Beechmount Farm, 81 Plantation Road, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT27 5PH

Beechmount Farm is a detached, three-bay, two-storey symmetrical late-Victorian house, built around 1880 and set on a substantial mature site on the outskirts of Lisburn, overlooking farmland on all sides. The house sits in an unspoiled rural setting south of Plantation Road, in the townland of Largymore, and is accessed via a long tree-lined tarmacadamed driveway. Although it is a relatively common type of its period and is not listed, it retains much of its original architectural fabric and an intact interior floor-plan, and its associated early farm buildings and wrought-iron gates add further interest.

The building is rectangular on plan, with a two-storey rear return and two small two-storey extensions to the rear. A flat-roof extension and garage abut the two-storey return. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with blue/black angled ridge tiles. The painted rendered chimneystacks carry terracotta pots. Timber bargeboards survive to the gables, though the finials have been lost. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on corbelled eaves. The walls are finished in painted smooth render on a plinth.

Windows throughout are segmental-headed, one-over-one timber-framed sliding sashes with horns and projecting masonry sills.

The principal elevation faces northwest and is symmetrically arranged, with two-storey canted bay windows to either side of the entrance bay. Above the entrance, paired windows light the first floor. The entrance itself is reached by four bull-nosed stone steps and comprises a four-panelled timber door with decorative cast-iron door furniture, flanked by side-lights with a horizontal glazing bar set on a moulded panel. Four fluted jambs on plinths with capital heads support a plain entablature and cornice.

The northeast elevation features two diminutive round-headed windows to the attic, single windows at first floor left and right, a window to the ground floor right, and paired windows to the ground floor left. The southwest elevation similarly has two diminutive round-headed attic windows, with windows at first and ground floor on both left and right.

The southeast rear elevation is abutted to the right by the two-storey return. Towards the centre are two small two-storey extensions, with the left one being lower; a single window sits at first floor level to the far left. The return has a timber-sheeted door to the left at attic level and is abutted at ground floor by the flat-roof extension and garage. The northeast face of the return has two two-over-two wall-head dormer windows to the attic and two two-over-two windows at both ground and first floor. The southwest face of the return has two windows at both ground and first floor. The right-hand extension contains a round-headed leaded and stained glass window to the first floor and a two-over-two window to the ground floor. The left-hand extension has replacement windows at both ground and first floor.

To the rear of the house, arranged around a yard and enclosed to the south by a masonry wall with hedgerow, is a group of farm buildings comprising a slated painted rubble stone stable-block and a two-storey barn. The barn to the east has corbelled eaves, timber bargeboards, and dressed quoins. Four windows under the eaves at first floor level have projecting masonry sills. The ground floor openings are set in segmental-headed brick surrounds and include, from left: a timber-sheeted door and window; to the right of centre, a large square-headed carriage entrance with timber-sheeted doors on a roller; and a window to the far right. The north gable has a timber-sheeted door at first floor level; the south gable has a set of large timber-sheeted doors accessed via a rubble stone ramp. The stable-block to the west is made up of three adjoining blocks at various roof levels. The blocks to the north are earlier; the block to the south has elongated openings at attic level under the eaves. All openings have timber-sheeted half-doors.

The setting is generous and well-established. The site is lawned to the front and enclosed by mature hedgerow with a wrought-iron farm gate. At the entrance, eight masonry steps are enclosed by a parapet wall surmounted by cast-iron lamp standards. To the west is a paddock enclosed by a high timber fence. Large agricultural sheds sit to the rear of the site.

The name 'Beechmount' first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey maps for the townland of Largymore, surveyed in 1919–20, which show the building as it substantially existed at that time, including the southeast-facing rear return, the single-storey stable-block, the two-storey barn, and an additional farm building situated approximately 100 metres to the southwest. The house was most likely constructed around 1880. According to J. A. K. Dean's 'The Gate Lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer' (Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994), the Todd family converted a single-storey cottage at the entrance to the property into a gate lodge around 1880 at the time Beechmount House was first constructed. The family had originally intended to occupy the renovated cottage themselves, but finding it insufficient for their needs, they converted it into a gate lodge for the larger house built shortly afterwards. The third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902–03 could not be examined due to the closure of the Public Record Office, and the absence of valuation records makes it difficult to trace the full occupational history of the site.

The 1901 census records Samuel Todd — a Presbyterian farmer and pork merchant — as occupant of the first-class dwelling, which at that time possessed 15 rooms and a large number of farm buildings. He lived there with his brothers William Todd (aged 52, also a pork merchant) and Robert J. Todd, who was employed as a teacher. By 1911 Samuel Todd had married, and in 1916 he and his wife Elizabeth had a son, Wilbert Thompson Todd. The Campbell College Register (1894–1954) records that Wilbert went on to become a successful engineer and winner of the 1953 Circuit of Ireland Motor Trial. Samuel Todd died in 1931 and left the property to his brother William, who died in 1937 and in turn left Beechmount to his widow Elizabeth, as recorded in the PRONI Wills Catalogue.

Between the 1919–20 fourth edition Ordnance Survey maps and the 1967 survey, a single-storey modern garage with a flat-roof extension abutting the rear return and four modern agricultural sheds to the southeast of the house were added to the site. The house and its associated farm buildings remain occupied and are in a relatively good state of repair. This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.