24 Main St

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey three-bay mid-terrace townhouse, pre-dating 1830; rectangular plan form. Located centrally within the village on the east side of Main Street.

Pitched natural slate roofing with clay ridge tiles; cement coping; uPVC rainwater goods; roughcast chimneys with cornice and pots. Painted roughcast walling; smooth plinth band and long-and-short quoins. Thin plain raised reveals to windows and doors. 2/2 timber sliding sash with vertical glazing bars and horns, masonry cills. Replacement timber front door.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. The front door is centrally located with a window to either side. Three diminished in height and width first floor windows directly over ground floor openings.

The left gable is abutted by 22 Main Street (HB17/03/023).

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged. Replacement timber casement windows throughout. Enlarged ground floor window left, three first floor windows. Ground floor right abutted by lean-to extension; artificial slate with modern rooflight, smooth rendered.

The right gable is abutted by 26 Main Street (HB17/03/025).

Setting

The building is part of a continuous terrace running the full length of the east side of Main Street. Heavily vegetated embankment to the rear. Opposite the house is a landscaped public area, beyond which runs the Newry Canal.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: Roughcast render
Windows: Timber
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

The current building is a dwelling and former shop, of late-eighteenth/early-nineteenth century date, originally lime-rendered and likely to be one of the later buildings to be constructed in Scarva. The building has evolved over time and now presents an appearance typical of nineteenth century village tenements.

The village of Scarva was founded, beside the newly-opened Newry Canal, in 1746 by John Reilly of Scarva House and the earliest buildings in the town are likely to be those nearest the bridge, the town extending northwards from this point during the course of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The impetus for building the town came from the opening of the Newry Canal in 1742 to connect Carlingford Lough with Lough Neagh, principally as a means to bring coal from east Tyrone to Dublin speedily and inexpensively. (McCutcheon) John Reilly, the founder of the town, procured a patent for holding fairs and markets, in anticipation of building the town, and to build a small dock and quay. Taylor and Skinner’s 1777 map of Scarva shows that the early development of the town was concentrated around the bridge over the canal.

The 1797 Topographica Hibernica describes Scarva as a ‘small neat village’ with a large ‘salt work’. Fairs were held four times a year. Capper’s Topographical Dictionary gives the population of Scarva in 1829 as 170 living in 33 houses. By 1875 traffic along the Newry Canal was bringing cargoes of turf to Scarva, using the dock and quay for lighters but the market was no longer being held. (Knox) The population remained reasonably steady over the course of the nineteenth century and in 1910 was 157. (Street Directory)

A house is shown on the site on the 1st edition OS map of 1834 but cannot be positively identified in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40. It appears to be the house, office and yard of Daniel Fitzpatrick valued at £4.

In Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house, office and small garden is listed as the property of John T Reilly, leased to Patrick Magee and valued at £6. The house is two-storey and slated and has a single-storey outbuilding. Subsequent occupiers were James Beck (1875) Abraham J Hanna (1886) Thomas Bennett (1891) William Courtney (1893) James Courtney (1899) Isabella Atkins (1903) Samuel Woods (1908) Margaret Clarke (1919) Thomas Morrow (1923) Elizabeth Hudson (1924) and Edwin Hudson (1929).

The house is not identifiable in the 1901 census but the 1911 census lists it as the grocery shop of Samuel Woods who lives with his wife and two young children. The couple have two female boarders who are both working as school teachers, most likely in the village school. By the time of the First General Revaluation in 1933/4 the house had been taken over by Samuel McGaffin and William Cromie followed in 1954. The house and shop were revalued at £10. Accommodation comprised a kitchen, scullery and two rooms downstairs with three bedrooms upstairs. The WC was then in the yard.

The building was listed in 1977 and the first survey photograph (undated) presumed to date from this period, shows that the one of the ground floor windows has since been replaced with a sliding sash to match the remaining windows. The façade is not symmetrical and it may be that the anomalous window was originally larger and constituted a shop-front. The building remains in use as a dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/33/1 First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/33/2 Second Edition OS map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/33/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/33/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/55D Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/22A-D Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/3 First General Revaluation 1933-57
8. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/3/5/6 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. Taylor and Skinner’s Map of the Roads of Ireland, 1777
10. Capper, B.P. “A Topographical Dictionary of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland” London: Sir Richard Phillips and Co, 1829
11. Seward, W W “Topographica Hibernica” Dublin, 1797
12. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Gilford, Scarva, Loughbrickland and Lawrencetown” Stenlake Publishing, 2002
13. Street Directory, 1910

Secondary Sources

1. Knox, Alexander, M.D. “A History of the County of Down” Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Co, 1875
2. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland,” London: HMSO, 1980.
3. Shaffrey, P and M “Buildings of Irish Towns – Treasures of Everyday Architecture” Dublin: O’Brien, 1983

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey three-bay mid-terrace townhouse, pre-dating 1830; rectangular plan form. The proportions, style and character have remained largely unaltered. Sufficient historic fabric survives to represent its historical development. It is also of interest as a former shop. Its slightly larger scale is notable in the context of Scarva.