Site of former 34-38 Irish Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Site, on the sloping E side of Irish Street, formerly occupied by a two storey terrace house of 1732, (latterly split into three properties), demolished in c.1991 with new dwellings now in place.

The property was described in the first survey of March 1976 as 'Two storey block of shops and houses. Roof slated. Chimneys rendered. Eaves course. Wall rendered, lined and painted cream. Bevel quoins. SW front has seven first floor windows, two double hung [with] Georgian panes. Five recent top hung casements. All have moulded architraves. Ground floor has shop front framed with three panelled pilasters with signboard, architrave, frieze and cornice enclosing shop window. [The shop front has] nine large Georgian panes, panelled apron and flush panel door [with] plain fanlight. Moulded panel above shop front. No.36, on ground floor, has two recent glazed and panelled door and drop hung window with Georgian panes. No.38, on ground floor, has two recent top hung casement windows and recent glazed and panelled door with blocked fanlight. Recessed date panel at first floor between Nos.36 and 38 “D.W.E 1732”.

Condition poor. Front about 40ft'.

Historical information

Irish Street is one of Downpatrick's oldest thoroughfares, cutting through the southern section of the medieval town which had witnessed settlement from the surrounding Gaelic-speaking countryside (hence its name). The west side of the street, which was actually situated within the old medieval 'Irish Quarter' had been long developed when the earliest reliable maps of the town appeared in the early 1700s, along with eastern 'Market House Quarter' side also. At this stage (prior the building of the Southwell Schools and the gentrification of English Street), the Irish Street was perhaps the most prosperous and impressive area of the town with most of the dwellings stone-built, some two storeys or more and some with slate roofs. It was home to much of Downpatrick's professional and merchant classes and (along with Scotch Street) the scene of the town's commercial activity, activity centred on the late 17th century market house at the northern end.

As Downpatrick's prosperity increased during the course of the 18th century many properties within Irish Street were rebuilt on a much grander, (largely three storey), scale. By c.1800 the majority of the buildings we see today had been erected. The street's mid to late Georgian character survived throughout the 19th and much of the 20th centuries, ironically perhaps partly due to the gradual decline in Downpatrick's economic fortunes from c.1830 onwards, and the shifting of the town's commercial life to Market Street after 1845- all of which may have helped to curtail redevelopment in the thoroughfare. The old market house was demolished in 1882 and replaced with an assembly room, however.

In the 1980s and 1990s a large section of largely 18th century dwellings on the eastern side of the street was demolished and new 'neo-Georgian' houses built in their place.

Nos.34-38
This site is shown occupied on the town plan of 1708 and all other maps thereafter. The panel on the facade described above suggests it was built in 1732. The front elevation arrangement indicates that this building was originally a single property, but by 1838, when the first valuation was carried out, it appears to have been divided into three houses- occupied by James Graham, Arthur Kelly and James Gibney. Strangely, however, the 1859 OS town plan does not indicate any divisions, but does show that there was a carriage entrance where the shop front was located.

The building was demolished in c.1991 with new houses built in place.

References- Primary sources
1 Down County Museum ‘A plan of Downpatrick’ (c.1708)
2 PRONI D.477A ‘A survey of the town of Downpatrick in the county of Down and province of Ulster in Ireland’ by James Maguire (c.1708)
3 British Library, Addit. MS 9750, ff.71b-72 ‘A plan of the town of Downpatrick (c.1720)
4 British Library, Addit. MS 21, 131, f.90 ‘A plan of the town of Downpatrick 1729’
5 Walter Harris, ‘The ancient and present state of the County of Down’ (Dublin 1744)
6 PRONI OS/6/3/37/1 OS map, Down sh 37, 1834
7 Ordnance Survey memoirs of Co Down (IV), ed Angélique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), pp.38-61 [Dec. 1836]
8 PRONI VAL/1B/378 First valuation, Down, c.1838 [Unfortunately this valuation does not supply either dimensions of buildings within Downpatrick or any indication of their age / condition; it merely gives a list of the occupants names and the rateable value of each property.]
9 PRONI VAL/1D/3/7 First valuation town plan of Downpatrick, c.1838
10 PRONI OS/8/9/1/1-24 OS town plans of Downpatrick, 1859
11 PRONI Second valuation, Down, 1863 (in print). [The map to accompany this valuation is missing.]
12 PRONI VAL/12E/120/1 Revaluation manuscript books, Downpatrick, 1864-1901
13 PRONI VAL/12E/120/1/1-24 Revaluation town plans of Downpatrick, 1864-1901 [12 sheets missing]
14 PRONI OS/8/9/2/1-3 OS town plans of Downpatrick, 1901
15 PRONI VAL/12E/120/2/1-3 Revaluation town plans of Downpatrick, 1906-35

Secondary sources
1 Lady Dunleath, P.J. Rankin, A Rowan, ‘Historic buildings…Downpatrick’ (Belfast 1970), p.15-16, 18-19 [This book states that the date stone on the above property was marked “1739”.]
2 Anthony M. Wilson, ‘Saint Patrick’s town’ (Belfast 1995)
3 R.H. Buchanan and Anthony Wilson, ‘Irish historic towns atlas no.8: Downpatrick’ (Royal Irish Academy 1996)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Site, on the sloping E side of Irish Street, formerly occupied by a two storey terrace house of 1732, (latterly split into three properties),
demolished in c.1991 with new dwellings now in place.