15 Court Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey gabled terrace shop (formerly a house) near the W end of the S side of Court Street. The front (N) facade has a modern shop front with a glazed aluminium door to the right and an adjoining large fixed light shop window. Above this is a long painted timber sign board (with modern stylised writing). To the first floor are two sash windows with Georgian panes. The facade is covered in painted lined render.

There was no access to the rear of this shop

The roof is gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates. Rendered parapet. Metal rw goods. Brick chimney stack.

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 shop. When first surveyed in October 1972 this property was a house.

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 shop, originally a house built c.1840s. The shop front is modern and the internal layout appears to have radically altered.