The Tavern, 32 Bridge Street, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 1XY

The Tavern, 32 Bridge Street, Lisburn

A two-bay, three-storey end-terrace former public house pre-dating 1730, located at the south end of Bridge Street in the centre of Lisburn. The building is now mostly collapsed, with only the north elevation remaining, held up by scaffolding. As of 2013, the roof had fallen in or been removed, and none of the original east or south elevations remain.

According to a description from January 2011, the building was rectangular on plan with a pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and replacement brick chimneystack, along with a cast-iron half-round chimneystack. The walling comprised painted smooth render on a shallow plinth, with rubble stone and brick facing to the rear elevation. Windows were 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash to the first floor and 3/6 to the second floor, with projecting masonry sills. The principal elevation facing north was two openings wide to first and second floors. At ground floor left was a timber-sheeted door; the centre featured a symmetrical shop-front comprising double-leaf timber-panelled door with transom light (boarded), plate glass windows (boarded) to either side on projecting timber sills, and door and windows framed by pilasters and surmounted by a fascia with painted lettering and cornice. The east gable was blank, with timber joists at first and second floors and remnants of the rear wall of the once neighbouring building. The south elevation was almost entirely concealed by overgrowth, with two windows to the second floor and a window to the left at first floor, abutted to the left by a corrugated tin lean-to. The west elevation was abutted by an adjoining building.

The building featured a natural slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods.

Historical Context

The town of Lisnagarvey, as it was known until the 1660s, was founded in the early seventeenth century when James I granted Sir Fulke Conway the south Antrim manor of Killultagh. Sir Fulke established the headquarters of his Killultagh estates at Lisburn and one of his first building projects was a timber bridge which formerly stood at the foot of Bridge Street. Bridge Street is shown stretching down to this river-crossing on an early map of Lisburn dating from 1640, which also shows both sides of the street lined with buildings.

Following a disastrous fire in 1707, the town was quickly rebuilt to its former street plan using improved materials, with brick replacing wood and slates and tiles replacing shingles. Oak beams taken from 34 Bridge Street have been dated by the School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queen's University, Belfast to c1710, suggesting that buildings in the vicinity were among the earliest constructed following the fire. The Tavern itself contains oak beams; oak was not generally used in house building in Ireland after about 1720, when it was replaced by imported pine.

A building is shown on the site on Thomas Pattison's 1833 map of Lisburn. From at least the late 1870s, an entry called 'Seed's Entry' between 30 and 32 Bridge Street led to a group of small houses in the rear, still inhabited in the 1960s.

The building is listed in Griffith's Valuation (1856-64) as a house and outbuilding valued at £12 and later reduced to £9 10s, with rent at £10. The house was designated as deteriorated by age and the outbuilding in sound repair. The occupier, Edward Donaghy, rented the house from Michael Woods, later Archibald McAfee. Edward Donaghy applied for a spirit licence in 1857 but was refused, and appears to have carried on a trade as a clogmaker, advertising for 'two sole makers' in 1873.

William J Wilson, who had been granted a spirit licence in 1866, became occupier in the 1870s, followed by Moses McCorriston in 1883. In 1891 the property is listed for the first time as a 'public house'. McCorriston became owner in fee in 1900, at which time the valuation increased substantially to £16, indicating additions or improvements. The house is listed as a 'public house' in the 1901 census but was vacant at the time. Margaret Major took over in 1907, the building remaining a licensed house though vacant at the 1911 census. Johnston Bell was the occupier in 1922. The building became a 'licensed shop' in 1918, with the valuation raised further to £18 the same year.

Setting

Located at the centre of Bridge Street with Market Square to the west. An overgrown yard to the rear is bounded by a car-park of Lisburn Health Centre with a concrete block wall and metal railings.