Banbridge Court House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A Victorian Italianate stucco two-storey former courthouse, built c.1870 to designs by Henry Smyth and located to the south side of Victoria Street in Banbridge. Rectangular main block with projecting single-storey wings to east and west each having projecting entrance porch; modern extension to south, in similar style but of no interest.

Hipped natural slate roof with rendered chimneystacks having moulded caps. Cast-iron downpipes and hoppers; lead-capped corbel courses with bracketed and Lombardic frieze. Walling is painted stucco over a moulded plinth with decorative moulded string course to impost level at each floor and continuous sills; pierced circles to parapet over main block and single-storey wings. Windows are round-headed with geometric glazing bars and pierced window aprons (to main block); 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash with horns to wings, framed by pilasters with carved heads and corbels under sills; all openings with moulded archivolts.

The principal elevation faces east and has two blind arcaded openings to first floor centre. Ground floor is abutted by the wing which is wider. Central projecting porch has 1/1 window and four-panelled bolection moulded timber doors to left and right cheeks surmounted by a plain fanlight. Entrance porch is flanked by paired windows to left and right bays. Exposed section to northwest has a small abutment with oculus.

The south elevation has three windows to first floor; abutted at ground floor by the modern single-storey extension.

The west elevation has two openings to first floor and is abutted at ground floor by the wing which projects to north and south. Central projecting entrance porch has 1/1 window and a steel fire door to left cheek; right cheek has an inverted four bolection moulded timber panelled door with brass door knob. Entrance porch is flanked by paired windows to left and right bays. Exposed section to northeast has a small abutment with oculus.

The north elevation is three windows wide to first floor; ground floor has three decorative circular mouldings to centre between moulded string course and continuous sill.

Setting

Situated to the south side of Victoria Road in Banbridge town centre. Set back from the road and enclosed to north by a tall painted render wall with stone coping topped by security fencing. Bounded to east by a rubble stone wall with square rock-faced stone pier, wall topped by security fencing and large steel entrance gate. Bollards and security gate to east entrance. To south is a modern library and a large modern cinema complex has been constructed to the north side of Victoria Street.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: stucco
Windows:timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Banbridge Court House was built in 1872-3 to designs by Henry Smyth, county surveyor, as a replacement for the ‘petty sessions’ court which had been held on the upper floor of the market house. Henry Smyth was county surveyor for the Northern Division of County Down and was the designer of Downpatrick Lunatic Asylum as well as, with Charles Lanyon, the Ormeau Bridge in Belfast. (www.dia.ie)

The building is first shown, captioned ‘C[our]t Ho[use]’ on the third edition OS map of 1903, sited opposite the town market place which was set out later in 1882, with fowl and pig markets either side of the court house and a general market opposite. The Court House first entered valuation records in 1874 at a valuation of £63 but newspaper reports show that the tender of John Thompson for construction of the building was accepted in March 1872 and that the building opened in October 1873. The cost was £2.465, met by a Grand Jury presentment, and furnishings cost a further £90. (Belfast Newsletter) The site was donated by the local landowner the Marquess of Downshire. (Bassett’s Street Directory) At the opening Half-Yearly Sessions, the generosity of the Grand Jury and the comforts provided in the court house were commended. A comparison was made, to Banbridge’s benefit, with elsewhere in Ireland where the court houses were ‘more like barns and outbuildings than court houses’. In west Cork the wind was said to ‘whistle round [the interior] and the candles were blown out on the desks’. (Belfast Newsletter)

A street directory of the period called the style Gothic-Italian, judging the building to be the ‘handsomest edifice of its kind in County Down’. (Bassett’s Directory) Brett's more recent appraisal found the building, 'an opulent and individual Italianate extravaganza in stucco'. (Brett) Valuation records show that the main body of the building held the courtroom and the two wings housed the witnesses’ room, bar room, magistrates’ room and jury room with WCs leading out of the four rooms. A wash house was located in the yard and a court keeper's house and garden to the rear. Cells for prisoners were located in the basement. (First General Revaluation; Bassett’s Directory) In the 1880s quarter sessions for the trial of civil cases were heard here, but the more serious criminal cases were sent to Newry for trial. (Bassett’s Directory)

In recent years the building has been extended to the rear with protective walls erected around the perimeter. The building remains in use as a court house.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 Second Edition OS map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 Third Edition OS Map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/27/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1903-18
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/8A-C Annual Revisions (1899-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/4/4 First General Revaluation (1936-57)
8. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/2/B/19 First General Revaluation (1933-57)
9. Belfast Newsletter 8th March 1872
10. Belfast Newsletter 30th May 1873
11. Belfast Newsletter 20th October 1873

Secondary Sources

1. Bassett, G H “County Down One Hundred Years Ago: A Guide and Directory 1886” Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1988
2. Brett, C.E.B., Dunleath, Lady “List of Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Buildings of Architectural Importance in Borough of Banbridge” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, April-July 1969
3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

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

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A Victorian Italianate stucco two-storey former courthouse, built c.1870 to designs by Henry Smyth. A building of some character and distinction, displaying proportions and detailing typical of the Victorian period, much of which is intact and of fine quality. Recent interior remodelling has compromised its character with the loss of historic fabric and the setting is compromised by security fencing. However, it is a good representative example of the type and of the development of the town during the Victorian period. Also of significant interest as a civic building.