Temperance Hall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-storey-over semi-basement gabled hall built c.1880 and located to the east side of Dromore Street in Banbridge town centre. Rectangular on plan.

Pitched natural slate roof with raised masonry verges and kneeler stones; ball finial to northwest gable. Cast iron half-round rainwater goods on corbelled eaves. Walling is ruled-and-lined painted render with raised quoins on a chamfered plinth to entrance bay; smooth render to southeast gable; Flemish-bonded red-brick to northeast and southwest elevations. Windows are segmental-arched multi-paned metal casements; those to entrance bay have moulded architraves; those to northeast and southwest elevations are square-headed with flat brick lintels and timber sills.

The principal elevation is gabled and faces northwest; simply detailed with paired windows to centre at first floor, a large door-case to centre at ground floor and a continuous sill course between floors. Applied lettering in a moulded band to gable reads “TEMPERANCE HALL”. Segmental-arched door-case with three-stage rebated opening to off-set plinth, flanked by fluted pilasters with keyblock. Door-case contains four-panelled double-leaf timber doors accessed by two concrete steps.

The northeast elevation has three windows to first floor and four windows to ground floor; to right is the rendered entrance bay having a metal casement window to first floor.

The southeast (rear) gable comprises on ground floor a blind window to left of centre, a timber-sheeted door with square-headed overlight to right of centre and a futher blind window to far right; remainder of elevation blank.

The southwest elevation has six windows to first floor and seven windows to ground floor. To right, at basement level, are two blind windows and a blind entrance door to far right. The walling is exposed flemish-bonded red-brick except for a stepped rendered plinth and far left bay.

Setting

Street-fronted, set back from the road with rendered boundary wall having saddleback coping stones topped by original metal railings; to centre are slender metal gate piers with ball finials supporting original metal gates. Surrounded to all sides by nineteenth-century terrace housing; some of those to northeast and southwest have been converted for commercial use. To south is a large car-park.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Render / Brick
Windows: Metal
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Banbridge Temperance Hall, a two-storey meeting hall, was constructed between 1878 and 1879 on Dromore Street to house the town’s Good Templar temperance movement. A deed of trust dated May 1878 records that Thomas Ferguson of Edenderry House (HB17/07/014), John Simms of Parkmount, John Smyth of Milltown and a Mr. George Bartley Coulter were nominated and appointed trustees of the proposed Temperance Hall (on behalf of subscribers who were to bear the majority of the cost of construction). The lease records that the land on Dromore Street was leased by representatives of the estate of Francis Rawdon Moria Crozier at an annual rent of £8 (Crozier, the famous Arctic explorer had died c.1848 attempting to navigate the North-West Passage (HB17/07/009; 011)).

The lease notes that there were two Good Templar Temperance Lodges located in Banbridge prior to the construction of the Temperance Hall; these were the ‘Bulwark’ and the ‘Patrick’ Lodges. From c.1878-79 both lodges occupied the Dromore Street Temperance Hall which the Ulster Street Directory described as a ‘handsome edifice.’ The Annual Revisions initially valued the Temperance Hall at £30 and recorded that the lessor was a Mr. John Simms. There was little change to the site until 1891 when the value of the building was decreased to £25 (although the reason for this decrease is not known). Aside from this decrease in value there was no further change to the valuation of the Hall by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

The Independent Order of Good Templars (now the International Organisation of Good Templars) was an international temperance movement which originated in the mid-19th century in the United States of America and was based upon the rituals and regalia of Freemasonry. In 1868 the practises of the Good Templar movement spread to England and within two to three years had been introduced in Ireland (International Organisation of Good Templars website). McCandless writes that John Smyth of Milltown (one of the original trustees of the Temperance Hall) was a devout member of the Order of Good Templars and in 1876 served as the President of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Temperance Association in Banbridge. McCandless suggests that Smyth, and fellow member of the Order John Simms of Parkmount, were primarily responsible for the construction of the Temperance Hall which was completed in 1879 (McCandless).

Crowe notes that upon the Temperance Hall’s completion a portion of the downstairs hall was used by Banbridge Academy (HB17/04/014) to accommodate the growing number of students attending the institution, which at that point was situated on Library Lane. The Hall continued to be partially utilised as a schoolhouse until the early twentieth century (Crowe, pp 68-69).

Banbridge Temperance Hall is no longer used for its intended purpose and has fallen into a state of disrepair; field inspection finds that the former meeting hall on the first floor is the only portion of the building still used, currently as a public auction space.

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/27/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1860
2. PRONI OS/6/3/27/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903-1918
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/A – Annual Revisions 1864-1874
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/B – Annual Revisions 1874-1884
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/6/D – Annual Revisions 1885-1894
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7/A – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7/B – Annual Revisions 1911-1922
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/7/C – Annual Revisions 1921-1930
9. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)

Secondary Source

1. Crowe, W. H., ‘In Banbridge town: A history of Banbridge Academy, and of the social circumstances that led to its
foundation’ Belfast: William Mullan & Son Ltd, 1964.
2. McCandless, P., ‘Smyths of the Bann’ Paul McCandless: self-published, 2002.

Online Resources

1. International Organisation of Good Templars website: http://www.iogt.us/iogt.php?p=35

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A symmetrical two-storey-over semi-basement gabled hall built c. 1880 Simply detailed, it is largely intact with some original interior fabric including the original stairwell and other detailing. There have been changes in the plan form to accommodate a change in use. It is of some interest within the context of temperance organisations that were established during the Nineteenth century. However, the proportions and detailing are poor and it is not among the best examples of the type.