Brookhall Historical Farm, 2 Horse Park, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 2QU

Brookhall Historical Farm — House and Former Church, Ballinderry Road, Ballyellough

This is a symmetrical, detached, three-bay, one-and-a-half-storey rendered house built around 1870, incorporating fabric from an earlier dwelling. It sits on a 20-acre farm whose history may extend back to early Christian times. The house and an associated single-cell rubblestone former church building to the rear are the principal historic structures on the site. Because most of the buildings have been subject to significant refurbishment, the house was not considered to meet the criteria for statutory listing and is recorded here for its historic interest only. The site now operates as an entertainment venue and self-catering holiday accommodation.

Situation and Setting

The house is set well back from the north side of Ballinderry Road, to the east of Horsepark. Access is via a long, winding tarmac avenue through the front garden, passing a single-storey rendered gate lodge at the entrance on Ballinderry Road. Around 1990, the gate lodge was replicated immediately to the north under the same roofline, with a carriage arch between the two units. Replacement iron railings and gates on cast-iron posts open onto Ballinderry Road. The rear yard contains the former church building, which was extensively remodelled around 1988, flanked to the east and west by single-storey converted outbuildings.

Exterior Description

The house is rectangular in plan, facing south, with a front entrance porch, a single-storey wing to the west, a projection to the east, and a rear extension.

The roof is covered in natural slate with black clay ridge-comb tiles and a pair of rendered, profiled chimneystacks fitted with octagonal clay pots. Replacement metal guttering is fixed to a decorative pierced timber fascia with exposed rafter feet, and cast-iron downpipes serve the drainage. Decorative pierced timber bargeboards to the gables are supported on carved timber brackets, with overhanging sheeted timber eaves.

The walls are painted in ruled-and-lined render with a render plinth course and rusticated render quoins. Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and single-pane timber sash windows, some of which retain historic glass.

The symmetrical three-bay front elevation is abutted by a square-plan entrance porch. A pair of gabled wall-head dormers break through the eaves and are fitted with decorative pierced timber bargeboards with turned finials. The two ground-floor window openings to either side of the porch are paired and have moulded architrave surrounds. The central entrance porch has a window to the front and a square-headed door opening to its west cheek, with corner Doric piers supporting a plain frieze and a deep cornice with a blocking course above. The door opening has a moulded architrave surround with an original four-panelled timber door featuring raised and fielded panels, iron door furniture, and a rectangular overlight; the door opens onto a tiled step leading to the tarmac area at the front.

The west gable is abutted by a single-storey wing with a single window opening detailed to match the front elevation. The east gable is abutted by a single-storey wing whose front gable is further abutted by a modern conservatory. Two round-headed window openings at upper level on the east side are fitted with horizontally-glazed timber sash windows.

The rear elevation has irregularly placed square-headed window openings with replacement timber casement windows and is abutted by a single-storey extension. This extension has a double-pitched natural slate roof with a lead valley and ridge-comb tiles, a single rendered profiled chimneystack, and a pair of landscape-format timber casement windows. To the west cheek of this extension is a square-headed door opening fitted with a vertically-sheeted timber half-door.

History

The house and church first appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of the townland of Ballyellough in 1832, depicted as two oblong buildings to the south-east of the Brookhill Estate (now demolished). The Townland Valuations of around 1830 record that the house was owned by a Moses Watson, who resided at Brookhill House to the north-west. It was described as a Class B dwelling — noted as "slightly decayed" — measuring 40 by 25 feet, single-storeyed at 11 feet in height, and valued at £4 13s. The church was at that time used as an outbuilding. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1837 record a ruined church in the grounds belonging to Moses Watson, of which only one section survived measuring 17 feet in length and 8 feet in height, the remainder of the church walls having been incorporated into a barn and stable. The memoir writer estimated that the church originally measured 50 by 13 feet, was roofed with Irish oak, and was adjoined by a round tower approximately 40 feet in height.

According to the Memoirs, the church has been identified by Trevor Neil as the Parish Church of Magheragall (Ecclesia De Drumcale), mentioned in Pope Nicholas' Papal Taxation of 1210, with the site's owners claiming an even earlier origin. The church and Brookhill House were destroyed during the 1641 Rebellion when Sir Phelim O'Neill, leader of the Gaelic army, set fire to the buildings whilst retreating from his defeat at the Battle of Lisburn. The round tower was mostly taken down around 1770, when the majority of its stone was used in the construction of Springfield House; the remainder was razed to the ground in 1816. The Memoirs further note that the one-and-a-half-storey house was believed to have been associated with the church and likely served as a clergy residence. It too was thought to have been set alight in 1641, as when the house was being rebuilt around 1730, several half-burned oak columns were found within its stone-and-lime walls.

No apparent change to the site is recorded on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857, although Griffith's Valuation records that by 1860 the house had decreased in value to £3 and had passed to a John Holmes. By 1872 the valuation had risen to £13, indicating substantial remodelling or rebuilding. Field evidence suggests the house was substantially, if not completely, rebuilt at this time, contrary to a recently inserted date plaque which states that the house was merely raised a storey. John Holmes appears to have died in 1872, as his wife Eliza is recorded as the occupier from that point until 1882, when their son John Holmes Campbell took possession. In 1882 John Holmes Campbell constructed the gate lodge at the farm entrance on Ballinderry Road, valued at £2. He bought the farm from the Marquis of Hertford in 1893, though two years later the house passed to a Thomas Davidson, who occupied the site until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1923. The 1901 Census records Thomas Davidson as a local farmer living in the house with his wife and family. The Census Building Return described it as a second-class dwelling with eight rooms, served by a number of out-offices including a stable, cow house, and barn. These out-offices were housed in the former church and two additional outbuildings that had been constructed between 1857 and 1900, appearing on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900–01: one, a stable block, to the north-west of the house, and another to its north-east. The site remained unchanged on the fourth edition map of 1920–21, though a further outbuilding was constructed to the north-west of the church sometime after 1921, appearing on the current Ordnance Survey map of 1971.

Around 1988 the former church, which had previously served as an outbuilding, was completely remodelled by the current owners and now functions as a tourist attraction and a venue for weddings and receptions. The stable block and gate lodge have likewise been converted into holiday cottages, while the main house continues to be occupied by the owners.