80 Church Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay two-storey attached house built c.1860 and located to the north side of Church Street west of Dromore town centre. The house has been subdivided and presents a symmetrical facade with number 82 (HB17/15/031B); number 80 is to right and is four openings wide; number 82 is three openings wide. Rectangular plan with two-storey canted bay to south; two-storey return and gabled stair-bay to rear connected by a single-storey lean-to extension.

Hipped natural slate roof with leaded ridges and red-brick chimneystacks having clay pots; decorative bargeboards to gable of stair-bay. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on bracketed timber eaves and sheeted soffits. Walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth with raised quoins. Windows are 2/2 timber-framed sash with projecting painted sills; first floor windows have chamfered edges and keyblock; ground floor to canted bay with decorative pilaster jambs and moulded surrounds.

The principal elevation faces south. The original entrance has been incorporated into number 80. Two-storey canted bays flank a central entrance bay. Entrance bay has timber verandah on slender cast-iron columns with ornate spandrel brackets and balustrade. Raised-and-pointed four-panelled timber door with brass door furniture flanked by half-panelled sidelights and transom, each with etched and painted glass panels in decorative dog-tooth door frame. Far left and right bays each have two windows at each floor.

West elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB17/15/031B).

The north (rear) elevation has two-storey gabled extension to left with multi-paned window to ground and first floor; abutted at re-entrant angle by a small entrance porch containing a panelled-and-glazed timber door accessed by a set of timber steps. To right (centre of the elevation) is the projecting gabled stair-bay having segmental-headed stairwell opening with keyblock inset with a Venetian etched and painted glass window with margin panes. Connecting the two bays is a lean-to single-storey extension with half-panelled timber door to right and two windows at left.

The east gable is abutted by a modern two-storey dwelling (of no interest).

Setting:

Situated in a suburban
setting on the outskirts of the town, set back from the road with lawned garden to front and mature trees to entrance. Bounded to road by rendered plinth wall with hedgerow and square gate piers having pointed caps and supporting metal gates. Garden to rear is raised and set on a slope. Modern two-storey house attached to east gable.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: Timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Nos 80 and 82 Church Street (HB17/15/031B), was constructed c. 1860 as a single dwelling, replacing a previous residence that dated from the early-19th century. The earlier dwelling was depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1833 and the contemporary Townland Valuation map of c. 1830 which show that the earlier dwelling occupied approximately the same layout as the current structure. The Townland Valuations note that the former dwelling was the property of a Mrs. Elizabeth Stephenson and was valued at £22.

By the second edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in 1859 there had been little alteration to the layout of the site, however the value of the property was increased to £56 by Griffith’s Valuation in 1861 when a Mr. John Harrison Jnr. was recorded in possession. It is not known exactly when the current early-Victorian dwelling was constructed but the sharp increase in value suggests that it was at least by 1861. The valuer noted that Harrison let the property from the Trustees of the Dromore Diocesan and Widows Fund and that his property also included a ‘shirt-front factory’ which was located to the south-east of the dwelling and was taken down sometime after the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1973 which last depicts it.

The valuation information in the Annual Revisions between 1864 and 1878 is missing, however between those dates the value of the site was greatly increased to £135 when John Harrison constructed a large hemstitching factory to the northeast of the house. Bassett states that John Harrison Jnr. was a Justice of the Peace for County Down; the residence, which at that time was known as ‘Mariville’ adjoined the factory grounds. Bassett states that Harrison established the Hemstitching factory, John Harrison & Co., c. 1871 and that ‘tamboring, hemming, and finishing cotton handkerchiefs, are done here for the leading commission and shipping houses of Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast.’ Harrison employed approximately 350 workers who were paid for each item completed, the majority of whom lived in the town (Bassett, p. 387).

John Harrison resided at Mariville c. 1895 when he vacated the property. The site was not reoccupied until 1897 when Dr. Marshall Weir, a surgeon came into possession; Weir took possession of the site after his former property was purchased by the Cathedral Church of Christ the Redeemer (HB17/15/022) and became the church’s Rectory (HB17/15/023). Weir did not take possession of the former hemstitching factory when he occupied Mariville and as a result the value of the site was split in 1895; Mariville was revalued at £50.

The 1901 Census notes that Weir (70, Church of Ireland) resided at Mariville with his wife Jane (68) and their four adult daughters; the census building return described the Mariville as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms and possessed a stable, a turf house and a fowl house as its sole out offices. Marshall Weir died in 1903 leaving the house vacant; it was not until 1909 that Mariville was reoccupied by a Mr. David James Spence (PRONI Wills). Spence (45, Methodist) was recorded as a linen merchant in the 1911 Census and resided at Mariville with his wife Adelaide (40) and their two infant children. When Spence took possession of the property in 1909 the value was decreased to £30. The Spence family continued to reside at Mariville until 1923 when a Mr. John McElroy briefly took possession; by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 Mariville had been sporadically occupied by a number of tenants who each vacated the site soon after coming into possession.

Mariville House was converted into two separate dwellings in the mid-20th century. No. 80 Church Street comprises the eastern three bays of the former house and is accessed by the original entrance beneath the Victorian cast-iron veranda (No. 82 Church Street is accessed by an entrance porch that has been added to the west gable of the structure). In 1974 Brett described the buildings as ‘a good pair of large early Victorian stucco two-storey houses under a single hipped roof; eleven bays in all; canted bay windows linked by a balcony carried on iron columns with arches and curly detailing’ (Brett, p. 25).

Nos 80-82 Church Street were listed in 1977 and continue to be occupied. An additional two-storey modern dwelling (No. 78 Church Street) was added to the east gable of the building prior to the 1973 edition of the Ordnance Survey map which first depicts it. John Harrison’s former hemstitching factory located to the north-east side of the site was demolished after 1973 to make way for the creation of the adjoining street, Church View.

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/122/3/3 – Annual Revisions Town Plan 1906– c. 1935
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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (29 Jun 1903)
16. Bassett’s Directory of Co. Down (1886)
17. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
18. Ordnance Survey map – 202-3 (1973)

Secondary Sources

1. 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.
2. Green, E. R. R. ‘The industrial archaeology of County Down’ Belfast: H.M.S.O., 1963.

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

A three-bay two-storey semi-detached house built c.1860, formerly incorporating number 82 (HB17/15/031B), the house has been subdivided, but the original internal layout throughout remains legible. Much histroic fabric and architectural detailing reamin intact. Notable features include the ornate Victorian cast-iron veranda to front and the etched and painted glass doorcase and stairwell window. Although compromised in its setting by the addition of inappropriate extensions, the pair still retain much original historic fabric, and, as a whole, this is a good example of a substantial town house reflecting the development of the town in Victorian times..

General comments

This record has been renumbered - formerly forming part of HB17/15/031. New listing criteria R & S to be added when available. NO'R 11.19.13.