling and may have extended it. The detailing to the uppermost floor of the three-storey section (No. 52) and its return differs from the rest of the building, suggesting those sections may be later additions.

By the early 1800s, more than one hundred people were believed to be employed at the Barbour works, with many living in small dwellings in and around the site. John Barbour died in 1823, and thread production at Plantation was continued briefly by his son, also named John. When John died around 1830–31, his brother William purchased the plant and transferred all operations to his Hilden works. The two houses were then sold off — No. 50 passing to a Reverend Alexander Henderson, and No. 52 to a William Kelsey — probably at this point.

By the time of the first Ordnance Survey map of 1834, Nos. 50 and 52 were no longer considered part of the factory complex. At that date, No. 50 (then in the hands of Reverend Henderson) comprised the house itself, measuring 45 feet by 19½ by 17, along with an old thatched outbuilding measuring 13 by 17 by 9, and was rated at £5-8-0. The valuers noted it was "too large for the proprietor holds no land." No. 52, in the possession of William Kelsey (who appears to have been related to Henderson), was rated at £14-1-0 and similarly noted as "too much for the present proprietor"; it comprised a house measuring 37½ by 20½ by 24, a return of 24½ by 19 by 23, and three outbuildings. The wider former factory complex, by then recorded as an "Old Thread Manufactory" in the shape of a rough U, was in the hands of a Mrs. (or Ms.) Eliza Barbour and was described as a "Thread factory, unoccupied, not in use and going to ruin", rated at £20-6-0.

Some time between 1834 and 1861, Kelsey acquired the entire complex from the Barbours, possibly before 1846, when Slater's directory records him as operating a corn mill — presumably making use of the former factory buildings. By the 1861 valuation, Kelsey also owned thirteen other houses within the Plantation area, most of them former mill workers' dwellings erected by the Barbours, arranged in a row to the south of the main house fronting the road. It is probable that Kelsey used No. 50 to house members of his notably large family of 24 children. Kelsey died around 1869–70 and his Plantation properties passed to Henderson Kelsey, who was probably responsible for the addition of canted bays to the main house. In 1886, the former manager's house was leased to an Alice McHarg; in 1891 the lease passed to a John Higginson, and two years later to a Hugh Smith. In that same year, Kelsey acquired the freehold of the entire grouping from the Hertford estate. Henderson Kelsey died around 1911–12 and the property passed to Thomas Kelsey, who continued to live in No. 52 until at least 1930; the lease of No. 50 passed to a Samuel Smith around 1908, and then to another Hugh Smith in 1918.

According to local historian Mavis Heaney, William Henderson Kelsey inherited both houses in 1948. By that time, the former factory and mill structures were being used as farm buildings, No. 52 having taken on the name "Plantation Farm", while No. 50 — in which William installed two of his aunts, Miss Louise and Miss Margaret Kelsey — was known as "The Laurels." In 1954, Hillsborough Rural District Council acquired the row of former mill workers' houses near the roadside and demolished them to make way for the Andrews Park development. Many of the former factory structures to the north of Nos. 50 and 52, including the remains of a horse or ox-walk known locally as the "old bull-ring", survived until the 1990s, when they were cleared for the Plantation Mews development.

Today, Nos. 50 and 52 are the only historic houses remaining in the immediate vicinity, apart from No. 74 Plantation Road, which also has a connection with the Barbour linen business. The inappropriate replacement of windows and the front door on the principal elevation has detracted from the architectural interest of the building.