33 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Facing Southeast, numbers 31 and 33 bookend the left-hand side of a terrace lining the Northwest side of Main Street and directly beyond which, the Camlough River flows in a southerly direction under Newtown Road. The buildings comprise a pair of low set two storey dwellings, and most likely pre-date the first edition OS map of 1834-5.
Abutting a taller two storey block to the right, and having natural slate pitched roof with clay ridge tiles and cement coping; cast-iron rainwater goods, concrete cills; smooth rendered chimney on left hand side gable together with two centrally ridge mounted chimney stacks towards the right. Painted long-and-short quoins to left hand side gable with centrally positioned elliptically curved archway, physically dividing both addresses at ground floor with painted quoin surround and inset with full height vertically sheeted solid timber gates. Front elevation LHS (No. 33) with painted wooden six panelled slim double doors and narrow fanlight above immediately to left of central archway and beyond which is positioned large mahogany framed window with two top hung opening lights. Smooth rendered painted plinth beneath. First floor having two over two timber painted sliding sash window centred above ground floor apertures and to right a one over two (top hung) painted timber window to immediate right of centre of arch. Dwelling to RHS (No. 31) having two number one over one painted sliding sash windows, equally spaced on elevation, at first floor level replicated at ground floor with right hand side window reduced in size and to right of which is positioned painted timber panelled door with glazed light in upper half.
Rough rubble walling to rear elevation with roof as before and both dwelling having single storey rear extensions located at outer extremities of both properties with vehicular access gained via centrally positioned archway. No 31 with two number small top hung Upvc windows on masonry painted wall and profiled metal roofing on rear return. Ivy encroachment on rear wall to No. 33 obscures first floor two over two painted sliding sash window with smaller one over one sliding sash at mid-level immediately to right of archway. Rear return with profiled roof sheeting (asbestos?). Southwest, gable elevation completely overgrown with ivy.

Setting:
The dwellings are located on the Northwest side of Main Street and bookend the meandering terrace of buildings that define Main Street
Roofing: Natural slate; corrugated sheeting
Walling: Random rubblestone; rendered plaster work
Windows: Timber frame; Upvc
RWG: Cast iron.

Historical information

Numbers 31 and 33 Main Street, Camlough are a pair of dwellings, built by local man John McParland and most likely dating from c1830, that form the end of a terrace lining the NW side of Main Street. The buildings originally pre-date the first edition OS map of 1834-5 and appear in the Townland Valuation of 1836. Formerly divided into three houses, two of the ‘parlour’ type, the dwellings were inhabited by a succession of tenants representing some familiar family names in the area, some of whom worked in the local linen industry. Number 33 was a shop for several decades and a short-lived forge operated from the rear yard of the dwellings in the 1870s and 80s. The building was partially burned during the War of Independence in 1920 and No 33 was subsequently rebuilt.

The village of Camlough began to develop in the late 18th century in conjunction with the linen industry, a patent being granted to the Earl of Charlemont in 1830 for a market on the 3rd Monday of each month (McDowell). In the late 1830s the ‘hamlet’ of Camlough is described in the OS memoirs as having ’16 two-storey houses all slated’. Further detail is contained in the Townland Valuation of 1836 which contains dimensions and a description of the two current dwellings. Number 31 was occupied by John McParland who is said to have been the builder of the pair of houses at numbers 31 and 33. Dimensions are given for the two-storey dwelling (23½ feet in width), including the room over the carriage entrance (7 feet in width) and a single storey extension to the rear. The house is given the quality mark 1A-, indicating that it was slated and was considered an ’ordinary building or finish’. During the lifetime of the Townland Valuation field book, the dwelling was let to ‘E Nugent’ and was valued at £6.4s.

Number 33 was a smaller dwelling which did not reach the threshold (£3) for valuation. Nonetheless dimensions are included in the Townland Valuation field book for a two-storey house, 21 feet in width. The occupier is recorded as Peter Haughey and a note indicates that the house/yard was ‘not finished’, suggesting the building was fairly new at this time, although Haughey had been living there for two years. The quality mark, at 1B+, was slightly lower than that for the neighbouring house due to its unfinished state. However, this still signifies a building ‘in sound order and good repair’.

In 1853, the McParland family sold the property to Hugh Cosgrove, a local publican who occupied the neighbouring house but one. Cosgrove purchased the property by means of a mortgage and this appears to have led to later issues with his title to the building. Cosgrove’s neighbour Michael Murphy also ran a pub, leased his house from Cosgrove and appears to have been a colleague in the licensed trade (Newry Telegraph, Griffith’s Valuation).

