Rectory

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical two-storey-over-semi-basement four-bay detached roughcast Rectory, built c1790 and extended c.1850; located to the north side of Church Street opposite the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer (HB17/15/022A) in Banbridge town centre. Rectangular on plan with canted-bay window to west, two-storey return (c.1850) and single-storey extension (1932) to north and single-storey-over-basement annexe to east.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and three red-brick chimneystacks with fluted shafts and masonry caps. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on smooth rendered eaves band. Walling is roughcast render with smooth rendered quoins to ground and first floor; painted smooth render to basement; continuous sill course to ground floor windows. Windows are largely Victorian replacements; 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash to ground floor in moulded architraves with painted sills; diminished to first floor with segmental-headed 2/2 timber-framed sashes in square-headed frames; moulded architraves surmounted by cornice on console brackets. Variety of timber-framed sash windows to basement, including an original 10/10 window to south elevation.

The principal elevation faces south and is five openings wide to first and ground floor; three windows to basement. To right of centre is a segmental-headed doorcase accessed via a splayed stone perron with six bull-nose steps and replacement metal handrails. Six-panelled timber door with brass door furniture flanked by two fluted Doric columns with entasis and surmounted by radial elliptical timber fanlight with moulded archivolt and pilasters.

The west elevation has a tripartite canted bay window at ground floor; rising from basement at left; traditional three at ground floor, single 2/2 window, half louvered, to basement.

The north elevation is abutted at left by the two-storey return with extension. To right of this at first floor is a round-headed 1/1 window with gablet having bargeboard and timber struts; two timber casement windows to right bay. To left at ground floor is a double-leaf half-panelled timber door with transom light in a moulded architrave; 8/8 window to left at basement. Return has 1/1 window to first and ground floor right; to left is a modern half-panelled timber door. Abutted at north gable by the single-storey extension (of no interest).

The east gable is abutted at ground floor and basement by the annexe, in similar style as the main house with roughcast rendered walls and rendered chimneystack to gable having a tall terracotta pot. Five steps with modern handrails to four-panelled timber entrance door in channelled smooth rendered surround. To right at ground floor is a 1/1 window in smooth rendered architrave. Basement has a timber-sheeted latch door and a 1/1 window. The east elevation of annexe has a 1/1 window to ground floor and basement.

Setting

Situated north of the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer (HB17/15/022A), the Rectory is set back from the road with a central tarmacadamed entrance flanked by lawned banks to either side. Bounded to street by squared rubble stone wall with dressed coping stones topped with modern metal railings; to centre are square ashlar gate piers with Gothic caps support modern gates. Lawned and shrubbed garden to west enclosed by high smooth rendered wall to west gable of house. Front garden enclosed to west by a roughcast rendered garden wall with timber-sheeted door to yard (now in separate ownership). Enclosed by mature trees to north and east.

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

Historical information

Dromore Rectory, a two-storey-and-basement Georgian dwelling situated opposite the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer (HB17/15/022A), was constructed in the late-18th century and was originally utilised as a dwelling and rent office where the Bishop of Dromore’s estate was administered. The first recorded occupant of the dwelling was a Mr. Crane Brush who resided here in c. 1830; the Townland Valuations valued his property at £20 whilst the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map depicted that the building occupied the current of the site in 1833. Brush was employed as the land agent and administered the Bishop of Dromore’s estate until at least 1852 (Ulster Town Directory).

There was no change to the site by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1859. A valuation map (dated c. 1861-c. 1906) recorded that the house had been divided into two sections by c. 1861, the main central block of the building was utilised as a private dwelling, whilst the single-storey addition to the east gable was used for the Bishop’s rent office. By 1861 Griffith’s Valuation noted that a Mr. George Brush continued to operate the rent office; Brush did not reside at the main dwelling like his predecessor but lived at Gillhall in the townland of Coolsallagh (Ulster Town Directory 1861; HB17/13/021). The two-storey house had passed into the possession of a Mr. Marshall Weir who was employed as a surgeon and operated a dispensary from the site. The valuer noted that the value of the dwelling and dispensary had increased to £26 whilst the rent office was valued at £5.

