32 WATER ST.

The Department's description

Historical information

A building which appears to cover much the combined sites of the present nos.30-34 is shown on the OS map of 1834. In the first valuation of the following year this is recorded as a ‘not new’ single-storey thatched house in the hands of William Sarsfield, measuring 44ft x 14½ x 7, with ‘offices’ (i.e. outbuildings) of 14 x 14½ x 7 and 11 x 13 x 5½, with the entire property valued for rateable purposes at £3-18-0.

The present terrace of three houses, minus the single-storey block to the north end, appear on the revised OS map of 1860. In the valuation of 1861, the current no.32 is recorded as the home of William Edwards, held under lease from Lady Florence Balfour, (of nearby Fairy Hill), which she in turn held from the Ross estate. Measuring 7yds x 5½ x 1, the house is described as having a ‘bad roof’; the roof itself was thatched, and the building is graded as ‘not new’ so it is possible that this dwelling and the rest of the terrace had been created out of the pre-1834 structure.

William Colgan is named as tenant from 1874. In the same year the valuation of the whole terrace was increased, with this particular dwelling raised from £1-15-0 to £3-10-0, suggesting that the one and a half-storey picturesque row we see it today came into being at this point; these dwellings may incorporate some of the fabric of their predecessors, but this is not certain.

William Colgan was succeeded by James Couser in 1892. In the 1901 census the head of the household is recorded as Mrs. Anne Jane Couser, a 57yr-old Donegal-born laundress, who was occupying the house with her four (teenage) children, with the house itself noted as ‘2nd class’ dwelling with four rooms in use by the family. William Heaton is noted as the householder by 1936 and Emily Heaton by 1943, with Ms Heaton still living here in 1972.

Map evidence shows that a small extension was added to the rear of the house some time between 1902 and 1919, although this is not reflected in the valuations. This was replaced by a larger extension post-1979.

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 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834
2 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
3 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.33 (1835-36)
4 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1860
5 VAL2B/3/61C (1861)
6 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
7 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed 2020.05.19]
8 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1902
9 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919
10 PRONI VAL3C/4/23, 1936-57
11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1950
12 PRONI VAL4B/3/81, 1956-72
13 OS map, sheet 277, 1979