Details are again given in Griffith’s Valuation (1862) for the two buildings. Number 31 was occupied by William Dougherty and the house, outbuildings yard and small garden were valued at £7, while. Dougherty paid a rent of £10 yearly. The tenant of number 33 was John Hunter and the house, yard and small garden were valued at £2.15s. Hunter paid a rent of £3.17s yearly, both tenants having an ‘at will’ tenancy and leasing their houses from Hugh Cosgrove. Dimensions given for both buildings are broadly consistent with those in the Townland Valuation.

In 1870, Hugh Cosgrove died, leaving the two dwellings and his other property to his brother Henry Cosgrove. Henry Cosgrove died intestate in 1878 and his property passed to his widow Sarah Anne Cosgrove. Sarah Anne had been separated from her husband for c20 years by this time and had supported herself through employment at the Bessbrook Mills, but had been forced, perhaps through illness, to enter the Newry workhouse shortly before her husband died. Henry Cosgrove was compelled by the Guardians to maintain her, so that she could leave the workhouse, but complained that he had no property and that it was all held by the Landed Estates Court. Cosgrove’s title to his property, apparently including the current dwellings, appears to have been uncertain, perhaps due to the mortgage held by his brother. A subsequent dispute between Sarah Anne Cosgrove and Hugh Cosgrove’s publican colleague, Michael Murphy, as to possession of some of Henry Cosgrove’s former property, ended up in the courts and was reported in the newspapers (Newry Reporter).

A forge was added to the valuation of number 31 at a date between 1866 and 1879, and indeed a large outbuilding is shown to the rear of the dwellings on the first and second editions of the OS map, which may have been the location of the forge. However, the forge was short lived and was struck out of valuation records in 1883. The outbuilding in the rear yard of the dwellings had gone by the third edition of 1906.

Hugh/Henry Cosgrove’s former neighbour, Michael Murphy, moved out of the neighbouring house and began to lease the smaller house (No.33) from Sarah Anne Cosgrove in 1879, perhaps as a result of having settled the property dispute between them, while the larger house and forge was leased by Mark Toal ‘and others’ from 1871. The larger house (No.31) was split into two separate dwellings valued at £2 and £2.15s in 1883, with a succession of tenants through the 1880s, and 90s. A historic photograph of the house (dating from c1920-40) shows that there was formerly an additional entrance door to the right of the carriage archway which has since been blocked up. In 1890 the three dwellings passed from the Cosgrove family to Thomas Rafferty who had become the publican occupying the two neighbouring houses in 1880, after the death of Henry Cosgrove. The properties were purchased by Rafferty for £700 in 1889 but were again the subject of legal disputes when Sarah Ann Cosgrove and her son refused to recognise his title, forcing Rafferty to go to court for a decree for possession (Newry Telegraph). Rafferty’s ownership of the dwellings was short lived however, and in 1899 the current houses were bought by James McKnight, finally severing the connection between the dwelling houses and the neighbouring pub, which was thenceforward in separate ownership.

The house at number 33 and the two houses at number 31 continued to be let out and at the time of the 1901 census, the occupants were as follows: number 33 was occupied by 49-year-old Irish speaker Mary Ann Murphy (perhaps a relative of Michael Murphy who now lived elsewhere). She lived with her two sons Charles (24) and Michael (14) Murphy who were ‘victuallers’ and her daughter Rose who was at school. This suggests that No 33 was a grocery shop at this time and indeed a historic photograph shows No 33 as a shop in the early to mid-20th century, although the change in use is not recorded in valuation records until much later. One of the occupants in No 31 was 60-year-old widow Catherine Turley who lived with her son, a flax dresser, and her two daughters who were a winder in the linen mill and a linen weaver. The Turleys (also spelled Torley) were most likely employed either in the nearby flax mill, run by the Doyle family and leased from the Richardsons of Bessbrook and/or in the much larger mill at Bessbrook, 1½ miles away. The other occupant in No 31 was Armagh native James Henry, an agricultural labourer who lived with his wife and three young sons, two of whom had been born in Scotland. A newspaper report of 1904 relates how Catherine Turley and Mrs Henry kept hens in the rear yard of the dwellings, which was held in common between the three houses. A bailiff coming to seize the hens in settlement of a debt assaulted Catherine and she was able to win compensation against him in the magistrates’ court (Northern Whig).

The 1906 OS map shows a long extension to the rear of number 31 aligned with the plot boundary to NE, which is still present on the site today, and may have been added c1880 around the time of the removal of the forge and the division of number 31 into two separate dwellings.

