Site of Old Warehouses

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Site, on the NE side of Meeting House Lane, to the E of Portaferry town Square, of a former large three storey warehouse building of possible 18th century construction, now completely demolished with some remains of walls to the north side and a car park to the south.

When first surveyed in May 1971 the warehouse was described as 'Three storey long building. Roof slated. Walls stone rubble rendered. Blocked, almost square, window openings on second and first floor. Blocked windows, narrrow doors and wide doors on ground floor. Left hand pulley gable over sheeted door on all floors. Right hand pulley gable projects above sheeted doors on all floors. Condition poor. Frontage about 180ft'.

The building was demolished [?]c1990.

Historical information

A long building is shown on this site on Patrick O'Hare's 1799 map, which is described in the schedule as ‘William McMullan’s rear’. This could well be the warehouse on the site until recently, for the valuation records of c.1835 record a relatively old (grade 'B') three storey 'store' on the site, measuring 171ft in length. The building belonged to the house at to its north west side, fronting on to High Street. In 1835 this belonged to Thomas McKibben, with William Riddel listed as the owner in 1861. By the latter date building was unoccupied and is described by the valuers as 'dilapidated'.

Despite its poor condition, however, the warehouse survived for over a century after this date, but was largely abandoned by the later 1960s and demolished [?]c.1990.

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

Site of former large three storey gabled warhouse, possibly originally dating from the late eighteenth century. The building was demolished [?]c.1990.