8 Arthur Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terraced single-storey with attic-storey stone house, built c.1830, rectangular on plan facing west, built as part of a terrace of 23 similar houses.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, a single redbrick chimneystack with terracotta pots to the north, shared with adjoining house No.6 (HB19/05/050M). Single gabled dormer with sheet metal covering and pair of leaded timber casement windows. Cast-iron on iron brackets to timber fascia with cast-iron downpipe. Rubble basalt walling with redbrick surrounds to window and door openings, cement hood mouldings and concrete sill.

Two-bay west front elevation with a single window opening and a door opening. Replacement bipartite fixed-pane timber window with applied lead. Replacement timber sheeted door with glazed panel, opening onto tiled step.

North side elevation abutted by No.6 (HB19/05/050M)

Rear east elevation abutted by flat-roofed extension.

South side elevation to shared passageway having cement rendered wall, shared with neighbouring house No.10 (HB19/05/050O) giving access to rear. Passageway is fronted by voussoired red sandstone arch to street, with granite impost stones..

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rubble basalt
Windows Replacement timber

Historical information

The earliest houses in this terrace were built by 1833, Brett suggesting that they may date from the late 1820s and that they were built as low-cost housing for workers on the Downshire estate. The map and field evidence does not point to a clear date for the remainder of the terrace, but it was certainly in place by 1858. (Brett, p.216)

Part of the terrace is shown on the first edition OS map of 1833. The valuation town plan of the same period shows houses 1 and 4 present, each with two small structures attached which may be numbers 3, 5, 6 and 8. The smaller structures are not listed in the Townland Valuation, perhaps because they were not of sufficient value. The first edition OS map of 1833 shows the two sides of the terrace as uneven in length and this suggests further houses may have been added since the valuation town plan.

Field inspection of the terrace suggests that it may have been built in at least three phases, with the earlier houses, numbers 1, 3, 5, 4, 6 and 8, dating from the late 1820s and the remainder being added after that date but before the second edition in 1858. The earliest houses are of random rubble masonry with granite used for the mouldings and arched alleyways. Numbers 7, 9, 10 and 12 use sandstone instead of granite and the walling is of squared galletted rubble. The remainder are of a more regular cut stone laid to courses.

All the houses on the street were built with a yard to the rear, a ‘pit’ for household waste and a dry toilet. The coal was typically stored in a hole under the stairs adjacent to the living room and the water was supplied from either a tap located at the top of Arthur Street, or a pump at the end of Wapping Street. (Hillsborough Old Guard)

The current house is one of the earlier houses and is first listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) as occupied by Richard Duncan and leased from the Marquess of Downshire. It is a house and yard valued at £2.15s. Dimensions are given and the rent is 1s.4d weekly plus taxes. The valuer comments that the rents are ‘moderate’. This house claims ownership of the passageway and is valued slightly higher than the neighbouring house for this reason. Various change of occupier ensue.

The house was listed in 1974 and in 1982 various renovations were carried out including replacement of the dormer window. In 1989 a velux roof light was added to the rear. (NIEA file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-3
4. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-20
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/344A-B – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/5 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c.1834)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14/A-E – Annual Revisions (1864-1930)
9. PRONI VAL/12/E/102/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan ([c.1864]-1909)
10. Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1896
11. NIEA file – HB19/05/050A

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002
2. Hillsborough Old Guard “Beloved of my Heart – Little Hillsborough Town” 2009

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Single-storey stone terraced house with attic dormer, built as part of 23 similar houses for workers in the Downshire Estate during the mid nineteenth-century. Displaying part of its original façade with galletted rubble stone walls and brick window surrounds, the building retains its original modest style and proportions. Despite having lost its original doors and windows and having had many original materials replaced internally during recent renovations, it constitutes an important part of the overall character of Arthur Street, (HB19/05/050A-V).