32 Scarva Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical two-storey two-bay semi-detached house, built c.1850 and located on the west side of Scarva Street in the centre of Loughbrickland. Rectangular plan with two-storey hipped return and single-storey flat-roof porch 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 smooth render. Windows are a variety of replacement double glazed timber sliding sash with horns and exposed sash boxes and uPVC windows on projecting granite sills.

The principal elevation faces north-east; two 6/3 timber sliding sash windows to first floor; to ground floor left is a four-panelled timber door with geometrically designed overlight; to ground floor right is a 6/6 timber sliding sash window.

The south-east elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB17/03/010A).

The north-west (rear) elevation has a diminutive 6 pane uPVC window to right at first floor and is abutted at left by a two-storey hip roofed return; uPVC window to first and ground floor; left cheek blank; right cheek is abutted by a single-storey flat-roof porch incorporating a modern timber door.

The north-east gable has a diminutive window to right at first floor.

Setting

Set back from the street with smooth rendered boundary wall having coping stones topped by modern metal railings; to left is a modern metal gate giving access to tarmacadamed yard to front. North gable has a wrought-iron gate enclosing a side yard. Enclosed paved yard to rear with no defined boundary to neighbouring property HB17/03/010A; high smooth rendered wall to north-west boundary; 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 c.1850 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. Dr Tweedy was followed by Mary Cromie in 1908 who is listed in the 1911 census as a 71-year-old widow. Cromie was followed by Mary Turley (1916) Constable Anthony Ruddy (1919) Margaret Ledlie (n.d.) William O’Keefe (1938) William Collins (1942) William Corbett (1943) and Eugene Maguire (1952)

In the First General Revaluation of 1933/4, the house was revalued at £10, lowered to £8 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 a reception room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a scullery. 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 and scullery housed in a return. 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)

Secondary Sources
Knox, Alexander, M.D. “A History of the County of Down” Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Co, 1875

Number 30
Dr William Tweedy (1893) Constable Sproule (1903) Bernard Sands (1905) Ramsay (1908)Hudson (1910) Elizabeth Hudson (192) Sarah J McKain (1920) William Ledlie (1921) Mary J Thomas (1924) Constable Horace Thompson (1925) Constable R D Lennon (1927) George Carson (1929) The house could not be identified in the 1901 census but by 1911it was the home of Elizabeth Hudson, 63-year-old widow and her boarder Joseph S Boyd, a national school teacher.
Number 32
Vacant (1903) Mary Cromie (1908)Mary Turley (1916) Constable Anthony Ruddy (1919) The house could not be identified in the 1901 census but by 1911 it was the home of Margaret Cromie, a 71-year-old widow

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 (HB17/03/010A) 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 included in HB17/03/010.