59-61 Court Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Site, near the E end of the S side of Court Street, of former two storey terraced block containing two houses. This block was probably constructed in the 1840s and had ‘Ards’ doorway (to no.59), a slated gabled roof and carriage arch. The houses were demolished c.1985. The site is now (2018) vacant.

First Survey Report.
'2 storey block of 2 houses. Roof concrete tiles. Chimneys rendered. Wall rendered, lined and painted. 5 First floor and 2 Gd floor double/hung windows, horizontal astragals. Gd floor has window and Ards doorway as no. 63 - recent doorway with lintolled head and plain surround, plain fanlight and recent glazed and panelled door - then window and lintolled coachway with sheeted doors.
Condition fair. Frontage about 40 feet.'

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 including the houses formerly on this site. The properties appear to have occupied when first surveyed in October 1972, but were demolished in c.1985. The site is now vacant.
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

Site of former block containing two, two storey houses of 1840s origin, demolished c.1985 with site now (2018) vacant.