In the 1911 census, the Turleys and Henrys continued in residence at No 31, the building return recording that their houses were of three rooms each. The Turleys had lost their employment as linen workers and Michael Turley was now employed as a farm labourer while his sister was unemployed. Now resident at number 33 was Minnie (also known as Mary) Smyth, living with her niece Rose McKeown, who ran the shop within the five-room house. It appears that the dwelling houses were not always in the best condition during this period, as ‘sanitary improvements’ to the dwellings of Mrs Turley and Minnie Smith were recommended by Newry No 2 Rural District Council in 1912 (Newry Reporter).

In 1920 the current dwellings were central to an incident referred to in the newspapers as the ‘Camlough Burnings’ and later known as Black December or Nollaig Dhubh by Republicans. The Irish War of Independence, a guerrilla conflict taking place from 1919-21, had a significant impact in the area soon to become the border, with at least 160 violent deaths in border counties during this period. In 1920, the IRA began a campaign of attacks on rural RIC barracks, and on the night of 12th/13th December 1920, the Newry Brigade attempted to set fire to the barracks at Camlough, which lay directly beside the current dwellings. The garrison set off flares to summon assistance and a rescue party of military and police was sent from Newry, but this party was ambushed at the Egyptian Arch with resulting loss of life. On arrival in Camlough, the military and police then set fire to several buildings, including the Sinn Fein Hall, and several shops and licensed premises.

In January 1921, claims totalling £40,656 were entered at the Ballybot Quarter Sessions, including claims to repair the police barracks and a claim of £2,000 by the landlord James McKnight for the destruction by fire of the dwelling house occupied by Mary Smyth (No 33) and partial destruction of the adjoining house occupied by Michael Turley (No 31). Michael Turley also claimed for £164.2s for furniture that was destroyed as well as two goats and one dozen hens. Michael Smyth (Mary Smyth’s brother) claimed £1,000 for destroyed groceries, stock-in-trade, household furniture, effects and fittings. At the subsequent hearing, Mary Smyth testified that she carried on a restaurant and grocery business in her house, assisted by her niece and that a few hours after the barracks had been attacked, the military visited her ‘and smashed all in the shop and kitchen’, followed by a visit from the Special Constabulary who ‘presented revolvers and rifles at them’. The house was doused in petrol by the soldiers and police and set on fire. The military and Special Constabulary accused Smyth of having the house ‘loopholed’ on its side wall in order to enable firing on the barracks and a Sergeant stated that bombs were thrown at the barracks from the rear of Smyth’s and Turley’s houses. A recent pamphlet produced to commemorate ‘Black December’ 1920, reproduces a statement by Jack McElhaw, an IRA man involved in the attack on the barracks who confirms that ‘a small number of [IRA] men’ were positioned along the side of the barrack, behind the cover of a low wall’, possibly the garden of number 33. McElhaw notes that Smyth’s house was burned by the military in the aftermath of the attack on the barracks ‘as a military necessity’, but that other buildings in Camlough were destroyed as reprisals (Frontier Sentinel; Black December 1920).

McKnight and Smyth continued to fight their cases against Armagh County Council for compensation following the fire for over a year (other cases resulting from the Camlough Burnings do not appear to have been pursued) ending ultimately in the highest court in Ireland. Initially, the County Court Judge had decreed in their favour. This judgment was reversed at the spring assizes in Armagh, but at the Southern Court of Appeal the original County Court judgement was reaffirmed. Finally, the case went to the High Court of Appeal sitting at the Four Courts in Dublin. The Lord Chancellor gave his opinion that, ‘Peace officers were bound to suppress breaches of the peace and they were justified in causing any damage necessary for that purpose’. As the injury to the applicants was deemed not to be criminal they were not entitled to any compensation and their appeal failed, with costs awarded against them (Belfast Newsletter).

