11 BOND'S HILL

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terrace two-bay two-storey rendered early-Victorian house, built c.1840s (Architect unknown). Rectangular plan form facing west. Ruled-and-lined render to front elevation. Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings of varying styles which line the east side of Bond’s Hill stepping up the hill. (HB01/09/006 B-R).

Pitched fibre cement roof with cement rendered chimney stack with four clay pots centred on ridge at the party wall with No.12-14 (HB01/09/006H) to the left. Slightly projecting rendered eaves with half-round uPVC guttering on drive through brackets discharging to uPVC downpipe to right of front elevation.

Front (west) elevation has a painted ruled-and-lined cementitious render finish. Windows are square-headed timber casements with top hung openings. Replacement six-panelled timber door to right with single pane overlight set within a square-headed opening flanked to left by a large window. First floor has two windows (not aligned with ground floor openings) on painted stone sills in contrasting colour. .

North side is fully abutted by No.12-14 Bond’s Hill (HB01/09/006H).

Rear (east) elevation is finished in cementitious render with irregularly placed window openings. All windows are replacement uPVC with a single window to ground and first floor to right and a window at half-landing level to left.
The ground floor is abutted by a small centrally positioned single-storey felted flat roofed porch with rear access door on its north face. The ground floor is also abutted by a painted timber clad single-storey lean-to return to left with continuous glazing in three pairs of windows. The return is finished in fibre cement slates with uPVC guttering and down pipe. Access to an external store with blank elevation to east end of return.
There is a narrow entry (previously 11a and recorded as HB01/09/006E but now incorporated into the record for HB01/09/006H) which connects the rear of the property to the street at the front; above ground it is connected to No.12. No.11 has a right of way through this entry at ground level to access its rear yard, which spans the width of both No.11 & 11A.
A further monopitched outbuilding, with natural slate roof, timber barge and eaves board that supports profiled uPVC guttering; walls are rendered smooth and the south face has a centrally placed boarded timber door flanked by top-hung casement windows, all painted. Rubble schist stone retaining wall to rear (east) boundary, largely obscured by vegetative growth.

South side is abutted by No.10 Bond’s Hill (HB01/09/006C); exposed section has a small window to the front attic room positioned slightly above the roof of No.10.

Setting:
Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings of varying styles which line the east side of Bond’s Hill stepping up the hill. (HB01/09/006 B-R).

Materials:
Roof : Fibre Cement
RWGs : Half round uPVC
Walling: Painted Cement Render
Windows: Replacement Hardwood Casements with top hung openings
Door : Replacement 6 panel hardwood front door

Historical information

Bond’s Hill was laid out in c.1839 in order to provide access to Ebrington Barracks (which had been constructed between 1839 and 1841) and was one of the first streets to be developed on the Waterside District of Londonderry during the 19th century. The current site of Bond’s Hill remained undeveloped in the 1830s with no buildings depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map. Hume states that prior to 1841 the Waterside consisted of a single street and possessed 105 houses. The area was slow to develop due to the steepness of its hills and as a result of expensive tolls that were imposed on carts and pedestrians crossing the city’s wooden bridge. Hume states that the construction of the barracks and the setting up of industrial establishments initiated the rapid development of the Waterside and drew people into the city from the rural hinterland east of the Foyle. In 1849 the Londonderry Standard described the change in the area in the following terms: ‘The Waterside, which from being some 20 years since, little more than a small street, has now become a place of considerable importance having a distillery, two large mills for the manufacture of oatmeal and a third about to be erected’ (Hume, pp 32-34).

Calley states that Bond’s Hill was named after the owners of Clooney House, a late-18th century house which stood at the top of the hill (now demolished and replaced with terraced housing). The street was first depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1848-49 which records that a number of houses (including a church on the current site of the Former Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter’s) Church – see HB01/09/010) had already been constructed along the route by that time. Nos 9-24 Bond’s Hill, a terrace of two and three-storey Victorian houses also known as Melrose Terrace, was constructed in stages between c. 1840 and 1891. Nos 9-17 Bond’s Hill were the first buildings to have been built on the street and can be seen on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1848-49 (Calley, p. 59).

No.11-11A Bond’s Hill, a two-storey three-bay house, was constructed between c.1839 and 1848-49. Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that the house originally included the single-bay at the adjoining No.11A (HB01/09/006E) and was valued at £16. The first occupant of the building was a Mr. John Doherty who leased the property from James Murray, a local borough magistrate. Nos 11-11A Bond’s Hill possessed a large outbuilding to its rear which was utilised as a storehouse (now demolished). This storehouse was accessed by a coach arch that was located on the ground floor of the adjoining No. 11A (now filled in and replaced with an entrance door). John Doherty continued to reside at Nos 11-11A Bond’s Hill until 1879 when the house was occupied by a Mr. William O’Neill. The occupants of the house changed with frequency until c.1895 when William Reynolds, a local car owner, occupied the site. The 1901 census records that Reynolds resided at nos 11-11A Bond’s Hill with his wife and two children. The census building return described his house as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of six rooms. The house was recorded on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1904-05 which also depicted the coach arch at No. 11A and the outbuilding to the rear of the dwelling.

Reynolds continued to reside at the address by 1911 but the Census of Ireland notes that the single-bay at the adjoining No. 11A had been divided from the rest of the building in that year. The census notes that the single-bay building at No. 11A Bond’s Hill was occupied by David Rutherford, a local grocer, and consisted of two rooms. The Reynolds family continued to reside at No. 11 Bond’s Hill under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which increased the value of the house to £18 (at that time the adjoining No. 11A Bond’s Hill was utilised by Rutherford as a shop valued at £8 and 10 shillings). Nos 11-11A Bond’s Hill were once again combined as a single building by the 1950s when the building was leased from a Major Alexander to a Mrs. Eileen Pemble. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of nos 11-11A Bond’s Hill stood at £33.

Nos 9-24 Bond’s Hill were listed in 1979. The First Survey Image records that the coach arch on the ground floor of No. 11A had been filled in and was utilised as a shop window in the 1970s. The NIEA HB Records note that despite being historically linked to the adjoining No. 11, the single-bay No. 11A now forms a part of nos 12-14 Bond’s Hill. The single-bay building was included in the conversion of nos 12-14 into a number of self-contained apartments which was carried out for the Simon Community in 1992. During the Second Survey No. 11 Bond’s Hill continued to be utilised as private dwelling whilst the adjoining No. 11A remains part of the shared hostel comprising nos 11A-14 Bond’s Hill (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
3. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16H – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/14A-14G – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/4C-4D – Annual Revisions (1898-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/13 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57))
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/18 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Londonderry Standard (5 Jul 1849)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. First Survey Record – HB01/09/006B (No Date)
13. First Survey Image – HB01/09/006B (c. 1975)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB01/09/006D-E

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
3. Thomas, A., ‘Irish Historic Town Atlas, No. 15: Derry – Londonderry’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2005 - includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05).

Online Resources
1. Digital Atlas of Derry - http://www.ria.ie/digitalatlasderry - including Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1848-49)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An early-Victorian mid-terrace two-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1840 and situated on the east side of Bond’s Hill. Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings of varying styles, it has group value with Nos 9-10 & 12-21 Bond’s Hill (HB01/09/006B-C & H-O).
The house has been modernised both externally and internally with a significant loss of historic fabric and detailing including replacement windows and fibre cement slates. Whilst altered, the house retains its overall scale and massing and contributes to the group value and special interest of the terrace. The terrace as a whole is a good example of its type.