7 Court Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Dilapidated looking two storey gabled terrace house at the of the S side of Court Street. The front (N) facade has an ‘Ards’ doorway to the right with a relatively modern looking (but dilapidated) timber door and plain fanlight. To the left is a sash window with horizontal glazing bars. To the first floor are two similar (but slightly narrower) windows. The facade is covered in painted lined render with chamfered quoins and plinth. The front facade is very dirty and unattractive.

The W gable is blank and finished in plain cement render. There is a large bill board attached to this gable.

There was no access to the rear of this house but there is a badly dilapidated sash window to the first floor at the right and a similar smaller window at an intermediate level to the left. The rear is finished in rough cast. There is a large crack above the first floor window.

The roof is gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates. Rendered parapets. Metal rw goods. Two rendered chimney stacks.

Historical information

Court Street appears to have been laid out in the 1840s, taking its name from the fact that the near by medieval priory served a court house between 1817 and 1850. The revised OS map of 1858 shows that the south side had been completely developed by this date, with a long unbroken terrace stretching along the entire length and (apparently) including this house. The property is now in poor condition. The houses to either side of this house have been demolished in recent times and there is now a modern furniture store to the eastern side and a car park to the west.

For more historical information on Court Street see ref. HB24/13/041

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654 Londonderry Papers [This collection contains many documents relating to the development of Newtownards.]
2 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 6.
3 PRONI OS Maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 6.
4 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp.105-106.
5 PRONI 2nd (‘Griffith’s’) valuation, Newtownards parish, Newtownards 1863. [The town plan to accompany the 2nd valuation does not appear to be held at PRONI thus making it difficult to match the information contained within the written record with actual buildings.]
6 UFTM WAG 944 W.A. Green Collection- Photograph of the old priory and Court Street, c.1910.

Secondary sources
1 Trevor McCavery 'Newtown: a history of Newtownards' (Dundonald 1994), pp.35, 80, 117, 146, 159, 190.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two storey gabled terrace house of c.1840s with ‘Ards’ doorway. This property is now in poor condition.