Glebe House, 128 Ballinderry Road, Upper Ballinderry, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 2NL

Glebe House, Upper Ballinderry

This is an attractive symmetrical three-bay, two-storey, stucco former glebe house, designed by Thomas Turner while working in the offices of Charles Lanyon, and built around 1845. It sits to the north of Ballinderry Road in Upper Ballinderry, County Antrim, within a large site of mature vegetation. The house has group value with Ballinderry Parish Church and makes a significant contribution to the architectural heritage of the local rural area.

Form and Plan

The building is square on plan, with a two-storey projection to the west, a two-bay three-storey return at the north, and single-storey extensions to the north-west internal angle at the rear. Despite these additions, the house remains largely intact in terms of its massing and proportion.

Roof and Chimneys

The roof is hipped and clad in natural slate with concrete ridge tiles and a central rooflight. Deep overhanging eaves are supported on paired timber brackets, though there is no overhang to part of the rear elevation and return. There are five rectangular smooth rendered corbelled chimneystacks, each with a projecting plinth at the base and two decorative clay pots at the top. Rainwater is carried by concealed gutters with exposed cast-iron downpipes, though replacement rainwater goods have been fitted to part of the rear elevation and return.

Walling and Detailing

The walls are finished in ruled and lined stucco with a projecting plinth, a thick banded string course, and painted stepped quoins.

Windows

The principal windows are 6/6 horizontally divided timber-framed sliding sashes, with diminutive versions at first floor. At ground floor, windows sit within moulded architraves on projecting masonry sills supported by two console brackets. First-floor window openings are raised over a blank recessed panel with a flush sill. The north return and extension have a combination of 3/6 timber casements and 6/6 replacement timber sliding sash windows.

Principal (South) Elevation

The principal elevation faces south and is three bays wide. At ground floor, a central projecting single-storey entrance porch with a flat roof is flanked by a single window to the left and right. Three equally spaced windows sit at first floor. The entrance porch has chamfered vermiculated rusticated quoins to its projecting corners, a projecting moulded plinth, a moulded string course, and a projecting blocking course. The east cheek of the porch contains an eight-panel raised-and-fielded entrance door with brass ironmongery, surmounted by a round arched headed fanlight set in a moulded archivolt; the door is accessed by two masonry steps. The south and west cheeks each contain a round arched headed 6/6 timber sliding sash window surmounted by a moulded archivolt with keyblock.

West Elevation

The west elevation has a two-storey projection to the left, containing a tripartite window at ground floor and a single window at first floor. To the right, a single-storey bowed window with a bowed tripartite window and lead-capped flat roof is surmounted by two windows above.

North Elevation and Return

The north elevation is abutted to the left by a two-and-a-half storey return with a pitched natural slate roof and a central chimneystack. A single-storey extension was added around 2001 to the internal angle to the right. The exposed walling is largely blank, with a chimney projecting from the eaves off-centre to the right. The north two-bay two-storey return appears to have been extended or remodelled on its north side, with varying styles of wall finish and window detailing. The north extension is rectangular on plan with a hipped roof, raised parapet, and concealed rainwater goods; walls are smooth rendered, with modern double-leaf glazed doors — a single opening to the north and two openings to the south.

East Elevation and Stores

The east elevation is abutted at ground floor by a modern roof covering that encloses a narrow entry between the north return and a parallel arrangement of single-storey stores. The arrangement of windows at first and second floor on the east elevation mirrors that on the west elevation. The exposed wall of the single-storey stores carries a large wall-hung bell, and the narrow entry is accessed through a replacement timber panelled glazed door.

North Return: Upper Floors

At the north return, the south elevation at ground floor is abutted to the right by a single-storey extension built around 2001. There are two windows to the left at ground floor and two windows to the left at first floor. To the right are two 3/6 timber sliding sash windows; there are four 3/6 windows at second floor. All windows in the left bay are replacements. The north gable contains a replacement double-leaf entrance door at ground floor, surmounted by a single oversized round arched headed window serving the first and second floors.

