Colourised OS map of Old Warren, 1833, showing the plantations of the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, the landlord at the time (ILC&LM Collection)
As you drive into Lisburn from Sprucefield, you will pass through a ‘cut’ in a hill with trees either side of the Hillsborough Road. The old terrace, Warren View, and gentleman’s residence, Warren Cottage, were located nearby. This deciduous woodland has been around for a long time, and was one of three ‘plantations’ or woods in the townland of Old Warren belonging to Lisburn’s landlords who included the Conways, Marquesses of Hertford, and Sir Richard Wallace. A second plantation was located to the south west beside the path leading from Avonmore Park to the River Lagan. It is still there and is now merged with the first, but an old quarry which was located nearby was filled in by the mid-nineteenth century. The third plantation, which no longer exists, was to the north, opposite what is now Lagan Valley Hospital. You can see the plantations on the map above. They are oddly positioned, and their purpose unclear. Maybe they provided grounds for hunting game? Perhaps the tress were planted for aesthetic reasons, to provide nice scenery on entry to Lisburn? Or could they be remnants of Killultagh or the ‘Wood of Ulster’, the territory acquired by Sir Fulke Conway around 1609 in which he built the town of Lisnagarvey?