In 1929, the shop and house at No 33 was taken over by Bernard McConnon and the valuation was raised to £8, suggesting that the house was rebuilt at this time (the building had been designated a ’ruin’ in 1922). For the first time, the designation ‘shop’ is added to the valuation office description. In the 1933 revaluation the dwelling is recorded as comprising a shop (selling ‘sweets etc’), kitchen, scullery and three bedrooms. However, there was no separate access to the shop, suggesting that it was necessary to pass through the shop to the living accommodation. A plan and dimensions of the building shows the shop and house extending over the carriage entrance, with a small extension to the rear roofed in corrugated iron. One of the slated rubble masonry outbuildings to the rear of the neighbouring dwelling No 31, actually belonged to No 33. There was also an earth closet of corrugated iron at the end of the rear yard. The landlord Mary McKnight, stating that she had ‘only these three houses to get a living from’, unsuccessfully appealed the valuation of this house and its neighbours in 1935, stating that No 33 had been rebuilt and was the ‘same size as before burning’ when the valuation had been lower. The house is described as a terrace parlour house ‘in good order’ with cement and tiled floors and boarded ceilings and a stove in the kitchen. The ‘comfortable’ sitting room had been converted to a small shop and it had a ‘fairly new condition and finish’ having been rebuilt in 1926.

The Turley family had, by this time, been resident at No 31 for around three decades, but their residence appears to have ended under a cloud, when the landlord, Mary McKnight, issued a summons to recover possession of the house after the Turleys fell into arrears in 1931. A newspaper report relates how Michael Turley had fallen behind on the 3s a week rent, building up arrears of £8.5s.6d and although the Turleys asked for time to pay off the debt, a decree for possession was issued and they appear to have subsequently been evicted (Frontier Sentinel). No 31 was subsequently let to Thomas Rooney and then Margaret Brannigan in the period up to 1957. The First General Revaluation records this dwelling as still divided into two, with the left-hand dwelling comprising a reception, kitchen, scullery and two bedrooms. It was said to have a ‘fairly good repair and finish’, and was built of rubble masonry, concrete and slate. It is described as a ‘good terrace kitchen house’ (although it appears to have actually had a parlour). It had a tiled kitchen with stove, boarded ceilings and a small reception with boarded floor and no grate. The right-hand house comprised a kitchen, scullery and two bedrooms and was assessed as similar to its neighbour, although smaller, but a ‘rather better finish’.

The landlord of the three properties was Margaret Sebranek from c1950. Large-scale maps show that between 1956 and 1971 a large extension was added to the rear of No 33 and that further extensions have been added to both dwellings since the 1970s. The police barracks formerly located to the W of the current dwellings became a youth hostel between 1956 and 1971 and has since been demolished.

References:
Primary Sources:

1. PRONI OS/6/2/26/1 First Edition Six Inch OS map (1834-5)
2. PRONI VAL/1/B/244A-B
3. Day, A and McWilliams, P (eds) Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Vol 1 Parishes of County Armagh 1835-8 Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University, 1990
4. PRONI OS/6/2/26/2 Second Edition Six Inch OS map (1861)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/37E Griffith’s Valuation Fieldbook TL: Cross (1862)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/15/6A-J (1866-1929) Annual Revision Lists, ED Camlough
7. PRONI Will Calendars, death of Hugh Cosgrove, 5th January 1870
8. Newry Reporter, 24th January 1878
9. PRONI Will Calendars, death of Henry Cosgrove, 19th July 1878
10. Newry Telegraph, 14th February 1878
11. Newry Reporter, 21st June 1879
12. Newry Telegraph, 3rd October 1889
13. Northern Whig, 21st January 1904
14. PRONI OS/6/2/26/3 Third Edition Six Inch OS map (1906)
15. Newry Reporter, 17th September 1912
16. PRONI VAL/3/C/2/12 (1935-1957) First General Revaluation, Rural District of Newry
17. Frontier Sentinel, 28th November 1931
18. Belfast Newsletter, 14th December 1920
19. Frontier Sentinel, 18th December 1920
20. Frontier Sentinel, 1st January 1921
21. Frontier Sentinel, 29th January 1921
22. Belfast Newsletter, 1st March 1922
23. PRONI VAL/3/D/2/6/F/4 (1933-57) Valuers RV Binder, ED Camlough
24. PRONI OS/6/2/26/4 Fourth Edition Six Inch OS map (1956)
25. Large scale maps (https://shop.centremapslive.co.uk)
26. Census of Ireland (National Archives: Census of Ireland) (1901, 1911)
27. Historic image (https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Camlough-Page)

Secondary Sources:

28. Dorney, John (2019) The Border Counties in the Irish War of Independence, 1918-21 (www.the irishstory.com)
29. McDowell, J (unpublished HED database) Settlement Sites (GHNUS)
30. Nollaig Dhubh 1920 = Black December 1920: Attack on Camlough Barracks (undated) Camlough/Derramor: Fegan Quinn Cumann/Seamus Steele Cumann

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Conjoined urban vernacular with traditional form and detailing in village setting. The pair do not have sufficient remaining historic fabric to merit protection by listing.