64 Bryansford village

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively large, picturesque, one and a half storey house (with shop) of 1864, with large central gabled bay to front and overhanging roof with decorative barges; the property has been somewhat altered in recent years. The building is set on the SE side of the main road running through Bryansford village, roughly at the centre of the village itself.

The front (NW) façade is generally symmetrical. To the centre is the large projecting gabled bay to the ground floor of which is the main entrance with recessed modern glazed door screen. The doorway is flanked by narrow multi-pane windows. Originally the doorway was narrower and the windows much broader. To the upper level of the bay is a flat roofed oriel window (added c.1960). Above this near the gable apex is a moulded shield with date ‘1864’ thereon.

To the left and right of the bay the façade is single storey. To the left there is a canted bay window (again c.1960). To the right there is a modern shop front bay window.

The NE gable has a large modern window to the upper level. To the left, this gable merges with the side of a modern single storey flat roofed extension. The SW gable has a window to the upper level as previous gable, with a large, modern, single light shop window to the ground level.

The rear elevation is complex looking, due to the fact that it appears to have been added to at various stages. To the left is a projecting single storey gabled section which is blank (this appears to be the shop store room). To the centre is a large gabled bay (which correspond to the large bay at the front), with a large modern window to the ground floor, a smaller window (with modern frame) at stair landing level, and another to the upper level. To the right of this bay is a large flat roofed kitchen extension, with modern windows and a conservatory-like lean-to section to the SW side, which also abuts the central gabled bay.

The façade is finished in plain render and painted. The gabled roof has an overhang with decorative ‘scalloped’ barges and a finial to the centre gable to front. The roof is mainly covered in natural slate, though the store room section to the rear has asbestos ‘slate’. Single rendered chimney stack to ridge to NE. Metal and PVC rw goods.

Historical information

As the date panel to the front states, this property was built in 1864, on the site of a longer dwelling which is shown on the OS maps of 1834 and 1859. The building may have incorporated a shop from the beginning, for it is shown as such in a photograph of c.1890. As such, it may have been the shop and post office belonging to George Corbett, noted in ‘Slater’s Directory’ for 1870, a business which had been acquired by a Henry Halliday by 1886.

According to the present owner, the building was extensively renovated in c.1960, when the oriel and bay windows were added to the front, along with the new shop front. The main entrance doorway was probably widened at this stage also, with its flanking windows narrowed as a consequence. The kitchen extension appears to date in part from this period also, though map evidence suggests it was either further extended, or completely rebuilt, some time after 1978.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI MIC.147 Roden Papers
2 PRONI D.465 Roden Papers
3 PRONI D.2647 Roden Papers
4 PRONI T.2647 Roden Papers
5 PRONI T.3438 Roden Papers
6 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870)
7 Alexander Knox, ‘History of Co. Down’ (Dublin 1875).
8 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), pp.137-139.
9 Photograph of No.15 Bryansford, c.1890 (in possession of the present owner of the building)

Secondary sources
1 EHS Records of the first survey of buildings of historical and architectural interest in Tollymore ward (1972-)
2 P.J. Rankin, ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the Mourne area of South Down’, (Belfast UAHS 1975), p.7
3 F. Hamond and T. Porter, ‘A tour of the Mournes’ (Belfast ?1991)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Relatively large, picturesque, one and a half storey house (with shop) of 1864, with large central gabled bay to front and overhanging roof with decorative barges, somewhat altered c.1960 with the inclusion of timber bay windows to front, the widening of the main entrance and the addition of a modern kitchen extension to the rear. This property appears to have served as Byransford’s post office and main [?or only] shop since its construction.