18 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terrace symmetrical three-bay two-storey early-nineteenth-century rendered house. Rectangular on plan facing west on the east side of Main Street, Hillsborough on a sloping site.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack with clay pots to the north. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets and cast-iron downpipes. Painted ruled and lined rendered walling with stepped plinth course and rusticated render quoins. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and original tripartite timber sash windows with cylinder glass.

Front elevation is three windows wide with a central round-headed door opening with deep moulded architrave surround, timber door with four raised and fielded panels, brass furniture, spoked fanlight, single granite step and wrought-iron bootscraper.

North gable abutted by adjoining property No.16 (HB19/05/009).

Rear elevation is abutted by a stairhall projection having a catslide roof and a pair of lean-to extensions to either side. Early 6/6 timber sash windows to the upper level with exposed sash boxes. Replacement timber casement windows to the ground floor and pair of replacement glazed timber panelled doors.

South gable abutted by adjoining property No.20 (HB19/05/011).

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of varying house types lining the east side of Main Street, Hillsborough on a sloping site. To the rear is a cobbled yard with original rubble stone and brick walling and a two-storey rendered former outbuilding with natural slate roof and replacement timber casement windows with a central arched passageway to the original landscaped garden beyond.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted ruled and lined
Windows Tripartite timber sash

Historical information

No. 18 Main Street was built before 1833 as it first appears on the first Ordnance Survey map of that year and is not found on a c.1800 map of Hillsborough. The Ordnance Survey map and contemporary Townland Valuation map shows No. 18 as a rectangular building with a small rear return and out office situated half way up the terrace on the east side of Main Street. The Townland Valuation recorded the occupant in the 1830s as a Dr. Gilpin and valued the house and its office at £8. 8s.

Griffiths Valuation tells us that a Mrs. Alice Kidd occupied the house in 1861; at that time the house was valued at £13. and described as a 1B+ class dwelling measuring 10 by 8 yds and two-storeys high, with a basement level. Alice Kidd occupied the house until 1909. Alice Kidd’s husband, Robert Kidd a local haberdasher, died in 1860 and left effects of around £800 (PRONI Wills Catalogue – 05/06/1860). Alice Kidd was described as a 62 year old retired Grocer in the 1901 Census; at that time she lived with her daughter Rebecca (37). The census building return recorded the house as a 1st class dwelling consisting of 10 inhabited rooms and two out offices. The rear out office of the house first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1858) and by 1911 was being used as a stable and barn. In 1909 Alice Kidd’s nephew, Hugh S. Jefferson became the new occupant of the house and lived until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

Walker tells us that Nos. 16 to 20 Main Street did not appear on an 1810 plan of Hillsborough and were therefore amongst the last houses to be built on Main Street; field research has found that the interior of the house retains a number of its early features (Walker). No. 18 is one of a number of dwellings formerly used as commercial premises on Main Street; the current owners informed the recorder that the house was formerly used as a grain shop. The former stable and storeroom at the rear of the yard still exists and has been well maintained. In 1974 Brett described the house as ‘a nice two-storey three-bay house of stucco, round-headed doorcase, triple outer windows’ (Brett, p. 20).

No. 18 Main Street was listed in 1976 and extensively renovated in 1983 (NIEA File).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI D671/M/8/25 – Hillsborough Map c.1800
2. PRONI D671/M/8/57/1 – Hillsborough Illustrated Map 1803
3. PRONI VAL/1/B/344 A-B – Townland Valuations 1834
4. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/5 – Town Plan 1834
5. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
6. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858
7. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903
8. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920
9. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1861
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14A – Annual Revisions 1864-1879
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14B – Annual Revisions 1880-1889
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14C – Annual Revisions 1890-1908
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14D – Annual Revisions 1909-1928
14. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14E – Annual Revisions 1928-1930
15. PRONI Wills Catalogue – 1860

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. Walker, S., ‘Hillsborough: An illustrated history and companion’ Belfast: Cottage Publications, 1994).
3. NIEA File – HB19/05/010.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid-terrace symmetrical three-bay two-storey early-nineteenth-century rendered house. Rectangular on plan facing west on the east side of Main Street, Hillsborough on a sloping site. The house retains its early 19th century external appearance, 'Wyatt' style tripartite windows and enclosed rear plot and coach house, which adds to its interest. Despite changes to the internal layout, the interior retains some interesting elements of the late Georgian period and together with the intact front and rear facades the building forms an important component in this historic streetscape.