Legacurry Primary School, 305 Ballynahinch Road, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT27 5LX

Legacurry Primary School

Legacurry Primary School was built in 1925 on a prominent site at the junction of Ballynahinch Road and Comber Road, north of Ballynahinch Road. The building replaced an earlier National Schoolhouse that had occupied the same site from at least 1858. According to Griffith's Valuation of 1861, the earlier building functioned as a private dwelling valued at 15 shillings and let to Mr. George Waterworth. The property remained privately occupied until replaced by the new schoolhouse in 1925. Maps and valuation records suggest that until 1925, the National School operated from one of the outbuildings on the plot.

The 1925 schoolhouse was constructed in the Modern Style, characteristic of inter-war school building design. A sandstone foundation stone records that construction began on 15th August 1925 when the stone was laid by Lady Turner, the Lady Mayoress of Belfast. Commemoration stones were also laid on this date honouring Mrs. Ogilvie B. Graham of Larchfield House and Mr. Andrew Morrow of Duneight House. The school opened on 28th February 1926, with the ceremony conducted by Rev. Robert Kelso.

The building was a symmetrical single-storey structure in the modern style. It comprised a rectangular central section with a hipped roof, flanked by flat-roof side wings to the east and west, both lower in height, with an L-shaped flat-roof extension to the rear. The hipped roof was covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles terminating in finials. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods completed the roofwork.

The exterior walls were finished in painted roughcast render with a stone eaves band and smooth rendered plinth. Almost full-height windows with masonry sills occupied the main elevation, all fitted with timber boards. The principal elevation faced south and measured six regularly spaced openings wide. To the far left and right of the principal elevation stood side wings, each featuring a round-headed niche containing an inscribed sandstone plaque. The left plaque read: "THIS STONE WAS LAID BY LADY TURNER LADY MAYORESS OF BELFAST 15TH AUGUST 1925". The right plaque read: "THIS STONE WAS LAID BY MRS O.B. GRAHAM OF LARCHFIELD 15TH AUGUST 1925". The central plaque read: "THIS STONE WAS LAID IN MEMORY OF MR ANDREW MORROW BALLY(?) HOUSE 15TH AUGUST 1925".

The west elevation was abutted by a single-storey wing containing two windows to the right and a steel door to the left in a projecting reveal, accessed by two masonry steps. The north elevation was abutted by a flat-roof extension two windows wide, slightly projecting to the right with a timber-framed window. To the left was a projecting bay three windows wide. The east elevation was abutted by a single-storey wing with a central timber-panelled door in a projecting reveal, with windows to left and right.

The site was rectangular, lawned to the north and west, and enclosed by mature trees. It was bounded to the road by steel railings and roughcast gate piers with masonry caps on smooth rendered plinth. Decorative early steel gates stood at the centre.

Legacurry Primary School operated as an active educational facility until 2010, when the South Eastern Education and Library Board implemented a policy to sell rural schools surplus to requirement. The building lay vacant from its closure. The building was demolished in December 2012.