14 BRIDGE ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey terraced building with two ground floor shop fronts, built c. 1850; the name of the architect is unknown. Rectangular plan form facing SW having a full width monopitched single storey rear return to NE with a series of later extensions attached to rear. The building is now divided in two shops being occupied a family butchers shop and delicatessen. The shops are located to NE side of Bridge Street, within the Rostrevor Conservation Area.

Pitched fibre cement tile roof with black clay ridge tiles. Projecting eaves course with cast iron RWGs: half round guttering to front discharges to a polygonal hopper and circular-section downpipe.

PRINCIPAL (SW) ELEVATION
Main elevation faces SW onto the public footpath along Bridge Street and consists of two modern shop fronts at GF with three square-headed timber casement windows at FF having two top hung night vents over four fixed panes ; painted lined cement render walling. Shop front to NW (Curran's) is timber framed having a two panelled painted timber door to its SE side, with a glazed top half, and a single rectangular shop window to NW having smaller top hung night vents. Painted moulded timber signboard has modern uPVC finish.

Rooney's shop front to SE has a painted metal frame and consists of a painted metal glazed double-leaf door to NW with square-headed glazed fanlight and a large rectangular window to SE with plain panel below cill. Sign and retractable awning are both modern.

NORTHWEST ELEVATION
Building is attached on the NW to No. 12 Bridge Street (former Post Office).

NORTHEAST ELEVATION
Limited view to rear elevation but, where visible, consists of a full width monopitched single storey rear return to two storey original block with a series of later extensions attached to NE of rear return. Curran’s shop at NW has an L-plan extension to NE of monopitched rear return. There is a corrugated tin outbuilding to NE of L-plan extension.

Rooney’s shop has a long rectangular extension which runs from monopitched rear return along SE site boundary to NE having a monopitched corrugated fibre cement roof, painted sheeted timber walling and a similar timber door to its NE end. There is a covered area of paved yard and a series of similar timber outbuildings to the NE end of Rooney’s long monopitched extension.

Rear yard is set to lawn and has a monopitched timber framed outbuilding to the NE with corrugated Perspex roof and similar Perspex walling. NW side of yard is bounded by a modern block wall topped by wire security fencing.

SOUTHEAST ELEVATION
Building is attached on the SE to No. 16 Bridge Street (HB16/06/025)

SETTING
No 14 Bridge Street forms part of a terrace, mainly composed of shops with dwellings over located on the NE side of the Bridge Street, which leads from Rostrevor Square at its NW end down to a triple span bridge (HB16/06/033) over the Rostrevor River at its SE end.

MATERIALS
Roof: Fibre cement
RWGs: Cast iron(SW) and uPVC (NE)
Walling: Rendered, painted
Windows: Timber casement (SW)

Historical information

No. 14 Bridge Street, a two-storey terraced building (possessing two ground floor shopfronts) was constructed in the mid-19th century. The Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide records that in 1752 the village consisted of only a few cottages but that by the early-19th century Rostrevor had ‘developed some of its present form with a tree-lined Square and a quay half-a-mile distant.’ Bridge Street, which was originally known as ‘Post Office Street,’ had been fully developed by the turn of the 19th century with many of the current buildings constructed along its length. There was steady growth in the population of the village throughout the century which coincided with the arrival of the tramway from Warrenpoint in 1875 and the construction of the Rostrevor Hotel in the following year (Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide).

A building on the site of nos 14-16 Bridge Street was recorded on the Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834) which depicted it as a simple rectangular-shaped building that possessed an outbuilding to rear. The accompanying Townland Valuations (1838) set the total rateable value of the building at £7 and 8 shillings. It is unlikely that this structure is nos 14-16 Bridge Street as it did not possess the dimensions of the current buildings, suggesting that this single structure was replaced with the two smaller buildings in c. 1850. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1861) set the total rateable value of No. 14 Bridge Street at £7 and noted that the building was initially leased to a Mr. Owen Feran by the Ross family of Bladensburg House. The inhabitants of the site changed with frequency over the following four decades and by the turn of the 20th century No. 14 Bridge Street was occupied by Charlotte Malcolm, a local hat maker who operated a shop from the premises. The 1901 Census of Ireland described the building as a 2nd class shop and dwelling that possessed a piggery and a turf house as its sole outbuildings to rear. It was in the first decade of the 20th century that Post Office Street was renamed Bridge Street.

In c. 1907 No. 14 Bridge Street was occupied by James Irwin, a local grocer who remained at the address until the 1940s. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that No. 14 Bridge Street had been subdivided into two separate properties, a shop on the ground floor which was valued at £11 and 10 shillings, and a private dwelling which occupied the remainder of the structure and was valued at £9. The valuer noted that the two addresses continued to be leased by the Ross family of Bladensburg to a number of different tenants throughout this period. In 1959 ownership of both properties passed to David Linden, a local caretaker. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the combined rateable value of the site stood at £21 and 10 shillings and both properties at No. 14 Bridge Street were occupied by Edward Sheery, a local artist who operated a gallery from the premises. The second ground floor shopfront had been installed at the site by at least 1969 when it was first recorded by the First Survey Record. No. 14 Bridge Street was included in the Rostrevor Conservation Area in 1979 and was subsequently listed in 1981 (NIEA HB Records).

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/3/54/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map (1834)
2. PRONI OS/6/3/54/2 – Second edition Ordnance Survey map (1859)
3. PRONI OS/6/3/54/3 – Third edition Ordnance Survey map (1901-02)
4. PRONI OS/6/3/54/4 – Fourth edition Ordnance Survey map (1919-30)
5. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/2 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/361 – Townland Valuations (1838)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/61C – Griffith’s Valuation (1861)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/19/21A-F – Annual Revisions (1865-1930)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/23 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/3/81 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB16/06/024 (1969)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB16/06/024
Secondary Sources

1. ‘Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide’ Belfast: Department of the Environment (N. I.), 1979.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two-storey terraced building with two ground floor shopfronts, built c. 1850 and located on Bridge Street, Rostrevor. Rectangular plan form facing SW with a series of later extensions attached to rear. Although modified, it retains historic fabric and character, and is an integral part of the coherent row of buildings of similar scale and proportions, it contributes important character of the Rostrevor Conservation Area.