40 Meeting Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A rendered two-bay two-storey mid-terrace house built c.1830 and located to the south side of Meeting Street in Dromore town centre. Rectangular on plan with two-storey return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and red-brick chimneystack. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render on a smooth rendered plinth. Windows are replacement 6/6 timber-framed exposed box sash with projecting painted sills.

The principal elevation faces northeast; two windows to each floor and a replacement timber-sheeted door to right of centre at ground floor.

The southeast elevation is abutted by adjoining building (higher ridge level).

The southwest (rear) elevation could not be viewed (see surveyor’s comments).

The northwest elevation is abutted by adjoining building (higher ridge level).

Setting:
Street-fronted and forming part of a largely early nineteenth-century terrace to the south side of Meeting Street in Dromore town centre.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Windows: Replacement timber-framed sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

No. 40 Meeting Street, a two-storey terraced dwelling, dates from the early-to-mid-19th century and can first be positively identified on the Annual Revision town plans of c. 1861-c. 1906 although the building may date from as early as c. 1830 as a terrace lining the southern side of Meeting Street was depicted on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1833. Although No. 40 Meeting Street may have been constructed by c. 1830 the dwelling would not have been included in the contemporary Townland Valuations as it would have been valued at less than the £3 minimum required for inclusion.

In 1861 Griffith’s Valuation valued No. 40 Meeting Street at £2 10s. the valuer noted that the dwelling was owned by a Mr. Samuel Adams who leased the property to Thomas Moreland (presumably a local general labourer as the majority of the occupants of the dwellings on Meeting Street were employed in common professions, and in particular the textile industry – Brett, p. 28). In 1869 ownership of No. 40 Meeting Street reverted to George Brush, of Gillhall (HB17/13/021) administrator of the Bishop of Dromore’s estate, however in 1876 the property was purchased by John Adams resulting in the increase in the value of the site to £4 10s. Between 1876 and 1897 No. 40 Meeting Street was occupied by a number of tenants, none of whom were recorded in the Ulster Town Directories, suggesting that they were employed in minor positions; only Samuel Davison, who occupied the dwelling in 1897, was recorded (employed as a baker and grocer - Ulster Town Directory 1861-1901).

In 1901 No. 40 Meeting Street was occupied by Alexander Napier, a local blacksmith; Napier (30, Church of Ireland) resided at the dwelling with his wife Jane and their four children and also employed an apprentice blacksmith who boarded at the address. The census building return described No. 40 Meeting Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of six rooms and possessed a shed and blacksmith forge as its sole out offices. By 1911 the dwelling was occupied by Thomas Clarke and his family. Clarke (29, Presbyterian) was employed as a linen weaver whilst his sister-in-law Catherine Russell was a seamstress; the majority of textile workers in Dromore worked in the linen factories and Bleachworks, however many of the linen weavers that did not operate powered machinery were supplied with materials and required to complete a quota of work at home.

Thomas Clarke only briefly resided at No. 40 Meeting Street and was replaced in 1915 by Robert Jess, a carpenter; in the same year Jess came into possession of the property the dwelling was purchased outright by a Ms. Jackson, the change in ownership lowering the value of the house to £3 10s. Robert Jess continued to reside at No. 40 Meeting Street until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

In 1974 Brett described the houses on Meeting Street as ‘an exceptionally good large group of buildings, terraces of modest but attractive two-storey houses climbing up a steeply-curving hill. They are in very poor order and lack modern amenities.’ In reference to the south terrace Brett described the group (of which No. 40 Meeting Street is a member) as ‘attractive small houses ... exceptionally unspoiled in appearance,’ however the First Survey Record shows that No. 40 had fallen vacant and into a state of disrepair by 1984. The two-storey worker's dwelling was listed in 1983 and has only very recently been restored, once more in use as a private dwelling; Brett writes that the terrace ‘is one of the best places left in Ulster to catch the flavour of the late 18th or early 19th century outskirts of a small textile town’ (Brett, p. 28).

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/2/B/3/38A – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
7. PRONI VAL/12/E/122/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan c. 1861-c. 1906
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/122/3/4 – 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. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
16. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
17. Ordnance Survey map – 202-4SW (1973)
18. First Survey Image – HB17/15/036A (1984)

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.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A restored two-bay two-storey rendered mid-terrace house built c.1830. Although the house has been renovated, much of its early character and fabric survives. It is part of a small terrace (HB17/15/036A-D) that is a rare, if compromised, example of a formalised urban vernacular. This house remains one of the better preserved examples in the street that Brett describes as 'one of the best places left in Ulster to catch the flavour of the late 18th or early 19th century outskirts of a small textile town’

General comments

New listing criteria R & S to be added when avilable. NO'R 14.10.13