Weir continued to reside at the house on Church Street until 1886 when the site became the rectory of the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer; by 1889 the rent office had been closed. The first occupant of the rectory was the Rev. William A. Hayes who occupied the site in 1889; during his curacy Hayes was responsible for the restoration of the Ancient Cross of Dromore which had formerly been situated in the Market Square and was used as a base for the town stocks (HB17/15/011). As a result of Hayes’s efforts the cross was restored and relocated to it current position on the grounds of the Cathedral graveyard.

In 1897 Hayes was replaced as occupant of the rectory by the Rev. Charles Harding who briefly resided at the rectory. During his short period as canon Harding oversaw the completion of extension work to the Cathedrals north aisle in 1899; however in that same year Harding vacated the rectory which was then occupied by the Rev. George Stephenson. The 1901 Census records that Stephenson (37) resided at the rectory with his wife Gertrude (24) and their infant son and daughter; the family employed three servants who resided and worked in the basement level of the residence. The census building return described the rectory as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms and possessed a stable, a fowl house, turf house and a store amongst its out offices. Stephenson resided at the rectory until 1909 when he was replaced as occupant by the Rev. John William Cooke; the Rev. Cooke (39) and his family resided at the house on Church Street until 1927. By the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the rectory had once more passed hands when the Rev. Goode came into possession; since its conversion to a rectory in 1886 the two-storey Georgian house has continued to be utilised as a residence for the clergy of Dromore Cathedral.

In 1974 Brett suggested that the rectory may have been constructed c. 1840, however the building clearly appears on the first edition map of 1833 occupying the same layout as the current structure. Atkinson records that the house dates from at least the late-18th century when it was the residence of Crane Brush, Bishop Thomas Percy’s land agent (for information on Thomas Percy see the Percy Monument – HB17/15/029). During the upheavals of the late-18th century Brush also operated as the captain of a local yeomanry unit, which was financed by Bishop Taylor and was formed to assist the British Army in Ireland against a feared French invasion or domestic rebellion. Atkinson recounts a local story about Brush that reveals some of the sectarian tensions prevalent in Dromore during the period of the 1798 Rebellion; one morning as Brush was shaving, he looked out at the Cathedral Church opposite and witnessed a number of men attacking and attempting to hang the local Catholic parish priest of St. Colman’s Church (HB17/15/004). The mob had begun to hang the priest when Captain Brush rushed across the road and cut him down. During the 1798 Rebellion the region surrounding Dromore was relatively quiet, however in the aftermath of the Battle of Ballynahinch, Brush was charged with transporting Henry Munro, the leader of the Down Rebels, to Lisburn where he was court marshalled and executed (Atkinson, pp 76-78).

Brush’s former dwelling was purchased by the church in 1886. In 1974 Brett described the rectory as ‘an attractive five-bay two-storey and basement roughcast house, with quoins; nice wide Doric doorcase, with fanlight, at the head of seven wide stone steps; the ground floor windows framed in architraves, coupled segmental-headed windows above’ (Brett, p. 25). Dromore Rectory was listed in 1977 and since that time has continued to be used or the clergy of the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903
4. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/13 – Townland Valuation map c. 1834
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/342 – Townland Valuations c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/38A – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/122/1/5 – Valuation map c. 1861-c. 1906
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10A – Annual Revisions 1864-1878
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10B – Annual Revisions 1879-1891
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10C – Annual Revisions 1892-1898
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11A – Annual Revisions 1899-1910
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11B – Annual Revisions 1911-1919
14. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/11C – Annual Revisions 1920-1930
15. Ulster Town Directory (1861)
16. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
17. First Survey Record – HB17/15/023 (1969)
18. Ordnance Survey Map– 202-4SW (1973)

Secondary Sources
1. Atkinson, E. D., ‘Dromore: An Ulster Diocese’ Dundalk: W. Tempest, Dundalgan Press, 1925.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1974.
3. Rankin, F., ‘Clergy of Down and Dromore’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

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
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An asymmetrical two-storey-over-basement four-bay detached roughcast Rectory, built c1790 and extended c.1850. Remodelled during the Victorian period, much of the detailing dates from this time, however, the original Georgian doorcase is intact along with some original fenestration and internal layout to basement. Original proportions and much of its original character survive and the Rectory is of interest as one of the earliest surviving houses in the town. The original setting remains and there is group value with the Cathedral opposite (HB17/15/022A).

General comments

This record has been renumbered: previously known as HB17/15/023.

New listing criteria R & S to be added when available.