9A Church Square

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-storey four-bay town-house (now commercial premises) built c.1840; rectangular plan form with rear single-storey extension. Located east of the junction between Castlewellan Road and Church Square southeast of the Crozier Monument (HB17/07/011) north of the centre of Banbridge town.

Pitched natural slate roofing with clay ridge tiles; uPVC replacement rainwater goods; smooth rendered chimney, no pots. Ruled-and-lined walling (roughcast to the rear). 6/6 sliding sash windows first floor right with exposed boxes; granite cills. Four-panelled timber door with bolection mouldings and brass ironmongery; beaded muntin; rectangular over light; panelled pilaster door case rising to cornice course.

The principal elevation faces northeast and is asymmetrically arranged. The front entrance is located left of centre with replacement tri-partite timber sliding sash window with concrete cill to the left; shop front to the right comprising replica timber panelled door flanked by large glazed panels.

The left gable abuts adjoining building, 2A Castlewellan Road.

The rear elevation is blank; modern brick chimney to the right; modern single-storey lean-to extension across the ground floor; of no interest.

The right gable is abutted by adjoining building HB17/07/013.

Setting

The building forms part of a three-storey historic terrace. The rear is accessed via the coach entrance and yard associated with adjoining building (HB17/07/013). Opposite the terrace is a large modern brick wall enclosing the police station. Northwest of the site are further historic structures.

Roofing: Natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: timber
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

9A Church Square (formerly No. 1 Castlewellan Road) is a three-storey former dwelling and current commercial premises that first appears on the Second Edition of the Ordnance Survey map for Banbridge in 1860 but may also be depicted on the earlier first edition of the maps in 1833 which records that a building once stood on approximately the current site. It is not clear whether No. 1 Castlewellan Road was constructed in the Georgian period; however it is certain that the current building had been constructed by 1860.

Griffiths Valuation (c. 1863) records that at this time a Mr. John Gordon let the property from William Waugh, a local linen merchant and Justice of the Peace for Banbridge. John Gordon was also employed as a linen manufacturer and resided at Dromore Street (Ulster Street Directory - 1861). Griffith’s Valuation notes that No. 1 Castlewellan Road was valued at £30 and was solely used as offices and yarn stores at that time. However, by 1864 the Annual Revisions note that the property was utilised as a private dwelling and occupied by a Mr. Martin Cowan who also let the site from William Waugh.

Cowan, who was employed as a Grocer, resided at the house until 1908. The building was purchased by a Mr. Joseph Weir in 1882 and then by a Mr. James Crozier, a victualler who resided in Church Square, in 1908. The 1901 Census records that Martin Cowan (60, Presbyterian) resided at No. 1 Castlewellan Road with an assistant and a domestic servant; the Census Building return described the property as a 2nd class shop that consisted of four rooms and possessed a stable and store as its sole out offices. In 1908 Martin Cowan vacated the property for unknown reasons (although he is not recorded in the Ulster Street Directory for Banbridge) and a Ms. Elizabeth Morrison took over occupancy of the property (a Miss Morrison worked in the Post Office in Church Square in the 1907 Ulster Street Directory).

In 1908 the building (which had formerly incorporated the building adjoining its south gable) was divided into two properties each incorporating a house, shop and yard; Elizabeth Morrison occupied the smaller of the two new properties which had been revalued at £9 whilst a Mr. Thomas Sloan came into possession of the large house and shop which was revalued at £19. The 1911 Census notes that Thomas Sloan (34, Church of Ireland) was employed as a Motor Mechanic and resided at the house with his wife and daughter; the Census Building Return described his property as a 2nd class private dwelling that consisted of five rooms and possessed five out offices including a coach house, workshop, shed and store which Sloan undoubtedly used for his business. Sloan continued to reside at this address until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. However Elizabeth Morrison vacated her house in 1911 due to unknown circumstances; the property lay vacant during the 1911 census and later that year a Mr. John Bell took possession of the site. By 1919 the house passed hands once more when a Margaret Forsythe, who was employed as a confectioner, occupied the site, residing there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

No. 1 Castlewellan Road was listed in 1977; the property continues to be used as commercial premises for local businesses; it is no longer used as a private dwelling.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/1 – First edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918
4. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/3 – Banbridge Town Plan c. 1830
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/64/A – Griffith’s Valuation c. 1862
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/A – Annual Revisions 1864-1874
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/B – Annual Revisions 1874-1884
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/D – Annual Revisions 1885-1894
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7/A – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7/B – Annual Revisions 1911-1922
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7/C – Annual Revisions 1921-1930
12. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
13. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
14. First Survey Record – HB17/07/012 (1977)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A three-storey four-bay house (now commercial) premises c.1840. The building forms part of a number of terraces erected around the same time, which represent the early development of the town. The proportions and character survive, although the ground floor has been significantly altered with modifications to the plan form and subsequent loss of historic fabric. However, the plan form survives with significant historic detailing to the upper floors indicating that it may be a remodelling of an earlier Georgian building and it is of note as part of the initial expansion of the town in the late Georgian and early Victorian period.

General comments

Previously addressed as 1 Castlewellan Road