Legacurry House, 1 Crossan Road, Legacurry, Lisburn, County Down, BT27 6XH

Legacurry House is a well-proportioned, symmetrical two-storey, three-bay detached house built around 1855 on the site of an earlier dwelling, set in mature grounds to the north of Crossan Road, Lisburn. It is a good example of a middle-sized Victorian country house, enhanced by its unspoiled semi-rural setting.

The house is L-shaped on plan. The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate with blue/black angled ridge tiles, and the painted masonry chimneystacks each carry three tall terracotta pots on a plinth. Rainwater goods are cast-iron ogee pattern on projecting eaves. The walls are finished in painted roughcast render with quoins and a smooth rendered plinth.

The principal elevation faces west and is three bays wide. At its centre is a rectangular porch reached by three curved slated steps, with a four-panel raised-and-fielded timber door, the upper panels of which are segmental-headed. Windows throughout are 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash with horns, set in moulded surrounds; those at first-floor level have label moulds on the east elevation only. The north elevation has one window at each floor. The east elevation is abutted by a full-height flat-roof return containing two modern timber-framed windows at first-floor level and two small windows at ground-floor level to the left; the exposed section to the north has a single ground-floor window, and the left gable is blank. The south elevation is four bays wide, with three windows to the left, a central gabled porch with a four-panelled replacement timber door with brass door furniture and a transom light above, and one window at each floor in the right-hand bay. A modern glass conservatory sits at ground-floor level on the south elevation, with a modern glazed timber door to the right.

To the rear there is also a full-height flat-roof extension and a glass conservatory. A single-storey porch is present to both the north and east.

The setting makes a significant contribution to the character of the property. The gravelled entrance is approached through polygonal sandstone gate piers with a plinth and pointed caps, with decorative wrought iron gates and railings. A low rubblestone wall mounted with cast metal railings forms the south boundary, and the entire site is enclosed by mature trees. The house stands at the junction of Upper Ballynahinch Road and Crossan Road.

To the east of the house stands a single-storey vernacular building, now used as an outbuilding, which contributes to the historic character of the site. It has a pitched roof with replacement natural slates, a rubble stone chimney to the gable, and a small rubble stone extension to the east also with a natural slate roof. Its principal elevation faces south and is three bays wide with a central timber-sheeted door; modern timber garage doors are fitted to the north elevation. A low rubblestone retaining wall supports a small raised woodland area nearby.

Legacurry House first appears on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map as an oblong building to the north of Legacurry village, at which point it was a single-storey dwelling occupied by the Morrow family. A Mr. James Morrow was recorded in the Townland Valuation of that date, when the house was classified as a C+ dwelling measuring 50 feet by 21 feet. The property included a number of outbuildings, a corn kiln, and a mill, with the entire site valued at £57 2s. A flax mill associated with the site was valued separately at £13 13s. 6d. The valuer noted that the mill lacked a constant water supply for around eight months of the year, resulting in very little production. The mill was originally located to the south of the house but has since been demolished and built over by a residential area.

The current two-storey Victorian dwelling and its rear return were constructed by 1859 on the site of the previous property. Griffith's Valuation records that a Mr. Robert Morrow had taken over the site by 1861, by which time the combined value of the house and mill had fallen to £38. The valuer observed that of the three mill stones, only two were used at any one time, with the third used occasionally for grinding flour, and that the mill appeared to operate no more than once a week during a season of roughly eight months. Robert Morrow occupied the house until his death on 9th January 1897, by which time the corn mill and its kiln had fallen out of use. The value of the site was subsequently divided between the house, valued at £17, and the mill at £18. Morrow's will records that he left effects of £2,478 6s. 6d. to Mr. Hugh G. Morrow, a Belfast mill manager, and Andrew John Morrow of Duneight House, presumably his sons.

After Morrow's death the house briefly passed to a Mr. Francis B. Walkington, who occupied it until 1902, when Samuel Brown purchased both the disused mill and the house. Brown resided there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The 1901 and 1911 Census records show that Brown lived at Legacurry House with his wife Annabella and their four children. He was born around 1855 and was recorded as a farmer in 1901 and as a farmer and mill owner by 1911. Both census returns classify the house as a first-class dwelling; the 1901 return indicates ten rooms while the 1911 return records seventeen. The 1901 census also notes an extensive range of farm buildings including a stable, two cow houses, a dairy, piggery, barn, fowl house, and boiling house, with a coal house added by 1911. The Annual Revisions record that the corn mill lay vacant until 1920, when Samuel Brown briefly reoccupied it, before it fell vacant again in 1922 and remained so.

The architectural historian C. E. B. Brett noted the difficulty of explaining how construction of the new house around 1850 was financed given the sporadic productivity of the mill, and described the house as a three-bay, two-storey building with Georgian-glazed windows and label mouldings below. Brett also recorded that the house changed hands a number of times in its more recent history.

The house has been sympathetically restored in recent years and its architectural detailing is largely intact. The current owners have added a modern glass conservatory to the rear and some double-glazed sliding sash windows, though these do not compromise the integrity of the original design. The single-storey vernacular outbuilding to the east has also been well preserved. The original corn and flax mill associated with the site has been lost. The layout of the site has otherwise remained unchanged since 1859, except that a small outbuilding recorded on the 1859 Ordnance Survey map has since been demolished.