91 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical three-storey-with-attic three-bay end-terrace townhouse with linear range of outbuildings to rear yard. Built c.1860 and located to the east side of Main Street in Garvagh town centre. Rectangular on plan.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks with moulded caps to gables; two clay pots to stack at south gable. Aluminium rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is part-coursed squared blackstone with modern red brick dressings; ruled-and-lined render to south gable. Windows are timber sash with horns in modern red brick surrounds with projecting concrete sills; 3/6 to second floor, 6/6 to first floor and 1/1 to ground floor.

The principal elevation faces west and is three windows wide at upper floors; ground floor has off-centre entrance door flanked by a window at right and two windows at left. Replacement bolection-moulded four-panel timber door surmounted by plain transom light and in a modern red brick blocked surround.

The north gable is abutted by adjoining building; HB03/02/009B.

The east (rear) elevation was not viewed.

The south gable has two modern windows to attic; 3/6 window at second floor right and 6/6 window at first floor right.

Setting:

Street-front and situated on a long rectangular plot to the east side of Main Street. Modern timber gate to south gable gives access to an enclosed concrete yard to rear with linear range of outbuildings. Outbuildings are generally two or single-storey and have been much modified, with corrugated tin lean-to roofs. To south is a more formal two-storey rendered building with pitched natural slate roof, formerly a doctor’s surgery. Lawned and shrubbed garden to east.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Part-coursed squared blackstone
Windows Variety of timber sash with horns
RWG: Aluminium

Historical information

The current terrace was built c1860 by Robert Robertson, a local ‘grocer, bookseller, stationer, ironmonger, hardware merchant and sub-distributor of stamps’ (Slater’s Directory of 1846)

Buildings are shown on the site on the first edition OS map of 1832 but the Townland Valuation (1828-40) shows that these were structures of a low valuation and probable vernacular in character that had largely been cleared by the time of the second OS map of 1849-53. The present buildings are entered into valuation records c1860 and the present thirteen-bay block numbered 83-89 was then divided into three separate holdings all built by Robert Robertson and leased from Lady Garvagh. The terrace is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1904-5.

Number 83/5, a house and shop, was occupied by Robert Robertson, himself, and initially valued at £17.10s, raised to £23.10s in 1862 when new double-height outbuildings were added to the rear. The 1911 census lists Robert Robertson, grocer and hardware merchant resident with his three adult children one of whom worked as a shop assistant and two servants, one assisting in the shop and one a domestic. Valuer’s notes of the 1930s list the accommodation as a grocery and hardware shop, stores, three receptions, seven bedrooms, a kitchen, scullery, bathroom and WC. The shop had electric light and water laid on, with sewage discharging into the river. An associated plan shows the shop with stores, tool house and glass house to the rear. The valuer describes the house as ‘in absolutely first class condition’ with an entrance for lorries through the archway.

Number 87, a shop with dwelling above, was valued at £9 and occupied by William James Rentoul from 1863 and taken over by Archibald Gibson in 1868. Subsequent occupiers were James Wilson (1881), draper (1892 street directory) and Samuel Roxborough (1887). The valuation was raised to £10.15s at an unknown date, most likely due to improved outbuildings. Samuel Roxborough is listed in the 1911 census as a grocer living with his two older sisters, one of whom assisted in the shop. Valuer’s notes of the 1930s state that the shop had a kitchen and five rooms. Both numbers 87 and 89 were lit by electricity and had a dry closet to the rear. Water had to be carried from the town pump.

Number 89, another shop and dwelling, was valued at £8.10s, then £10 when new outbuildings were added in 1862 and was occupied by Miss Robertson from 1863, perhaps a relative of the developer, and then William Robertson (1896) who is listed in the 1901 census as a general merchant. Valuer’s notes of the 1930s give the accommodation as a grocery shop, kitchen, scullery and five rooms used as a dwelling.

A first survey photograph shows that in the early 1970s the ground floor of numbers 83-5 was rendered. The ground floor of numbers 87 and 89 was a continuous shopfront, displaying ‘Clyde’s’ drapery and footwear. The building was listed in 1977 and renovations were carried out in the 1970s which included the installation of a kitchen and bathroom. Further renovations took place in the 1980s. (HB file)

The building was purchased by Garvagh Development Trust and renovated for use by the community, officially opening in 2001. Appropriate shopfronts have been restored to numbers 83 and 89, while the fenestration of number 87 has been altered to give a more domestic appearance. A community garden was opened in the rear courtyard in April 2009. (www.gadda.co.uk)

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/18/1 First Edition OS Map 1832
2. PRONI OS/6/5/18/2 Second Edition OS map 1849-53
3. PRONI OS/6/5/18/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904-05
4. PRONI OS/6/5/18/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1924-33
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/56 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/6B Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/12A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/K/4 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. HB file – 03/02/009
11. Street Directories, 1846, 1892

Secondary Sources

1. www.gadda.co.uk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An asymmetrical three-storey-with-attic three-bay end-terrace former townhouse with linear range of outbuildings to rear yard. Built c.1860 and located to the east side of Main Street in Garvagh town centre. The building forms part of an important terrace, having group value with HB03/02/009B. Prominently sited, the terrace is an important surviving example of the development of Garvagh during the late nineteenth-century and despite some alterations, makes an important contribution to the architectural quality and character of Garvagh.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.