2B The Square

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Narrow-fronted two storey hipped roof house of possible early to mid 18th century construction, but which, along with the single storey hall to the south east and the two storey section beyond that, may originally have formed a much larger single property. The house sits on a corner with its south east (now front) elevation facing into The Square, Greyabbey, with the north elevation set in a narrow sloping lane.

The front entrance is situated on the left of the SE facade and consists of modern glazed double doors. This door has been inserted in a space previously occupied by a smaller window opening. Directly above this to the first floor is a sash window with ‘Georgian’ panes.

The NE elevation follows the line of the narrow lane and ‘cants’ slightly to the NW direction at the right hand side. On the right hand side are two windows to the ground floor and two directly above (and slightly smaller) to the first floor. The windows are the same as that to the front. Until recently there was a doorway between the two ground floor windows, but this has now been blocked up. On the right hand side of this elevation, on the portion which slants to the NE, there is a timber sheeted door. To the right of this the lane rises steeply and the facade merges into a wall which encloses the rear of the house. This wall has a large modern metal sliding garage door, which covers a large flat arch, and modern moulded concrete ‘balustrades’ to the wall top.

The writers were unable to gain access to the rear.

The roof is largely hipped with Bangor blue slates with two rendered chimney stacks. The facade is finished in rough cast with smooth render ‘in and out’ dressings to window and door openings and cill band to first floor. Chamfered plinth.

Historical information

This property is said locally to have begun life as part of a larger building which incorporated the single storey hall to the SW (HB24/04/002A), and the two storey section beyond this (and now part of another house- HB24/04/001). This original building may have been symmetrical, with the two storey sections, flanking the single storey centre.

This single property is believed to have been built between c.1725 and 1735, and is said to have served as a coaching inn. Conceivably, the building may have been one of the ‘handsome brick houses covered with slates’ referred to by Walter Harris in c.1744. At that time the road to Newtownards ran through what is now the western entrance to the Rosemount estate directly past the side of the inn itself (where the small steep lane now is). In the 1820s this road was redirected further up Main Street, and by this point also, the house had been built on to the SW two storey section of the ‘inn’. Whether the re-orientation of the road to Newtownards and the building of the house to the SW are connected, and whether (as a result), this whole property ceased to be an inn at this stage is unclear. Local folk memory suggests that the single storey centre section was once used as a school and an infant school is mentioned in the OS Memoirs of c.1835 as being in ‘a room at the west end of the village’, thus, perhaps, implying that the inn had ceased to exist by this date. By the later nineteenth century the central section served as a court house, with judges' rooms in the two sections to the NE. The property is now a private residence.

A roof timbers exposed during recent renovations to the neighbouring hall (No.2A) were marked with a date of 1725.

References- Primary sources
1 Walter Harris, 'The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down', (Dublin, 1744) p.49
2 'Taylor’s and Skinner’s Maps of the Roads of Ireland' (Dublin 1777), map 10
3 W. Wilson, 'The Post Chaise Companion or Traveller’s Directory through Ireland', (Dublin, 1786)
4 PRONI OS/6/3/11/1 Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834 Co. Down 11. [The route of the original road to the south of Greyabbey is marked on the 1834 map.]
5 'Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II', ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp.67-72
6 PRONI VAL/1B/33 1st valuation, Greyabbey, c.1834-38
7 PRONI VAL/1D/3/17 Valuation plan, Greyabbey, c.1838
8 PRONI VAL/2B/3/4 Second valuation, Greyabbey, c.1859
9 PRONI VAL/2D/3/10 Second valuation plan, Greyabbey, 1859
10 PRONI OS/6/3/11/2 Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Revision, c.1860 Co. Down 11
11 PRONI VAL/12B/23/16a-f Annual valuation revision books, Greyabbey, 1866-1930
12 PRONI VAL/12E/99/1 Valuation plan, Greyabbey, 1906-35
13 UFTM W.A. Green Collection WAG 3038 Photograph of Main Street Greyabbey looking south west

Secondary sources
1 Bob Trayte, "The Greyabbey and village" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.16' (1992), pp.2-4.
2 J.A.K. Dean, 'The Gate lodges of Ulster: A Gazetteer' (Belfast, 1994), p.78. The entry concerning the early and later town gate lodges (off Main Street) at Rosemount implies that the re-orientation of the road to Newtownards may have taken pace between c.1820 and c.1834.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Narrow-fronted two storey hipped roof house of possible early to mid 18th century construction, but which, along with the single storey hall to the south east and the two storey section beyond that, may have originally formed a much larger single property. The door and window openings have been altered in recent years.

General comments

This house was previously recorded under the ref. HB24/04/066.