38A & 38B Main St

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The house was partially demolished and replaced with a pair of two-storey two-bay terrace houses c.1995, replacing a former dwelling and shop pre-dating 1830. Located centrally in the village on the east side of Main Street.

Historical information

The house was partially demolished and replaced with a pair of dwellings c.1995 but is a former dwelling and shop, of late eighteenth/early nineteenth century date, originally lime-rendered and likely to be one of the earlier buildings in Scarva. The original building served for some years as a public house and shop.

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 and is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40. It is the house, offices and yard of William Bartley valued at £8.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists the house as the property of George Barclay (a minor) who lets it to Moses A Carson, later James Carson. The house, office, yard and garden are run as a public house and general shop valued at £11.15s with a rent of £14 annually. Dimensions are given for the house, one 2-storey outbuilding and 3 single-storey outbuildings. Subsequent occupiers are James Hawthorne (1871) Elizabeth Hawthorne (1914) Elizabeth Bradley (1915) and Samuel Woods (1918). In 1918 the valuation was lowered to £9. The 1901 census lists the house as a grocer’s shop, run by James Hawthorne, 67, farmer and grocer, who lives with his wife. By 1911 James Hawthorne had died and his widow had retired from the grocery trade, the house now her private dwelling.

At the time of the First General Revaluation (1933/4) the house is occupied by Samuel Woods, and later Sarah Ann Jones. The house, shop, office and garden are revalued at £10.10s The accommodation comprises a kitchen, scullery, two rooms and three bedrooms and the rent is 7s.6d per week. In 1946 it is noted that the house is now used as a post office.

The house and shop was partially demolished and replaced with a pair of dwellings c.1995.

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 (1936-57)
8. Taylor and Skinner’s Map of the Roads of Ireland, 1777
9. Capper, B.P. “A Topographical Dictionary of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland” London: Sir Richard Phillips and Co, 1829
10. Seward, W W “Topographica Hibernica” Dublin, 1797
11. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Gilford, Scarva, Loughbrickland and Lawrencetown” Stenlake Publishing, 2002
12. Street Directory, 1910
13. Banbridge Chronicle 26th July 1978

Secondary Sources

1. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “OS Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of County Down III, 1833-8, Vol. 12.” Belfast: Institute of
Irish Studies, 1992.
2. Knox, Alexander, M.D. “A History of the County of Down” Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Co, 1875
3. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland,” London: HMSO, 1980.
4. Shaffrey, P and M “Buildings of Irish Towns – Treasures of Everyday Architecture” Dublin: O’Brien, 1983
Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Gilford, Scarva, Loughbrickland and Lawrencetown” Stenlake Publishing, 2002

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two mid-terrace houses, two storey two bay, built c1995 replacing a former dwelling and shop pre-dating 1830. As new properties these houses are of no historic interest.