26-28 William Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This is a rendered end-of-terrace two-storey house and shop, built c.1830. It is roughly rectangular in plan with a single-storey lean-to to the rear. There is a further single-storey flat-roofed outbuilding to the rear built c.1897. The building forms part of a long row of mixed terrace buildings along William Street.

External walls are painted render to the front elevation, and unpainted to the rear. The roof is pitched and slated with cast-iron rainwater goods.

The front West elevation is street-fronted. There is a shopfront to right of the ground floor with an integral house door to the left. The shopfront is, to the right, has a recessed central doorway. There is a glazed and panelled timber door to the centre with an overlight. There are large shop windows in aluminium framing to each side of the doorway, set on rendered stall risers. There are painted and panelled timber pilasters to each side of the shopfront. These are surmounted by carved timber console brackets with floral and leaf motifs and projecting carved timber cornicing. The shopfront is surmounted by a decorative painted timber fascia. It has a continuous guilloche moulding to the base and a carved timber dentilled course over. The signboard has raised typeface.

The house door to the left is square-headed with a timber panelled door and an overlight. It has pilasters to each side as previous. The overall shopfront is surmounted by a projecting modern canopy. The upper level has painted 1/1 timber sash windows set on cut-stone sills.

The rendered rear elevation has an assortment of 1/1 timber sash windows.

Return:
The single-storey lean-to extension has a replacement timber window and integral timber door. Rainwater goods are replacement uPVC / aluminium. There is artificial slate to the roofs.
The further single-storey flat-roofed addition (possibly a boiler house) has a single timber casement window and a square-headed door.

Setting:
The building is set within a mixed terrace, to the Eastern side of William Street within the commercial centre of Cookstown. The mixed terrace comprises mainly of Victorian buildings ranging in age from early to late nineteenth century.

Historical information

This site is shown developed on OS maps of 1833-34 and 1857. In the first valuation of 1835 the building is noted as a ‘not new’ structure, in the possession of a David Miller, with dimensions recorded as 24½ft x 24½ x 21 for the main portion, with outbuildings of 11 x 7½ x 6, 19½ x 12 x 6½ and 22½ x 19 x 11, the smallest of which was thatched. The building was accorded the rateable value of £6-15-9, rising to £10 in the valuation revision of 1838.

By 1859, the property was in the hands of a Thomas Bell, with a Robert Black the immediate lessor, and the property rated at £14-10-0. Bernard Henry took over the tenancy in 1862, followed by a Peter Donnelly in 1872, Bernard Donnelly 1879. ‘P & B. Donnelly’ of William Street are listed under ‘linen and woollen drapers and haberdashers’ in Slater’s 1870 directory. John Early, a grocer, was the next occupant, in 1891, also acquiring the lease. In 1897, Early added additional outbuildings to the rear, noted in the valuation book as measuring 14½ft x 25½ x 17 and 14½ x 47 x 11, the rateable valuation rising £4 as a result. Early held on to the lease until 1915, when it and the tenancy were taken over by another grocer, Henry B. Eastwood. Eastwood was succeeded by the ‘Browne Brothers’ in 1928, and by 1936 a Robert Brown is recorded as the tenant and a George Faulkner the immediate lessor, A Martha Brown and Mary Faulkner are listed as tenant and leaseholder respectively in 1951. In 1964 the property is noted as vacant, and appears to have remained so up until at least 1972.

References- Primary sources
1 ‘Pigot & Co's Provincial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1824)
2 PRONI OS/9/10/1 OS plan of Cookstown, 1833
3 PRONI VAL/1B/622A First valuation, Derryloran parish, 1834-c.1838
4 PRONI VAL/1D/6/2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, c.1838
5 Lewis, Samuel, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland…’ vol.1, (London, 1837)
6 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1846)
7 PRONI VAL/2C/63 Second valuation, Union of Cookstown (Dublin, 1859) [This is the printed version of the second valuation. The handwritten version (which may have been more detailed and include property dimensions etc.) no longer exists. The printed volume merely provides names of tenants and leaseholders, and rateable values.]
8 PRONI VAL/2D/6/3/1-2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1859-82 [2 sheets]
9 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5A Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1860-63
10 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5B Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1864-68
11 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5C Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1868-81
12 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1870)
13 ‘Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland’, (Manchester, 1880)
14 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5D Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1881
15 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5E Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1881
16 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5F Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1882-90
17 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5G Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1882-88
18 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5J Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1889-94 [The reference number for this book is out of sequence in the
PRONI catalogue- the dates it covers are actually earlier than VAL/12B/37/5H.]
19 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5H Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1895-99
20 PRONI VAL/12B/37/5K Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1889-99
20 PRONI VAL/12E/171/1/1-2 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1892-97 [2 sheets]
22 PRONI OS/33/1/1-5 OS plan of Cookstown, 1895 [5 sheets]
22 PRONI OS/9/10/2/1-2 OS plan of Cookstown, index map, 1895 [2 sheets]
23 PRONI OS/9/10/3/1-5 OS plan of Cookstown, 1895 [5 sheets]
24 PRONI VAL/12A/6/11 Valuers’ office notebook, Cookstown Union, 1895-1900
25 PRONI VAL/12E/171/2/1-3 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1897-1910 [3 sheets]
26 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7A Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1901-07
27 PRONI VAL/12A/6/16 Valuers’ office notebook, Cookstown UD, 1901-10
28 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster directory’ 1902- (Belfast News-Letter, 1902- )
29 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7B Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1909-15
30 PRONI OS/33/2/1-4 OS plan, 1909 & 1918 [4 sheets]
31 PRONI VAL/12B/37/7C Annual valuation revision book, Cookstown ED, 1916-29
32 PRONI VAL/3G/142/1 /1-4 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1936-37 [4 sheets]
33 PRONI VAL/3C/7/8 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cookstown Urban, 1936-57
34 PRONI VAL/3G/142/2/1-4 Valuation plan of Cookstown, 1937-51
35 PRONI VAL/4B/6/10 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cookstown Urban vol.1, 1956-72
36 PRONI VAL/4B/6/11 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Cookstown Urban vol.2E, 1956-72

Secondary sources
1 Oram, R.W. and Rankin, P.J., Historic buildings…Dungannon & Cookstown (Belfast, UAHS, 1971)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a well-composed example of a late Georgian house that retains its essential character with the ground floor converted for commercial use in the Victorian era. Its modest scale and simple proportions are a good example of the type. The decorative carved timber cornicing enlivens the shopfront. The development of the site is of significant historic interest. The building adds much to the early 19th century character of the street scene.