30 Scarva Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical two-storey three-bay semi-detached house, built c.1850 and located on the west side of Scarva Street in the centre of Loughbrickland. Rectangular plan with full-height return and single-storey mono-pitched extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks having terracotta pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on drive-in brackets. Walling is painted render. Windows are a variety of replacement double glazed timber sliding sash with horns and exposed sash boxes, timber casements and uPVC windows on projecting granite sills.

The principal elevation faces north-east; two windows to first floor; to left of centre at ground floor is a four-panelled timber door with geometrically designed overlight, accessed via two stone steps. 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with margin panes to either side of entrance door.

The south-east gable has two 4/4 timber sliding sash windows to first floor and one to ground floor left.

The rear (south-west) elevation has an 8/8 uPVC stairwell window to left; abutted at right by a full-height return. Return comprises a 6/6 timber sliding sash window to first and a 6/3 with margins to ground floor right at south-east elevation; north-west elevation has two uPVC windows to ground floor left and a modern timber door to ground floor right. The south-west gable is abutted at ground floor by the modern mono-pitched extension (of no interest).

The north-west elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB17/03/010B).

Setting:

Set back from the street with smooth rendered boundary wall having coping stones topped by modern metal railings; to left of centre is a modern metal gate giving access to tarmacadamed yard to front. South-east gable and return fronts onto road. Enclosed paved yard to rear with no defined boundary to neighbouring property HB17/03/010B; accessed from south via a large modern metal gate. Two-storey rubble stone outbuilding to south-west.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Render
Windows: Replacement double glazed timber / uPVC
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The present house is one of a semi-detached pair built c1850 on the site of earlier, thatched buildings.

Buildings are shown on the site on the first edition OS map of 1833 and are listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40. Number 32 is exempted because it is not deemed to be of sufficient value and number 30 is the residence of William Thompson, a house, offices and yard valued at £3.8s. Dimensions are given for the house and single-storey return which are both thatched. The house is ‘held by the year’ and the tenant does ‘repairs himself’.

However, by the time of Griffith’s Valuation, the valuation has risen to £14, indicating that there has been a rebuild or remodel. The house, listed as a single dwelling, is now slated and John McKean leases it from John Barclay. Resident in the house from at least 1893 was Dr William Tweedy who used some of the rooms for his general practice. (Owner information) From 1903 the two dwellings are listed separately at a valuation of £4 each and it is possible that some remodelling took place at this stage to divide the two houses. Subsequent tenants, who in the early part of the twentieth century included a number of police constables, were as follows; Constable Sproule (1903) Bernard Sands (1905) Ramsay (1908) and Elizabeth Hudson (1910). The house could not be identified in the 1901 census but by 1911 it was the home of Elizabeth Hudson, 63-year-old widow and her boarder Joseph S Boyd, a national school teacher. Hudson was followed by Sarah J McKain (1920) William Ledlie (1921) Mary J Thomas (1924) Constable Horace Thompson (1925) Constable R D Lennon (1927) and George Carson (1929). The McAvoy family were the tenants for some years in the period up to 1957.

In the First General Revaluation, the house was revalued at £12.10s, lowered to £11 on appeal with £1.10s for agricultural buildings. In common with many buildings in the village, the house had a plot of land attached to the lease which was sited outside the village area. The rent was £18 per annum plus taxes and accommodation comprised two receptions rooms, three bedrooms, a kitchen, scullery and pantry. The lease was said to run for 934 years from 1857 which is a plausible construction date for the house itself. The semi-detached pair had been purchased in 1930 for £590. A plan and dimensions are given for the house, yard and outbuildings, which include stabling, a byre and lofts, an outdoor toilet and refuse pit. A 1935 inspection found a stove and flagged floor in the kitchen. The house continues in use as a domestic dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/34/1 First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/34/2 Second Edition OS map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/34/3 Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
4. PRONI OS/6/3/34/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/351 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55a Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/18A-E Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/2 – First General Revaluation (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/N/1 – First General Revaluation (1933-57)
10. PRONI D695/M/1 – Map of the Glan Bogg surveyed by Frances Nevil 1703 (wrongly catalogued as 1793)
11. PRONI D2918/6/11 – Map of Loughbrickland estates of Nicholas C Whyte (1819)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An asymmetrical two-storey three-bay semi-detached house, built c.1850. Refurbished in recent years, much of the historic fabric has been lost and the original character compromised. There is group value with the adjoining building (HB17/03/010B) but it has been similarly altered. However, the pair is significant in the locale and retain enough of interest to represent a good example of small village houses in a good setting, along with other buildings of note in Loughbrickland.

General comments

This record was formerly number HB17/03/010 and included HB17/03/10B.