Broommount, 53 Soldierstown Road, Aghalee, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT67 0AT

Broommount is a symmetrical, detached, three-bay, two-storey farmhouse with attic, dating from the 17th century — current owners believe it was built around 1664, and historical sources suggest it may have originated as early as 1695. It sits on the south side of Soldierstown Road in an unspoilt rural setting, directly opposite Holy Trinity Church of Ireland. The listing covers not just the house but also the horsewalk, outbuildings, walling, and gates.

Despite its mid-20th century appearance — the result of flint-dash render applied over rubble walling — the building conceals a very early structure. Its steeply pitched natural slate roof and diminutive proportions betray its true age, and the interior remains largely intact. The house is L-shaped on plan, with an early gable-ended return and a further two-storey red brick return added around 1880. It faces north and is approached by a long winding avenue lined with mature trees, with a large farmyard to the southwest and a small range of outbuildings to the southeast.

The walling throughout is flint-dash render over rubble, with a smooth rendered plinth and eaves course, rusticated render quoins, and a smooth render sill band to the first floor. Window openings are square-headed with smooth rendered surrounds, painted masonry sills, and horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows. The symmetrical north-facing front elevation is five windows wide, with a square-headed door opening fitted with a replacement timber doorcase featuring decorative leaded glazing. The door opens onto a tarmac parking area. Replacement aluminium guttering serves the front elevation; cast-iron guttering is used elsewhere. The roof has lead ridges and cement coping to the slightly raised gables, each of which is surmounted by a large rendered chimneystack.

The east gable has a single off-centre window opening at each level, plus a further opening at attic level fitted with a uPVC window. The early return continues flush with the east gable, with a single window to each floor; the ground floor retaining a 6/6 timber sash window with an exposed sash box. A tall rendered pier supporting a pair of wrought-iron gates to the southeast yard abuts this elevation. The rear elevation is flanked by the gable-ended return to the right, with a lean-to accretion filling the re-entrant angle. Two windows appear on each floor of the exposed section of the rear elevation, and a gabled dormer window with a uPVC window projects from the rear pitch.

The later circa 1880 return is lower in height and built of red brick and stone, with a pitched natural slate roof, roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods. The brick is laid in English garden wall bond, with the ground floor partly in rubblestone. The east elevation of this return has a random arrangement of window openings with uPVC windows and a central Tudor-arched door opening with a hood moulding and a replacement hardwood doorcase. The west elevation of the return is abutted by a single-storey red brick accretion surmounted by a lean-to timber-framed conservatory. The west gable of the main house is abutted by a single-storey lean-to with a uPVC window to the front and a uPVC glazed door to the rear.

Inside, the house retains many original features. Raised and fielded panelling throughout indicates the house was renovated at some point during the 18th century, when the interior took on a Georgian character. This well-preserved Georgian interior, combined with the 17th century proportions and roof pitch, makes Broommount a notably intact early farmhouse.

The setting reinforces the significance of the whole. The long winding avenue splits as it approaches the house, one branch leading south to a large concrete-paved farmyard, the other to the front door. The avenue meets the road through a pair of flint-dash rendered piers with splayed walls. To the east of the house, a gateway with flint-dashed rendered piers and wrought-iron gates leads to a small yard formed by a two-storey rendered outbuilding attached to a cluster of similar rendered outhouses with sheeted doors and natural slate roofs. Lining the west side of the large yard is a range of single and two-storey rendered outbuildings with a red brick bellcote, sheeted doors and windows, and natural slate roofs. To the west, the remains of an octagonal horse-training structure — a late 19th century horsewalk — survive in a state of disrepair. A small enclosed garden to the rear of the house is bounded by a low wall of dashed render over random rubble.

Historically, Broommount is well documented. It appears by name on the first edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1832–33, which show the house and a large number of outbuildings in its present L-shaped form. The Townland Valuation of around 1833 classified the house as grade 1b and recorded a potato house, two stables, a barn, a boiling house, and a threshing machine among the outbuildings, valuing the entire site at £26 4s. The Reverend John Dubourdieu's Statistical Survey of County Antrim (1812) records that the threshing machine was first set in motion in 1811. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833–38 describe Broommount as the seat of William Gorman — "a commodious oblong building 2 storeys high and slated, with a wing to the north end" — and note that the offices were extensive and the yard well enclosed. The same source states that the house may have been built by Dr. Edward Walkington, Bishop of Down and Connor, around 1695, as a residence for the clergy of Aghalee Church, with the last clergyman to occupy it being Reverend Dean Walsh, whose widow sold the property to the Gorman family. By the time of writing, the Gormans had occupied the house for around 80 years — placing their arrival in the 1750s — and William Gorman had made considerable improvements within the previous 25 years.

Griffith's Valuation values the property at £24, let by the Marquis of Hertford and occupied by Stafford Gorman, William Gorman's son. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary confirms Stafford Gorman as occupier and owner as early as 1837. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows only a single new outbuilding, and later map editions show little further change. In 1895 the valuation was restructured: the outbuildings were valued separately at £10, occupied by Gorman's son-in-law William Edward Best and let by Stafford Gorman, while the house itself was recorded as held in fee and valued at £12. The 1901 Census lists Broommount as a ten-room, first-class building, with Stafford Gorman — a retired farmer born around 1822 — living there with his wife Maria Selina Gorman. The landholder at that point was William E. Best. Stafford Gorman died on 10 January 1903, leaving £5 to William E. Best in his will. By the 1911 Census, William E. Best (born around 1855) was recorded as both occupant and landholder, living at Broommount with his wife Elizabeth, his mother-in-law Maria Selina Gorman, and his sister-in-law. Best was a farmer and also an assistant inspector for the Irish Land Commission, established in 1881. The 1911 Census continues to record a large number of outbuildings, including the octagonal horse-training house that still partly survives. In 1927 Thomas Hayes occupied the property, which was by then listed at a single valuation of £30. Current owners believe the roof was originally thatched.