49 Market Square, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 1AG

49 Market Square, Lisburn, County Antrim

This is a three-storey, three-bay mid-terrace Georgian townhouse, now in commercial use, constructed in the early 18th century and occupying a prominent position in the historic centre of Lisburn. It sits south of the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum, to the east of the junction between Market Place and Market Square. Its principal interests lie in the overall proportions of the front façade, its early construction date — which makes it a rare survivor — and its group value alongside two nearby former houses from the same period (the adjoining 51 Market Square and the nearby 47 Market Square).

Architectural Description

The building follows a rectangular plan, extended to the rear by a single-storey flat-roofed return. The roof is pitched and covered in artificial slate with clay ridge tiles, and there is a replacement red-brick chimney. Rainwater goods are cast iron, with ogee moulded gutters and circular downpipes. The external walls are finished in ruled-and-lined render with long-and-short quoins. Windows are 1-over-1 timber sliding sashes with horns and rectangular masonry cills. The entrance is a timber six-panelled double-leaf door beneath a large rectangular fixed overlight, flanked by tall panelled pilasters and surmounted by a moulded pediment.

The principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. The front door sits to the right, while the left side of the ground floor has been replaced by a modern glazed shopfront comprising a modern door and non-illuminated signage above. The first and second floors are uniformly arranged with three windows across. The left gable abuts 47 Market Square.

The rear elevation is also asymmetrically arranged. To the right there is a single-storey flat-roofed return and a two-storey lean-to return, the ground floor of which is accessed from the adjoining building at 51 Market Square. This rear section features a variety of openings, including a single window at first-floor level, a diminished second-floor window above the lean-to return, two steel-framed casement windows, and two steel-framed historic rooflights. The right gable abuts 51 Market Square.

Interior

The upper floors retain much of their original plaster and joinery work. However, modifications to the ground floor and various isolated changes to historic fabric detract from the building's overall integrity.

Setting

The front elevation faces onto the former market square, now home to the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum, and is largely enclosed by Georgian terraces, some of which have been partially modified. To the rear is a small enclosed yard, with a large car park serving the adjacent church to the west.

Historical Background

The town of Lisburn — known as Lisnagarvey until the 1660s — was first established in the early 17th century when James I granted Sir Fulke Conway the south Antrim manor of Killultagh. Sir Fulke began laying out the town in the early 1620s, and by 1640 it had taken very much its present form, with a central market place and streets radiating from it. After a disastrous fire in 1707, the town was swiftly rebuilt along its former street plan, with improved materials replacing wood with brick and shingles with slates and tiles. Rebuilding was actively encouraged by Lord Conway, who granted forty-one year leases on the waste holdings in the aftermath of the fire.

There is a local tradition that this building was among a very few that survived the 1707 fire, but a datestone on the building appears to indicate that it was in fact rebuilt after it. The datestone is accompanied by the initials MMW, though the individual referred to is unknown.

The histories of 49 and 51 Market Square are closely intertwined and in historical sources the two buildings are at times treated as a single structure. By 1819 the building was occupied by a surgeon, Samuel Musgrave. The house remained in medical use for at least fifty years. By the mid-19th century both number 49 and its neighbour were rented by a Dr Michael McHarg, who used number 49 as his surgery and let number 51 to a grocer named James Silcock, whose shop was valued at £14 with a rent of £20. Number 49 was considerably larger: it comprised a parlour with a bedroom above, a shop, surgery, hall and rooms over, with a cellar used as a store. The dwelling also had a cellar kitchen and a portion that projected into the adjoining house. A valuer of the period noted that a large part of the house was taken up by a "large wide old-fashioned staircase." The valuation of number 49 was £34 5s with a rent of £32 10s. The valuation town plan of this period suggests number 49 then had a centrally placed doorway, indicating the two properties may have been differently divided at the time, and also shows steps down to the cellar. In the 1860s, Dr McHarg's surgery and dwelling was reduced in valuation to £29. The next two occupants were also doctors: Ebenezer E. Sloane (recorded in 1873) and John S. Ward (recorded in 1877).

By 1900 James Silcock had taken over both buildings, which were then valued together at £69 and described as a shop and dwelling. The 1901 census records James Silcock, grocer and Quaker, living there with his son and assistant (also James Silcock), a daughter, and one general domestic servant. By 1911 James Silcock Junior had married and brought his wife to the house. The 1911 census return, which indicates eight windows at number 49, suggests there were an additional two windows at ground level at that time. Number 51 was used as the grocer's shop. By the 1970s number 51 had become a bank, a use it retained until relatively recently. At the time of listing, both number 51 and number 49 were in use as charity shops.