3 Comber Street, Saintfield, Co Down, BT24 7AZ

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small, freestanding one and a half-storey house of 1878 in polychrome brick, built (possibly to a design by Mortimer H. Thompson) as the teacher’s residence for a neighbouring school of 1873 (since demolished). The property, now in use as a youth room for the close by First Saintfield Presbyterian Church, is set on the east side of Comber Street, just north of Saintfield town centre, with a small garden to the front, paved yard to the rear and vehicle space to the N. The plot is enclosed from the street by iron railings with matching gates and tall, plain, square cement rendered piers, all of which appear to be relatively recent replacements.

The building is roughly square in plan, but with a small attached single-storey outhouse and lean-to extension (the latter added c.1990) to the rear, gable ends and a natural slate roof with overhangs, decorative purlin ends, plain bargeboards and rebuilt brick chimneystacks. The walls are all in red brick with blue-grey brick courses and blue-grey and yellow brick headers to the front and N elevations; there are also two small diaper patterns in blue-grey brick to the front wall The front and N wall corners project slightly in the manner of buttresses and these walls also have a bevelled plinth. The windows throughout are flat-headed with 1/1 and 2/2 timber sash frames and painted cills; there is a single skylight to the rear. Many of the openings have bevelled reveals

The front elevation faces W and is asymmetrical. The entrance is to the right of centre and has a diagonally boarded door with ornate strap hinges. To the left of this is a pair of windows with a narrower window to the right.

The S (gabled) elevation has two upper level windows, that to the right placed higher. The N (gabled) elevation has two upper level windows.

To the left hand side of the rear E elevation is the attached outhouse, which appears to have originally have been broader (extending beyond the line of the S gable of the main house), but was reduced presumably when the neighbouring hall to the south was extended northwards. Thus the S façade of the outhouse has been rebuilt and is now rendered, and its original double-pitched roof has been replaced with a mono-pitched one. Its E and N faces remain in brick, with two doorways with diagonally boarded doors to the N.

Next to the outhouse (on the E face of the main house) is a single window, broader than the others. To the right of this is the lean-to extension which has been designed in an attempt to blend in with the original house in terms of wall finish, but has an E-facing window with modern frame and a panelled timber door to the S.

Materials:
Roof: Natural slate to original house, extension appears to have fibre cement tiles
Walls: red brick with grey brick courses and grey and yellow brick headers to the front and N elevations
Windows:Timber
RWGS: PVC apart from pipe to rear which is cast iron

Historical information

This building was originally the teacher’s residence for a school which stood to its immediate north. The school, ‘St Mary’s’ or ‘Saintfield No.2 National School’ or was constructed in 1872 in connection with the RC parish church in nearby Main Street, under the direction of the then Parish Priest, Rev. Phelan. Opened in January 1873, it was a double-height polychrome brick Gothic structure with a large gable facing onto the road, which sources indicate was designed by Mortimer H. Thomson of Belfast. The dwelling may have been built at the same time, but a ‘teacher’s house’ is only specifically mentioned in the valuation books in 1878, indicating that it was finished in this year. Its colourful brick facade suggests it too was the work of Thomson, although there seems to be no documentary evidence to confirm this.

Up until 1887 the house was recorded by the valuers as part of the school property, and therefore exempted from rates. Thereafter it was listed separately, valued initially at £4-10 for rating purposes, with the earliest occupant recorded as Terence Monahan (or Monaghan).

In the 1901 Census the now retired 63yr-old Mr. Monahan is recorded as living here with his wife, Jane, and their two unmarried daughters, the elder of whom, Ellen, had succeeded her father as the teacher, with the house itself noted as a ‘2nd class’ dwelling with five rooms ‘in use’. The whole of the Monahan family were still living there at the time of the 1911 census, with Ellen’s younger sister, Elizabeth, employed as the school’s assistant teacher.

Terence Monahan died in 1924, and Ellen Monahan retired as Principal of what was by now also known as ‘Saintfield No.2 Public Elementary School’ in 1926, after which the family vacated the property. Edward O’Brien is recorded as the occupant in 1928, and a Mrs. McCartney seems to have been living there in 1936, by which time the property no longer appears to have been serving as the teacher’s quarters. The subsequent history of the building is not clear. At some point (possibly post-1974, see below) it was acquired by neighbouring First Saintfield Presbyterian Church and is now (April 2021) in use as a youth room. A small lean-to extension was added to the rear some time between 1974 and 1992.

St Mary’s school closed in 1964 when the present St Mary’s Primary School, off Old Grand Jury Road at the south end of the town was opened. The old building was demolished at some point after 1974 but before 1992.

References - Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/20/18A-E valuation books, 1868-1929
2 ‘Northern Whig’, 27 April 1872, p.2
3 OS maps, 1902, 1920, 1974, 1992
4 ‘Ballymena Weekly Telegraph’, 8 May 1926, p.7
5 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 6 May 1936, p.1
6 Ulster Museum HOYFM.WAG.3047 Photograph of Comber St, Saintfield, c.1905
7 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 6 September 1964, p.13

Secondary sources
8 https://sites.rootsweb.com/~rosdavies/WORDS/SchoolsKW.htm [accessed 18.05.2021]

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Former school-master’s house c1878 located just off Saintfield's Main Street, possibly attributed to Northern Irish Architect Mortimer Thomson. One and a half storey polychromatic brick building with original fine detailing in particular to openings both internal and external. Despite some loss of interior detailing and the removal of its rear return, the building has significant historic and local interest and makes a valuable contribution to the Saintfield Conservation Area.