24-26 Castle Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Site (on the S side of the E end of Castle Street) of two former terrace houses of pre 1834 origin, demolished in early September 1999 with the site currently vacant.

The houses were two storey and reasonably large. No.24 (to the E) had its entrance door to the left on the ground floor of the front (N) façade. This consisted of a panelled door (reached via a stone step) with semicircular fanlight with spider web tracery. The doorway was encased with fluted pilasters with Gibbs-style blocks and a moulded archivolt with keystone. To the left of this was a lower level timber sheeted door leading to a narrow side passage. To the left of the entrance doorway were two sash windows with another four to the first floor.

The front façade of No.26 much the same only smaller with three windows to the first floor (which were slightly shorter than those to No.24). The W gable of No.26 had two small single pane attic windows. The entire front façade (both houses) and the gable were finished in a fresh looking unpainted lined render.

At the rear of No.24 there was a projecting full height return/bay to the right. At ground floor level on the rear face of this bay was the rear entrance to the side passage. To the left of this bay the ground floor of the main rear façade was almost entirely covered by a fairly recent lean-to conservatory-like extension with corrugated asbestos roof. To the left of this was a sash window. Above the extension there was a sash window at stair landing level to the right, with a first floor sash window to the left of this. The W and S faces of the first floor of the return/bay each had a sash window. This façade was finished in plain unpainted render

The rear of No.26 had a single storey return, with mono-pitched roof, to the left on the ground floor. There was a modern window and door to the E face of the return. To the right of the return (on the main rear façade), there were two sash windows with a tiny two pane window in between. To the first floor were two more sash windows. The sash windows to this façade had horizontal glazing bars (2 panes over 2) but that to the right on the first floor was boarded up when visited. This façade was finished unrendered (revealing greywacke rubble construction) but the lower half was whitewashed.

The roof of the block was gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates. There was a rendered chimney stack with tall octagonal pots to No.24 and a yellow brick stack (with more modern short pots) to No.26. Cast iron rw goods.

The site is now vacant awaiting the (planned) construction of new shops and offices.

Historical information

This site is shown occupied on the 1722 map of Comber and all other available maps thereafter. The houses recently on the site probably dated from the late 1700s or very early 1800s and were probably those noted in the 1834 valuation as belonging to James Andrews (No.24) and a Dr. James O’Neill (No.26). James Andrews (the prominent local miller) lived in the large three storey house to the immediate east side (then named Urraghmore- now the ‘Comber Sports Centre’ etc.) and at the time of the valuation was looking for a new tenant for No.24, whilst No.26 housed the town’s post office as well as acting as Dr. O’Neill’s residence.

By 1846 the post office had moved to High Street and both Nos.24 and 26 were private houses. They remained as such until c.1998, but were demolished in 1999 to make way for a planned shop/office development.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654/M1B/2 Londonderry Papers- ‘Survey of the town, tenements and parks of Comber…1722’.
2 PRONI D.654/M54/4, 6, 7, 12, 15, 24, 28-32, 34 Londonderry Papers- Maps of Mill Street 1793-1828. [Castle Street was also known as Mill Street in the 18th and early 19th centuries.]
3 PRONI VAL 1B/316A p.49 1st valuation, Comber, 1834.
4 PRONI OS/1/3/10 OS map, 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
5 PRONI OS/6/3/10/3 OS map, 1st rev. 1858, Down 10.
6 PRONI 2nd valuation, Comber, 1861. [In print in PRONI search room and in the Linen Hall Library- the town plan to accompany this valuation is missing making identification of owners of properties largely impossible.]
7 PRONI OS/2/3/10 OS map, 2nd ed. 1901, Down 10.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Site of two, two storey houses of pre 1834 origin, demolished in 1999 with the site awaiting development.