Site of former nos. 31-33 Bowling Green, Strabane, Co Tyrone

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Site, on the northeastern side of (the ) Bowling Green, formerly occupied by a three-storey terraced house, of possible pre 1833 construction, demolished c.1988 to make way for the present police station complex.

The First Survey of 10 February 1970 contains a description of the short terrace of similar dwellings to which this property belonged. It reads:
‘Pre 1833. A terrace of four, three-storey houses with rendered walls. The roofs are slated behind parapets with moulded cornices, half the terrace roof is hipped. All drop-hung windows have full galzing bars on first floor, all but one on the ground floor and only one on the second floor. Others are plain with single vertical glazing bars. The windows of two of the houses are enclosed in eared architraves. Plain wooden pilasters flank three entrances with [an] entablature [over] one. The other door is recessed in a square-headed opening and surmounted by a rectangular fanlight with semicircular glazing bars and radials. Nine windows wide.

Historical information

This site is shown developed on the OS map of 1833-34, with a block in place whose plan resembles which was standing until relatively recently. Unfortunately the town plan of Strabane drawn up to accompany the valuation of 1832-34 has been lost, making it extremely difficult to trace any details of the buildings within the town at this date any degree of certainty. We know from the second valuation of 1857 that this building was, at that point at least, a single property. This suggests that it may have been the large dwelling recorded in the 1832 valuation as measuring 16ft x 31 x 32 with an ‘addition’ of 11 x 17½ x 32, occupied by a Colonel Barnard and rated at £9-18-7. The building’s plain late Georgian appearance, as shown in the First Survey photographs of 1970, suggests it was late 18th or early 19th century.

Whatever the date of construction, we can be certain that by 1857 the building was in the hands of a William Elliott, (listed in Slater’s ‘Directory’ of 1846 and 1856 as an ‘attorney’), with the representatives of General Henry Barnard the immediate lessor. Elliott was succeeded has resident by an Oliver White in 1863 and an A.A.J. Mason in 1887. By 1890 the rateable value of the property was lowered by £7-10 to £25, the valuers commenting that the house was ‘very old and in bad repair’, prompting £200, (a considerable sum at the time), to be spent ‘on repairs by the landlord’ the following year. In 1894 an Andrew Sproule is recorded as the tenant, with a William Keatly listed in 1902.

In 1930, after remaining vacant for two years, the property was divided in two with a Mrs Charles renting no.31 and a Mary Dillon no.33. No.31 passed into the hands of a Herbert Roberts around 1935, followed by an Alexander M. Raffan (1942-66), with a Henry Dillon occupying no.33 from c.1933-40, followed by a W.A. Charters (1940-47), and an S.W.W. Rogers (1947-66). In 1967 the freeholds of both properties were sold, with a Theresa McCosker acquiring that of no.31 with no.33 coming into the possession James Patton. James Patton is listed as the tenant of no.31 from 1968 until at least 1972, with a Christina Patton occupying no.33 between these dates also.

The property, (along with nos.27 and 29 to the southeast), was demolished in c.1988 to make way for the present police station.

References- Primary sources
1 ‘Pigot & Co’s City of Dublin and Hibernian Commercial Directory (Manchester 1824)
2 PRONI VAL/1B/638A First valuation, Camus parish (1832-c.38)
3 PRONI VAL/1B/638B First valuation, Camus parish (1832-c.38)
4 PRONI VAL/1B/638C First valuation, Camus parish (1832-c.38)
5 PRONI OS/6/5/5/1 OS map, County Tyrone sheet 5 (1833-34)
6 Lewis, Samuel, ‘Topographical history of Ireland’ (London, 1837)
7 ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland (Manchester, 1846)
8 ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland (Manchester, 1856)
9 PRONI VAL/2B/6/41 Second valuation, Camus parish (1857)
10 PRONI VAL/2D/6/18A Valuation town plan of Strabane (1857 [-59])
11 PRONI VAL/2D/6/18B Valuation town plan of Strabane (1857 [-59]) [PRONI also holds a microfiche copy of this plan, catalogued under the ref. T/2933/4/252.]
12 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31A Annual valuation revision, Strabane ED(1860-64)
13 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31B Annual valuation revision, Strabane ED (1864-73)
14 ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1870)
15 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31C Annual valuation revision, Strabane ED (1874-81)
16 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31D Annual valuation revision, Strabane ED (1882-91)
17 PRONI OS/8/25/1/1-17 OS town plan of Strabane (1883)
18 PRONI PRONI OS/9/22/2/1-17 OS town plan of Strabane (1883)
19 PRONI VAL/12E/187/1/1-12 Valuation town plan of Strabane (1884 [-1908])
20 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31E Annual valuation revision, Strabane ED (1892-96)
21 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31F Annual valuation revision, Strabane ED (1892-96)
22 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31G Annual valuation revision, Strabane UD (1897-1910)
23 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31H Annual valuation revision, Strabane UD (1897-1910)
24 PRONI OS/8/25/2/1-3 OS town plan of Strabane (1905) [The building is marked as ‘Bank House’ on this plan.]
25 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ (Belfast, 1905)
26 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31J Annual valuation revision, Strabane UD (1911-22)
27 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31K Annual valuation revision, Strabane UD (1911-22)
28 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31L Annual valuation revision, Strabane UD (1922-31)
29 PRONI VAL/12B/42/31M Annual valuation revision, Strabane UD (1922-31)
30 PRONI VAL/3B/7/14 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, Strabane UD (1935
31 PRONI VAL/3C/7/23 First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland, annual revisions, Strabane UD (1936-57)
32 PRONI VAL/3G/159/1/1-3 Valuation town plan of Strabane (1936-55)
33 PRONI VAL/3G/159/2/1-3 Valuation town plan of Strabane (1951-55) [Sheets 1 and 3 are currently missing.]
34 EHS OS map (1:10,000 scale), sheet 72 (1983)

Secondary sources
1 Bradley, Jim, et al, ‘The Fair River Valley: Strabane Through the Ages’ (Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2000)

Other
references
1 EHS HB10/14/003[A-C] First Survey report (10 Feb 1970)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Site, on the northeastern side of (the ) Bowling Green, formerly occupied by a three-storey terraced house, of possible pre 1833 construction, demolished c.1988 to make way for the present police station complex.