82 Church Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay two-storey attached house built c.1860 and located to the north side of Church Street west of Dromore town centre. Rectangular plan with two-storey canted bay to south; single-storey entrance porch to west and two-storey flat-roof extension with single-storey porch to rear.

Hipped natural slate roof with leaded ridges and red-brick chimneystacks having clay pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on bracketed timber eaves. Walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth with raised quoins. Windows are 2/2 timber-framed sash with projecting painted sills; canted bay with chamfered surrounds and keyblock to first floor and decorative pilaster jambs to ground floor rising from continuous corbelled sill course.

The principal elevation faces south. The original entrance has been incorporated into number 80 (HB1715/031A): entrance bay to no. 80 has timber verandah on slender cast-iron columns with ornate spandrel brackets and balustrade. To the left of this entrance, the two-storey canted bay and far left bay with two windows at each floor have been incorporated into no. 82..

West elevation has window and single-storey flat-roof entrance porch to ground floor - this is the entrance to no 82; two diminutive windows at first floor.

The north (rear) elevation has, to right (number 82), a two-storey flat-roof extension with two timber casement windows to ground and first floor. Right bay has a window to first floor and single-storey flat-roof porch to re-entrant angle.

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. Victorian Ice-house to west with arched timber-sheeted door. Modern detached garage also to west. Modern two-storey house attached to east gable of no 80 (HB17/15/031A) compromises the quality of the setting.

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

Historical information

No. 82 Church Street and the adjoining No. 80 (HB17/15/031A), a pair of early-Victorian two-storey houses under a single roof were 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 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 are 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; his residence, which at that time was known as ‘Mariville’ adjoined the factory grounds. John Harrison & Co. Bassett states that Harrison established the Hemstitching factory 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 by the item, 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. 82 Church Street comprises the western two bays of the former house and 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. 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 two-bay two-storey attached house built c.1860 and located to the north side of Church Street west of Dromore town centre. Formerly incorporating number 80 (HB17/15/031A), the house has been subdivided. Of the pair, no 82 has lost more of its original historic fabric, having suffered loss of internal fabric with inappropriate extensions during this process. 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 part of HB17/15/031. New listing criteria R & S to be added when available. NO'R 11.19.13.