St Matthew's Parish Church Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical terraced three-bay two-storey red-brick church hall, dated 1894 and located on the east side of Main Street in the centre of Scarva. Rectangular plan with two-storey modern flat-roof extension (1987) to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta and blue/black angled ridge tiles and timber bargeboard to gable; Pyramidal fleche with bellcast surmounted by weathervane to centre of ridgeline. Cast-iron half round rainwater goods on timber eaves. Walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth with yellow brick dressings; dog- tooth string course between floors. Windows are replacement timber casements; those to left and right bays are wide, in segmental-arched yellow brick surrounds with keyblock detail.

The principal elevation faces west and is four windows wide to first floor. Central bay is delineated by a pedimented gable infilled with fish scale clay tiles and a clock and at ground floor by brick piers which rise to first floor string course. Paired square-headed windows to first floor and replacement five panelled timber door with segmental overlight in yellow brick surround to ground floor, accessed by two stone steps. Timber name plate over door with painted lettering reading “SCARVA PARISH HALL” with “1894” below. Flanking bays comprise segmental-arched window to each floor which are in turn flanked by brick piers rising to eaves level.

The north gable is abutted by 42 Main St Scarva (HB17/03/032).

The east (rear) elevation is almost entirely abutted by a modern flat-roof two-storey extension. To centre is a recessed porch with a modern timber casement window to first floor and modern double-leaf panelled-and-glazed timber door to ground floor (accessed at a lower level via a set of masonry steps).

The south gable is abutted by adjoining building (HB17/03/034).

Setting

Prominently positioned at the junction of Main Street and Station Road, street-fronted overlooking Scarva Bridge (HB17/03/036) and the surrounding farmland. Forming part of a mid-nineteenth century terrace. To the rear of the building is a set of steps, leading to St Matthews Parish Church (HB17/03/037). Steps are bounded by a red-brick and masonry wall topped by yellow brick coping.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Brick
Windows: Replacement timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

St Matthew’s Parish Hall was built in 1894 as the National School for Scarva, on the site of a much earlier building. When a new primary school was built in the 1950s, the building became the church hall. The current building is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1903 captioned ‘Sch[ool]’, with St Matthew’s Church of Ireland to the rear.

The village of Scarva was founded, beside the newly-opened Newry Canal, in 1746 by John Reilly of Scarva House and it is likely that some of the current buildings along Scarva’s Main Street date from this period. 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, but by 1875 the market was no longer being held. 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. (Knox) The population remained reasonably steady over the course of the nineteenth century and in 1910 was 157. (Street Directory)

A building is shown on the site on the 1st edition OS map of 1834 and is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40 as a school-house 39x26x17 feet, exempted from valuation. This early building was said in the late Victorian period to be ‘one of the oldest, if not the oldest’ houses in the village, and had been used as a school-house in connection with the Church of Ireland since 1822. (Belfast Newsletter 1893) Taylor and Skinner’s 1777 map of Scarva shows that the early development of the town was concentrated around the bridge over the canal and so it is not implausible that the former school was one of the older buildings in the town.

Griffith’s Valuation lists the landholder as JT Reilly, and the building as a Church Education Society schoolhouse and yard valued at £8. The dimensions given suggest that this is the same building as that listed in the Townland Valuation. In 1893 Reilly’s property, including the land on which the school stood, was put up for sale and the rector, as manager of the school, was forced to buy the leasehold. Subsequently a committee was set up to receive public subscriptions towards the school purchase fund. Several village residents were on the committee, the treasurer of which was Joseph Barrett, the schoolmaster. (Belfast Newsletter) The school was rebuilt in 1894 and redesignated a National School at which time the valuation was raised to £12. Young and Quail’s collection of photographs of the area shows several views of the new school including an image of the staff and pupils gathered outside the building, which bears a date plaque 1894 and a painted sign ‘Scarva National School’.

In 1893 and 1894 advertisements were placed in the Belfast Newsletter for a Male Assistant Teacher for Scarva National School, ‘must be able to sing and teach music and drawing’.

At the time of the First General Revaluation of 1933/4 the accommodation comprised three class rooms and a porch to the rear. Dimensions and a plan are given showing a WC and shed both roofed with corrugated iron in the yard behind. The school is revalued at £12, later raised to £14. In 1935 it was a ‘substantially built’ school in Scarva village and ‘well attended’. There was a right of way through the school to the church at the rear. The electricity supply for both school and church was run by oil engine.

A new primary school for Scarva was built in the 1950s, and the former national school became the village parish hall. (Electrical Journal) The first survey photograph of 1975 shows that the chimneys had been removed by this stage, although the fenestration was still original. The windows have since been replaced.

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. Taylor and Skinner’s Map of the Roads of Ireland, 1777
8. Capper, B.P. “A Topographical Dictionary of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland” London: Sir Richard Phillips and Co, 1829
9. Electrical Journal, Volume 154, 1955
10. Seward, W W “Topographica Hibernica” Dublin, 1797
11. Belfast Newsletter, 2nd December 1893
12. Belfast Newsletter, 17th February 1894
13. Young, A F and Quail, D “Old Gilford, Scarva, Loughbrickland and Lawrencetown” Stenlake Publishing, 2002
14. 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.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A symmetrical three-bay two-storey red-brick church hall, dated 1894. Fully refurbished in 1987, with replacement fenestration throughout, the building. Although it is of a relatively late date with extensive alterations and loss of historic fabric and detailing, which have compromised its architectural and historic interest. However, it is significant in the locale and its history as a Church Education Society and then National School is of note. The setting, on an axis with the church and canal bridge is also noteworthy.