14 Church Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey terrace house with attic, probably originally possibly pre 1834, but much altered in recent years and now possessing a sharp, modern appearance, with some openings altered, PVC window frames throughout and fresh render. The building has also had its roof raised recently. The property is set in the terrace on the W side of Church Street, just to the N of Portaferry town centre.

The front façade faces E and is asymmetrical. To the ground floor right is a panelled timber door with moulded surround. To the left are two windows with PVC frames, with another to the right of the door. The doorway appears to have been shifted recently, for the first survey photograph (dated May 1971) shows it to the left, where the second window now is. At this stage the window to the far right was a doorway also.

To the first floor are four windows as ground floor. The front façade is finished in fresh, unpainted, lined render with moulded quoins. No access to rear. The gabled roof is covered with ‘Thru-tone’ (composite asbestos free) slates and two centred Velux windows. Red brick chimney stacks with matching pots to both gables. The roof has been raised rough 0.75m recently. Extruded aluminium ogee guttering and PVC down spout. Exposed parts of both gables rendered.

Historical information

Site with building appears on Patrick O’Hare’s 1799 map, when it was in possession of William Nesbitt, and also on the OS map of 1834. The valuation records of c.1835-38 state that this end of Church Street was largely filled with two storey houses, some of which (as far as the valuers were concerned) were relatively old, probably 18th century. At this date the building on the site was also in the hands of a William Nesbitt (possibly the son of the occupier mentioned on O'Hare's map), which could suggest that it was substantially the same property noted in 1799.

In 1861 the building was occupied by an Edward Chermside. Serious damage was caused to the property by terrorist bombs during the 1970s and as a result the entire building has been completely renovated, with front openings altered in the process.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.552/B/3/3/1 Savage/Nugent Papers: ‘A Plan or Map of the Town of Portaferry’ by Patrick O’Hare, 1799 [The
Savage/Nugent Papers contain many documents relating to Portaferry and the surrounding area]
2 Linen Hall Library ‘Pigot & Co.’s Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory’ (Manchester 1824)
3 'Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II', ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991)
4 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 OS maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32
5 PRONI VAL/1B/37 1st valuation, Ballyphilip, c.1835-38
6 PRONI VAL/1D/3/4 Valuation town plan of Portaferry, c.1838
7 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1846), p.520-23
8 PRONI and Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ])
9 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), p.592-95
10 PRONI OS/8/23/1- OS town plan of Portaferry, 1859
11 PRONI Second ('Griffith's') valuation, 1863 [In print.]
12 PRONI VAL/12E/112/1- Valuation maps of Portaferry, c.1863, with revisions of 1902
13 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870), pp.341-43
14 PRONI OS/8/23/2 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1874
15 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886)
16 PRONI OS/8/23/3 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1900
17 UFTM WAG 609, 611, 612 W.A. Green Collection, photographs of Portaferry Quay, harbour, Shore Road etc.
18 PRONI VAL/12E/112/2- Valuation maps of Portaferry, 1902, with revisions of 1935

Secondary sources
1 G. Philip Bell, C.E.B. Brett, Sir Robert Matthew, 'Ulster Architectural Heritage Survey: Portaferry & Strangford'
(Belfast UAHS 1969)
2 Dick Oram, "The Buildings of Portaferry" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.16' (1992), p. 24

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two storey terrace house with attic, probably originally pre 1834, but much altered in recent years and now possessing little architectural interest.