Lock House, 146 Hillsborough Road, Lisburn, County Down, BT27 5QY

A single-storey, two-bay former lock house of L-plan situated along the east side of the topmost lock (no.17) of the now-abandoned Union Locks (HB19/08/008) behind no.146 Hillsborough Road. Hipped natural slate roof (skylight to north pitch) with clay ridge tiles, replacement half-round steel rainwater goods and lathe-and-plaster boxed eaves. Old photographs show three chimneys (two on the front section and one on the rear section) long since removed. The walls are of cement-harled masonry (probably random rubble). They are now so heavily overgrown with ivy in places that some window openings are now more evident from the inside than out. All the openings have flat heads and are delineated with cement render. All windows have sandstone cills. The principal façade faces north and is symmetrical. The door at middle is sheeted tongue-and-groove with a rectangular overlight (now sheeted over). There is a structural crack above it. The window opening to its left is sheeted over, but vestiges of its 6/6 timber sliding sash survive internally. The window to the right of the door is a replacement fixed window. but would also have been a 6/6 sash originally. The west gable of the front section is devoid of openings. The south elevation has a projecting windbreak porch with tongue-and-groove sheeted door. The porch’s roof profile can no longer be determined due to the vegetation; it may be flat concrete, but old photographs show a hipped roof. To the left of the porch are vestiges of a 6/6 sash window. To the right is a replacement 2x2 fixed window. The exposed elevation of the rear section of the house has a single tongue-and-groove door (with granite doorstep) at right. The south gable of this section has a 6/3 sash window and the east elevation has three regularly spaced windows - two 6/6 sashes and a replacement fixed 3x3 (it would have been a 6/6 originally). The lock house is now physically separated from the lock complex by a modern wall. Windows: 6/6 timber sliding sashes (where surviving) Doors: Sheeted tongue-and-groove replacements Rainwater goods: Steel half round replacements Roof: Natural slate