1 Park Lane, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AQ

1 Park Lane, Hillsborough

An attached two-storey rendered house built around 1800, located on the west side of Park Lane off The Square in Hillsborough. The building is L-shaped on plan and faces east, abutting the northeast corner of The Shambles and incorporating a room that originally formed part of that structure. Its modest scale and discreet location give it an almost vernacular character. It forms part of the essential character of Park Lane, positioned south of Inn Court—a small terrace with an enclosed cobbled laneway—and retains its original façade detailing and interior.

The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and features a central tall rendered chimneystack with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets runs to a cavetto-moulded eaves course. The walls are painted with ruled and lined render with rusticated render quoins. The front elevation, facing east onto the street, is three windows wide with square-headed window openings containing original timber casement windows with cylinder glass and sandstone sills. A square-headed door opening with smooth render surround leads directly onto a concrete step at street level; the door is flat-panelled timber.

The south gable elevation is abutted by The Shambles, with rendered wall detailing the section incorporated into number 1. Two three-centred arch window openings are formed in redbrick with fixed pane glazing, set within rubblestone wall with double-backed brick coping. The rear elevation is clad in creeper with some original 2/2 timber sash windows and replacement timber casement windows. A one-and-a-half-storey projection adjoins the south side and a single-storey structure adjoins the north. The north gable elevation has a single square-headed window opening to the upper floor with an original 2/2 timber sash window. A tall rubblestone screen wall with natural slate coping encloses the rear yard, containing a square-headed door opening with replacement timber sheeted door onto the cobbled rear access lane.

The house is situated on the west side of Park Lane fronting directly onto the street, with a cobbled lane running along the north gable providing access to the rear, to The Shambles, and to the terrace of small houses numbered 1-4 Inn's Court, Park Lane.

Historical Context

An 1803 plan of Hillsborough shows a building on the current site of 1 Park Lane, then called West Lane, though whether this is the present building remains unclear. It is likely that the current building predates the adjoining Shambles, which were constructed in 1829 following the enclosure of the Castle grounds and diversion of the Moira Road. The Townland Valuation Map for Hillsborough depicts 1 Park Lane as a small square building adjoining the rear wall of the Shambles, separated from buildings to its north by a path leading to a Shambles entrance. In 1834, the building was exempt from valuation as it fell below the minimum value of £5. By the period of Griffith's Valuation, Robert Johnston was registered as the occupant. The house was valued at £4.10.0 and remained in his name until his death on 6 January 1894. His widow Eliza Johnston occupied the house until her death in 1909 at the age of 84. Robert and Eliza Johnston experienced tragedy at the address, losing three of their children at a young age, including their daughter Annie M. Johnston, who died in 1898 aged 28. The 1901 Census records Eliza Johnston, born in England, as 75 years old and working as a seamstress, living with her son Robert Johnston, a 48-year-old carpenter. That year's house building return described 1 Park Lane as a second-class dwelling consisting of five rooms, four windows in front, with no out-offices. By 1911, after Eliza's death, the house was occupied by Mary Johnston and her young sons Robert, a tailor's apprentice, and Thomas. Mary was a widow whose husband James Johnston had died in April 1904. The 1911 Census showed no change to the house description except for the addition of a wood house and coal house. On 10 July 1923, Arthur Hill, the 7th Marquis of Downshire, sold the six perches of land constituting the building to Edward Johnston for £150 through the Trustees of his estate. When the Shambles fell into disuse, the occupant of 1 Park Lane purchased one of its rooms and converted it into a personal studio. The current occupant has lived in the house for approximately 25 years, undertaking significant interior renovation after purchasing it in poor condition.