Carrickfergus Borough Council, Town Hall, Joymount, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 7DL

Carrickfergus Town Hall (former Courthouse), Joymount, dated 1779

This is a dignified, detached, multi-bay, double-height Georgian former courthouse, dating from 1779, located at the east end of High Street, now in use as the town hall. It occupies one of the most historically layered sites in Carrickfergus, formerly home to a 13th-century Franciscan friary and a Jacobean manor house. The substantial courthouse was originally part of a walled complex that also included a large prison. The legacy of that former complex survives in the name of the "Hanging Gate," which visitors must pass under to enter the courtyard in front of the modern entrance block. The building retains its impressive Georgian exterior, and the surviving Art Deco interiors from the town hall conversion of 1935 are equally notable.

Form and Plan

The building is T-plan, facing west. At its core is a central two-storey canted return to the east, flanked on either side by two-storey wings. A two-stage round stair tower with a conical roof sits to the east, alongside a diminutive two-storey addition. A multi-bay two-storey block, refurbished around 1980, abuts the building to the north. The roofs are hipped and covered in natural slate with angled red clay ridge and hip tiles. Simple rendered chimneystacks rise above. Rainwater goods are a variety of replacement half-round and ogee uPVC gutters.

External Materials and Windows

The walls are painted render over a plinth with chamfered quoins. Windows throughout are generally square-headed, painted timber 6/6 sashes with smooth-rendered reveals, architraves and sills.

Principal (West) Elevation

The principal elevation is symmetrical, seven openings wide, arranged around a central entrance, with the central three openings contained within a projecting breakfront. A parapet with ball finials terminates the corners of the breakfront. Above this rises a central gablet surmounted by a round-headed gablet with a clock, which in turn supports a flagpole. The windows on this elevation are tall with triangular pediments and moulded architraves. The entrance door is square-headed, raised-and-fielded, four-panel painted timber, flanked by Doric half-columns with a triangular pediment over. The date is inscribed in the pediment, and a glazed terracotta town crest roundel sits above the pediment. A modern metal historic information plaque is affixed to the right of the doorcase.

North Elevation

The north elevation is entirely abutted by the lower modern rebuilt block, which incorporates the retention of a 19th-century west façade.

Rear (East) Elevation

The rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey return, each storey of which is double-height. This return is further abutted to the left and right by the flanking wings, and to the right by the stair tower. An exposed section at the right end shows squared basalt walling, with three windows to each floor on the canted east elevation; the ground-floor right window has been replaced with a modern door. The first floor has multi-light casements with stained glass inserts. The stair tower is blank and also finished in squared basalt walling. The right wing has two windows to each floor; its left cheek is entirely abutted by the central return, and its right cheek is abutted by the block to the right. The exposed section has a single uPVC casement window to each floor. The left wing mirrors the right wing in detail but is abutted to the front by the addition; its left cheek is continuous with the south elevation. The east gable of the addition is blank and surmounted by a chimneystack; the right cheek is blank, and the left cheek has a single uPVC casement window to each floor with architraves and keyblocks.

South Elevation

The south elevation is asymmetrical. Windows are uPVC casements with architraves and keyblocks. The first floor has four windows. The ground floor has a single tripartite window at the right end and a variety of 1/1 sashes. To the left of the tripartite window is an offset square-headed raised-and-fielded six-panelled door flanked by Doric half-columns with a triangular pediment over. At the left end is a square-headed raised-and-fielded eight-panelled door.

Historical Context and Site History

The site on which the building stands has an exceptionally long history. Hugh de Lacy founded a Franciscan friary here around 1232–1233, and was himself buried there in 1264. The friary was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII, sometime between 1536 and 1541, after which its buildings were put to a variety of civic uses including civil courts. A historical plaque on the present town hall indicates that the friary buildings survived until the 1560s.

A Victorian rumour, first recorded in M'Comb's Guide to Belfast of 1861, claimed that a subterranean passage linked the site beneath the Communion Table of St. Nicholas to the Franciscan church. However, as noted in Hill's 1932 historical guide, "in all the changes and repairs effected during the past 120 years this passage has been searched for and never found…. The archway which was looked upon of generations as the means of communication with the Priory was only a tomb or sepulchre, and the definite conclusion has been arrived at that no underground passage exists." For several years prior to 1593, the Parish Church of St. Nicholas had itself been used as a courthouse, "on account of Wyrol or Mayorality castle having been destroyed in some of the feuds already mentioned."

While the friary buildings were in civic use, the site came into the possession of Sir Arthur Chichester (1563–1625), Governor of Carrickfergus from 1598, and as Lord Mountjoy, Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1604 to 1616. Chichester built his early-17th-century manor house on the site, naming it Joymount House after his 1604 title Lord Mountjoy. The town hall's historical plaque states that "Joymount Palace" was built in 1618 and demolished in 1768.

At the other end of High Street, on Market Place, the Market House was built in 1755, featuring an arcaded ground-floor market and a first floor capable of holding court; it was reused as a town hall in 1843.

Joymount House was subsequently cleared for a new courthouse and gaol. The land was given to the Grand Jury of County Antrim in 1776 for the purpose of erecting a courthouse and gaol. Construction commenced in 1777 and was completed in 1779. According to Emerson, the total cost was £21,785 6s 4d, and the prison was capable of holding 240 prisoners. However, Boyle's Ordnance Survey Memoirs give the combined cost of the courthouse and adjoining gaol as £5,785 6s.

Documentary Record

The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, captioned "Court House," with some additions visible on the 1902 edition. The Townland Valuation of 1836 records it under exemptions, listing a "front and north wing, an addition, a Grand [Jury] room, office, kitchen and wine cellar," and values the building at £86 11s 5d, later revised to £87 8s 5d. Boyle's Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe the courthouse as located "at the eastern extremity of High Street of which it forms the termination…its southern side extends for 64ft along the western side of the Scotch Quarter." Griffith's Valuation of 1860 records the lessor as the Earl of Donegall; the building is free from rent and the entry includes a "front, projection, tower, porch, attached kitchen house, pantry and stable offices," valued at £70, with the total property worth £83 16s 3d. From 1894–1908 onwards, the Valuation Revisions describe the building as a "Militia Barracks, office and yard." In 1898, improvements are noted as being in progress. By 1903, the occupier is recorded as the Secretary of State for War, with extra offices added, and the valuation revised upwards from £70 to £140.

The courthouse was converted to use as the town hall in 1935, at which point the interior was gutted and redecorated in the Art Deco style.

Setting

The building sits close to the coast and within a walled enclosure that also contains a former prison and barracks. It lies within a conservation area.