Henry & Faulkner

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

This is a three-storey terrace house and shop, built c.1840. It is roughly rectangular in plan with a three-storey pitched return to the rear. There is a two-storey outhouse building to the rear yard. The building forms part of an ten-bay matching terrace 3/2/3/2 (HB09/14/014A, B & C & No 29)) on the West side of William Street within the commercial district of Cookstown.

Walling is rendered with raised plaster features. The roof is pitched and slated with a rendered chimney and profiled stepped capping. Rainwater goods are replacement aluminium.

The front (East) elevation faces directly onto the street. There is a 1950s shopfront to the ground floor. The shopfront has a central square-headed splayed doorway with a glazed and timber door and an overlight. There are large windows to each side of the central door on black granite stall risers. The shopfront is framed to either side in flat glass panels, coloured black on the back (probably the patented 'Vitrolight' by Pilkington's glass manufacturers) and is surmounted by a similar fascia with incised lettering.

The first floor has 6/6 painted timber sash frames. The second floor has 3/6 sash frames. All windows are set on painted cut-stone sills with classical proportions reducing to upper levels. Windows are recessed into elliptical-headed vertical bays. There is projecting carved stone cornicing at springer level of the elliptical-headed arch.

Return:
The side elevation of the three-storey return has a square-headed door to the ground floor, with a replacement glazed and timber door with an overlight. There are 6/6 timber sash frames to the ground and first floor. There are 3/6 timber sash frames to the second floor. The rear elevation also has an assortment of timber casement windows to the ground floor, 6/6 to the first floor and 1/1 to the second floor. All windows are set on cut-stone sills. There are cast-iron rainwater goods.

The single-storey lean-to has a square-headed door to the left and a 1/1 timber sash frames to the right.

Outbuilding:
The outbuilding has a square-headed timber coach door to the left. There is a timber door to the right. The upper level has timber casement windows.

Setting:
William Street is comprised largely of two and three-storey Victorian buildings. The rear of the building is accessed via a coach arch which is part of the adjacent building to the right. There is a wrought-iron gate to the rear elevation. There is a curved wall to the rear yard.

Historical information

The site of the present numbers 23, 25 and 27 William Street is shown developed on the OS map of 1833-34. The 1835 valuation tells us that the whole plot was then taken up by an old, large, mainly thatched inn in the possession of a Hugh Espey, measuring 45ft x 22 x 14½, with a return (probably to the gable) of 19½ x 16½ x 15, a ‘ballroom’ of 56 x 26 x 14, and outbuildings of 64 x 16½ x 13, 13 x 19 x 9, 40½ x 18½ x 9, 26½ x 15½ x 12, 15½ x 35 x 11 and 18 x 5½ x 10. The property was valued for rating purposed at the respectable sum of £19-7-4. By 1838 it was in the hands of Mrs. Espey and rated at £34. Sometime between 1838 and 1859 the old building was demolished and the present block erected. The Regency style appearance of the terrace, with its large recessed arches, suggests that it may date from closer to 1838 than 1859, perhaps c.1840.

This particular property (present no.23) is recorded in the 1859 valuation as occupied by a Isaac Houston, a grocer, with Thomas Black the immediate lessor, and the building rated at £34. In 1863, a Hugh and James MacMillan, (listed in the directories under ‘milliners and dressmakers’), took over the lease of this and the two similarly-styled neighbouring properties to the north and south. By 1884, Isaac Houston was occupying the property jointly with a Thomas J. Jones. A Francis P. Devlin acquired the lease in 1895, holding both this property and its neighbour to the south (no.27). An Isaac H. Henry, a ’pharmaceutical chemist’, is recorded as the occupant in 1896, followed by a George Faulkner in 1918, after which the shop area of the building served as a chemist and grocers, under the name ‘Henry & Faulkner’. The tenancy remained with the Faulkner family and the lease with the Devlin family 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
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Z. Rarity
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

This is a three-storey terrace house and shop, built c.1840. A well-composed early Victorian Regency style house and shop that, as part of a matching terrace of three (formerly four but No 29 has been altered beyond recognition), makes a significant contribution to the historic character and appearance of the ltown. The building provides a good example of a mid 19th century matching terrace alongside the adjacent buildings (HB09.14.014 A & C). The decorative arched openings enliven the character of the façade, and add to the surrounding Victorian character of the locale. As an intact example and a rare survival (externally and internally) of a type of premises once common in county towns throughout the Province, Henry & Faulkner's is noteworthy and merits a relatively high grade of listing. As such, it contributes greatly to the individuality of Cookstown and stands as a record of the changing social circumstances of its owners and inhabitants, representing an important aspect of local history.

General comments

In the first survey, this building was part of the record numbered HB09/014/014