Outbuildings and Grounds

A stableblock containing eight stables is located to the north, aligned east–west. Its external features are largely intact apart from replacement windows at first floor and a recently added lean-to slated canopy to the north and south elevations. The roof is pitched natural slate with a timber louvred ventilation cowl; the walls are in painted roughcast render; the half stable doors are timber sheeted with original ironmongery. A roughly coursed rubble stone wall abuts the north-west corner of the stable block, enclosing a large garden and tennis courts to the south. A lane to the north side of the wall provides farm vehicle access to Ballinderry Road. A large metal farm shed to the north of the farm is of little interest. A smaller, square-plan double garage — possibly the former coach house — is located to the east, constructed in roughly coursed rubble stonework with a hipped natural slate roof. The north yard is also accessed from the east through square-plan roughcast rendered pillars with stone pyramidal caps.

Setting and Entrance

The house sits within a large site with mature vegetation, approached by a long tree-lined avenue. Access from Ballinderry Road is through a double alcoved entrance: the left entrance leads to the farm to the north; the right leads to the house and an adjacent gatelodge. The entrances comprise square-plan smooth rendered piers with pyramidal caps, supporting replacement metal gates, with an attached plinth wall and replacement railings.

Interior

The interior layout of the house remains largely unchanged, though it has been extended over time. A number of early features survive, including an original brass hanging pendant light and panelled window aprons in the entrance hall, together with original moulded cornices throughout several of the rooms.

Historical Background

The Glebe does not appear on Ordnance Survey maps until the second edition of 1858, where it is recorded as "Glebe House" and depicted as a square-plan building with two small out-offices; the northern return was not added until much later. In Griffith's Valuation of 1859, the Glebe was valued at £33 and recorded as a first-class dwelling under the occupancy of the Reverend William Stear Blackwood, who had purchased the lease from the Marquis of Hertford.

Charles Brett records that the house was built in 1846 by Reverend Blackwood, who was the incumbent minister at Upper Ballinderry Parish Church and the son of the third Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye, Hans Blackwood — leading Brett to presume that Blackwood erected the Glebe at his own personal expense. Blackwood died on 28 May 1874. Brett believes the house was designed by Thomas Turner, an architect in Charles Lanyon's employ, on account of its characteristic ornamental style.

By 1863 the house had passed to the Reverend Edward Maguire and was let by the Church Temporalities Commissioners in Ireland. In 1872 the valuation was raised to £45. In 1876 it came into the possession of the Reverend George Brydges Sayers, for whom the house was considered unmanageable. By 1882 the value was reduced to £35, with a valuer observing that the house was "too large for the clergymen of the Parish and very expensive to keep in repair." The 1901 census records Reverend Sayers, born around 1831 in Limerick City, living in the Glebe with his wife Sarah Jane Sayers (aged 68). The house then comprised over 13 inhabited rooms and was classed as a first-class dwelling. An oblong out-office to the north served as stables; a small building to the east was likely a coach house; and a number of farm buildings including a cow house and dairy house were also recorded.

Reverend Sayers remained at the Glebe until around 1903, when the Reverend Joseph William Minchin became Rector of Ballinderry, a post he held until 1940. The 1911 census records Minchin, born around 1864 in Sligo, living in the Glebe with his wife Eliza Jane (aged 44) and their five children. The building return shows that Minchin removed a calf house but added an extra stable, piggery, barn, workshop, and shed to the already extensive holdings. A garden room was added to the north side of the house after 1920. Minchin held the Glebe through the end of the revision period in 1929 and likely resided there until the end of his service at the Parish Church in 1940.

By 1940 the building was no longer used as a rectory, when it came into the possession of the architect R. H. Gibson, who had trained under Henry Weaver, the designer of the War Memorial Hall at Ballinderry. Gibson carried out interior changes to the house, particularly to what he described as the "very successful arrangements for rooflighting to landing and mezzanine." Gibson occupied the house until it was purchased by the current owners in 1989. In the 1990s a new house was permitted within the grounds, and a swimming pool extension has since been added. The original stable range remains in use, though for recreational rather than agricultural purposes.

The former glebe house has been well maintained by its current owners and preserves the Victorian character of the original building. It represents a significant structure that adds to our understanding of the ecclesiastical history of Upper Ballinderry Parish Church, all the more so given its high level of preservation.