ROCK HOUSE

The Department's description

Historical information

Buildings are shown in this general vicinity (although probably not on this exact site), on an estate map of 1767, with what appears to be the present building on the OS map of 1834. The first valuation book of 1835 records that the present no.5 and its lower western neighbour, no.3, were one property at that date, although it is perhaps likely that they were originally separate, with the taller no.5 having the appearance of a structure of c.1810. In 1835 the combined property was occupied by ‘William John Maguire Esq.’, with the buildings compromised of a main section measuring 52 x 24½ x 20, with ‘returns’ of 16 x 11 x 16, 36 x 18 x 20 and 19½ x 17 x 13, a ‘basement storey’ of 27 x 24 x 8, and ‘offices’ [i.e. outbuildings] of 46 x 17 x 13, 28 x 10 x 6½, with a further office ‘under house’, of 24½ x 13½ x 10. Mr Maguire is listed amongst the ‘clergy and gentry’ of Rostrevor in Pigot’s 1824 ‘Directory’.

In the 1861 valuation the house is noted being leased by Jane Nunn, with the dimensions listed as 12½yds x 11½ x 2[storeys], with ‘returns’ of 10½ x 6½ x 2, 5½ x 6yds 2ft x 2, and offices of 6½ x 5 x 2 and 2 x 5 x 1. In 1872 the lease was taken up by Rev.[?] Blackburn, followed by John Wlliam Beggs in 1873, Miss Charlotte Moore in 1876 abd Henry George Ramadge in 1880.

In 1887 the building was split into the present two houses, with what is now no5 occupied initially by Hugh Graham. In the 1901 census, Mr. Graham, a 49yr-old ‘manager - linen factory’, was residing here with his wife, Emily, their seven children and a domestic servant, with the house itself noted as a ‘2nd class’ dwelling with 9 rooms in use. The Graham family remained here until in of shortly before 1924, when Mary Jane Green is named as resident, with Rev. Anthony Drought following in 1926, Nora Livingstone sometime before 1935, and Mary Eardley in 1953, who was still living here in 1972.

The Square / Church Street
The north-east to south-west line of what is now Church Street and The Square is not depicted on Sloane’s or Kennedy’s maps of 1739 and 1755, appearing for the first time on an estate map of 1767. It is probable that the thoroughfare was established as part of the laying out - or upgrading - of the road (present B25 Kilbroney Road) linking Rostrevor to the new village of Hilltown, which began to be developed by Wills Hill (later 1st Marquis of Downshire) in the 1760s. As its generous breadth - and name - suggests it is likely that it was also intended to act as a marketplace, and it is perhaps no coincidence that in April 1769 Rostrevor’s then landlord, Robert Ross, obtained a patent allowing him to hold a weekly market and quarterly fairs within the settlement.

The 1767 map shows the eastern and western sides seemingly developed as far as the present extent to the south-west and to the site of the current parish church in the north-east. The church itself was completed in 1821, forming a ‘closing of the vista’ of the broader portion of the street. By the time of the the 1834 OS map the extent of development we see today was in place, with buildings shown opposite the church and further along the narrower part of the carriageway to the north-east. The OS Memoirs of October 1836 provide what is perhaps the earliest description of this particular part of the town, telling us that ‘“Main Street” runs northeast and southwest, 620 yards in length, the breadth of that part contained between the new and old church (a distance of 180 yards) being 120 feet broad, the remainder averaging 30 feet in breadth. The houses in this street are nearly all 2-storey high and the greater part of them in good order, a number of them having furnished lodgings for the accommodation of strangers in summer. On coming into the town at its lower or southwestern extremity, this street presents a grateful “coup d’oeil”, the most pleasing and remarkable object of which is the new church, situated at the extremity of the broadest part of the Street and standing in line with its direction, its body and square tower appearing in good relief against the thick and luxuriant foliage of the trees to the north of the building.’

References - Primary sources
1 PRONI T1763/2 Map of County Down by Oliver Sloane, 1739
2 HERoNI Map of County Down by James Kennedy, 1755
3 PRONI D671/M7/2 Map of Rostrevor and surrounding lands, 1767
4 ‘A Map of the County of Down…by James Williamson, (1810)
5 ‘Pigot & Co.’s Provincial Directory of Ireland’ - 1824
6 OS map County series, Co Down sheet 54 – 1834, 1859, 1901-02, 1919, 1950
7 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36)
8 PRONI VAL2B/3/61C (1861)
9 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929)
10 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’, (Belfast, various dates, 1877-1975)
10 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed 2020.06.30]
11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919
12 PRONI VAL3C/4/23, 1936-57
13 PRONI VAL4B/3/81, 1956-72
14 HERoNI HB16/06/047A-C First survey, 7-13 The Square, Rostrevor – Dec. 1969
15 OS map, sheet 277, 1979