GLYNN-NA-SHEE

The Department's description

Historical information

A building of similar plan to the present is shown on this site on the 1834. In the valuation of the following year this is noted as a ‘new’ dwelling measuring 40 x 31½ x 21 with 8ft basement ‘as dwelling’, a return of 10½ x 6½ x 24, and offices (which backed on to the northeastern stretch of Water Street) amounting to 54 x 16½ x 15, 22 x 9½ x 6 and 26 x 10? x 6 (‘open shed’). The valuers state that the property was ‘built by Mrs. Boyle’ and was at that point occupied by Hugh Carleton, who paid ‘£100 per annum’. Mrs. Boyle may have been Alice Boyle, who is listed as a publican in Rostrevor in Pigot’s 1824 ‘Directory’ or perhaps more likely, the Mrs. Margaret Boyle named amongst the local gentry in Slater’s ‘Directory’ of 1846 the Mrs whilst Hugh Carleton was the son of Francis Carleton (d.1829) formerly of Green Park, just north of the town [see HB16.06.063] The date of construction is not known, but the appearance of the building and the evidence of the valuation suggests it may date from c.1830.

Hugh Carleton vacated the property some time before 1846. In the 1861 valuation this ‘very good private house’ is recorded as being occupied by Esther Ensor, with the dimensions noted as 13yds x 10 x 2[storeys], with return of 2 x 3? x 2 and offices of 17 x 6 x 2 and 9½ x 4 x 1.

The later valuation books state that it was vacant by 1874, with Mrs. Eliza Halligan living there by 1877 and Thomas A. Vesey, a medical doctor, by 1881, who seems to have named the house ‘Knapton’. Dr. Vesey died c.1911 and the house remained with his widow until at least 1916, although another doctor, W.J. McCartan may have continued to conduct a surgery from the premises. In Martha M. Groves is named as the occupant in 1921, and Miss Annie burns by early 1922.

In Spring 1922 the ‘commodious house’ was put up for sale and within several weeks had been acquired by the NI government to serve as the local R.I.C. (soon to become R.U.C.) barracks, replacing an earlier barracks on the site of the present Irish National Foresters’ building (37 Bridge Street), burned during the troubles of the previous year. The police retained the building until 1937 when a new station was built in the Square, and the property was subsequently acquired by Mr Alexander Fisher (d.1948), a Newry Solicitor, from whom it passed to his daughter, Dorothy (d.1972).

WATER STREET The L-shaped Water Street is depicted with an approximately similar extent of development as today on the OS map of 1834. The Rostrevor Conservation booklet of 1979 identifies the street as the town’s earliest place of settlement; however, it is not indicated on any map prior to that of 1834. It appears more likely that the that the Bridge Street - Mary Street crossroads was the original nucleus of the town, with Water Street developing off the former at the end of the 18th / beginning of the 19th century when Rostrevor began to develop as a popular resort for the gentry. Referred to as ‘The Back Lane’, the OS Memoirs of 1836 provides perhaps the earliest description of the street, describing it as running ‘at right angles to the main street, a little above the church in a south easterly direction to the Rostrevor or Kilbroney River’ and linking to ‘the lower end of Post Office Street by a short street on the northern side of the river. It is 155 yards long and 300 feet broad. The houses and cottages in this lane are in good order. On the communication between the Back Lane and Post Office Street are 3 good private houses’. These three properties are still in place - nos.31, 33 and 37 (see HB16.06.29, 30 and 31)

References - Primary sources
1 ‘Pigot & Co.’s Provincial Directory of Ireland’, (1824)
2 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
3 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
4 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.33 (1835-36)
5 Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846)
6 PRONI VAL2B/3/61C (1861)
7 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
8 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1902
9 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 22 February 1916, p.8
10 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919
11 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 5 May 1922, p.5
12 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 22 May 1922, p.7
13 PRONI VAL3C/4/23, 1936-57
14 ‘Northern Whig’, 20 April 1948, p.2
15 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1950
16 PRONI VAL4B/3/81, 1956-72
17 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 17 April 1964, p.19
18 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 22 June 1972, p.2
19 OS map, 1979