248 Ballylesson Road, Lisburn, Co Down, BT27 5TS

This cottage was demolished in October 2008. It was a charming late Georgian gable-ended rendered and white-washed cottage, one and a half stories high with a three-bay front, built around 1820. The building had a rectangular plan with rubble-stone walls and an east-west long axis, set back about five yards from the south side of the road to Lisburn (the B23). It was located close to the cross-roads at Gardeners Loan Ends, a few hundred yards south-west of Belvedere house and demesne.

The three-bay symmetrical north facade had a central six-panel door with brass fixtures and simple moulded narrow architrave, flanked on each side by a window with a sliding sash of eight over eight panes and stone sill. There were no windows on the upper floor level, but above the eaves was a centrally placed pediment-dormer with plain verge containing an oculus or 'bull's eye' window of four panes. The oculus had a raised band surround matching the raised band cornice running along the eaves and on the gable verge. A gutter ran along the eaves crossing the tympanum, though the original building appears to have been without such guttering. This elegant symmetrical front facade was designed to project a sophisticated image, contrasting with the vernacular character of the interior and rear.

The east end gable had a plain rendered surface broken only by a single first-floor window with a sliding-sash of six over three panes and timber sill. The west end gable had two small windows at first-floor level of two over two panes, with a projecting breast built to accommodate an extra chimney flue when a single-storey extension was added around the 1840s. This extension had rubble-stone walls externally rendered with a lean-to roof of Bangor blue slates, accessed by a ledged batten door on the south-west side, and contained a small window with a sliding-sash of two over two panes.

The rear elevation was rendered and white-washed with irregular fenestration of different-sized windows. Two openings on the first floor had sliding-sashes of six panes over six. The ground floor had three windows: a notably large opening on the south side with a sliding-sash of eight panes over eight, another with a sliding-sash of six panes over six (both with stone sills), and at the centre a small square opening with a single pane lighting the area below the stairs. At the north end was a large vertically placed iron plate matching one on the front facade and holding a tie bar in place. There was a plain cornice with gutter and downpipe, partly fallen.

The roof had even courses of Bangor blue slates with a stone ridge. There were impressive and picturesque chimneys at each gable end, rising from the gable wall with supporting internal breasts. Both stacks, rendered and made of stone rubble, were surmounted by an oversailing cornice with bold Cyma Reversa mouldings. The west stack had no chimney pots; the east stack had two, each with a flue hood.

Internally, the house retained its original staircase and doors, all essentially vernacular in character. Unusually for its period, the interior was sub-divided entirely by stud-walling rather than stone or brick walls. This combination of elegant exterior appearance with vernacular internal elements made it an unusual architectural survival.

The property had no delimiting wall. There would formally have been a garden in front facing the road, though by the time of survey this area was heavily overgrown with bushes. The dwelling was set within a small paddock of around a quarter of an acre, very overgrown with bushes and tufts of grass.

The house lay on lands once belonging to Belvedere, a late 18th-century merchant's house located a few hundred yards to the north-east in the parish of Drumbo. Although located outside this well-planted demesne, the cottage had all the appearance of an estate dwelling and was probably built by the Belvedere estate for a member of its staff, possibly a Stewart. The cottage was depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 labelled 'Drumbeg', and on the second edition map of 1854 the building had reached its 2008 size, having been enlarged to the south-west. The cottage was most likely erected around 1820, probably built by Andrew Durham, JP, who had acquired Belvedere from its previous owner James Watson Hull around 1800 and remained in residence at Belvedere until the 1830s.