Shamrock Vale, 233 Hillsborough Road, Lisburn, Co. Down, BT27 5RJ

Shamrock Vale is a detached four-bay single-storey house over basement, built around 1830. It is U-shaped on plan, facing west with a sunken courtyard to the north and a two-storey elevation to the south featuring a pair of double-height bowed bays. The building is set to the east of Hillsborough Road within its own landscaped grounds, accessed via a short winding avenue. A pair of single-storey brick and rendered outhouses stands to the north. The house was extensively renovated and remodelled around 1995.

The roof is hipped with natural slate tiles (re-roofed around 1980), with terracotta ridge tiles and lead ridges to the curved roofs of the two bows. Four rendered chimneystacks are finished with four painted octagonal clay pots each. The replacement moulded metal guttering is mounted on shaped iron brackets at the rendered eaves course, with replacement cast-iron downpipes.

The walling is painted with ruled and lined cement render, with rusticated rendered quoins and a projecting rendered plinth course. Window openings are square-headed with painted stone sills and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows.

The west front elevation is single-storey and four bays wide, with an off-centre three-centred arched door opening containing a replacement timber doorcase. The panelled timber door is flanked by a pair of sidelights with a stepped lintel cornice and fanlight above. The door opens onto an elevated granite platform with four granite steps to the bitmac front area. An early wrought-iron bootscraper is positioned on one of the steps.

The north side elevation is symmetrical with a deeply recessed two-storey three-bay central section opening onto the sunken paved courtyard. A large central square-headed window opening on the upper floor contains a leaded stained glass window depicting the Robinson family crest, dated 1921. At lower level, a square-headed door opening contains a replacement timber panelled door opening into the courtyard. Further door openings to the inner cheeks of the projections have replacement timber panelled doors with sidelights, all featuring new nosed granite steps. The courtyard is enclosed by tall rendered walls surmounted by replacement iron railing.

The east rear elevation has an irregular arrangement of window openings with the lawn embanked to the basement level. A flight of concrete steps provides access to a square-headed door opening to the basement, containing a replacement timber panelled and glazed door.

The two-storey south side elevation is four windows wide, with the central two windows recessed below deep overhanging eaves and the end bays each having a double-height bow. Each bow is fitted with a replacement tripartite Wyatt type bowed timber sash window to the upper level and a narrower 6/6 bowed timber sash window to the lower level.

The pair of single-storey outhouses to the north have pyramidal natural slate roofs and are set within well-landscaped gardens. A winding bitmac avenue opens onto Hillsborough Road via a pair of cement block piers with splayed walls.