Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB10/02/004

Address :
8-14 Castlefinn Road, Churchtown, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7BT

Townland:
Churchtown

---

Survey 2:
A

Date of Listing:
14/10/1988 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
Factory

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
102-4

IG Ref:
H2621 8483

---

Owner Category

Housing Association

Exterior Description And Setting

Terrace of four street-fronted stone houses, built c.1850, formerly a factory occupying Nos.6, 8, 10 & 12, with the Manager's house occupying the northernmost house No.14, converted into dwellings c.1860, restored c.1995. Pitched natural slate roof, black clay ridge tiles and shared rendered chimneystacks to the party walls with terracotta pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods on drive-through iron brackets. Uncoursed rubblestone walling to front elevation with dressed quoins to the north corner only. Cement rendered to rear elevation and north gable. Square-headed window openings formed in redbrick with cut stone sills and replacement multi-pane iron swivel windows. Square-headed door openings formed in redbrick with double-leaf vertically-sheeted timber doors. Each unit is now two windows wide with a central door opening and a rear yard. Nos.8, 10 & 12 formed the factory with smaller windows openings, enlarged during the conversion using brick. The former Manager's house (No.14) has rough-hewn squared stone walling and window openings formed in voussoired stone, while originally incorporating an elliptical-headed carriage arch formed in voussoired ashlar. The rear elevation displays more clearly the former window sizes with each house having an identical arrangement of two windows and a central door opening with smaller window openings except to No.14. The carriage arch gives rear access to all units and has vertically-sheeted timber doors. A tall rubblestone wall to the lane continues and encloses all the rear gardens, each having a rear gate of vertically-sheeted timber. Formerly, the landscaped plot to the rear of the gardens served as communal vegetable garden to all houses, now in church use. Roof Natural slate Rainwater goods Cast-iron Walling Rubble stone / Render Windows Multi-pane iron swivel

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The present dwellings have been formed from the conversion of part of a former weaving factory, dating from c.1850. The conversion took place c.1860 and the buildings were restored c.1990. There are buildings on the site from the first edition OS map of 1833. However, by 1855, these have been replaced by a long, narrow building captioned ‘Weaving Factory’. On the third edition OS Map of 1905 the building is captioned ‘Factory Row’. Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists a ‘Weaving factory, offices and yard’ valued at £30 and 10s for the yard. The occupiers are Messrs Leadbetter & Co who lease it from Sir Robert A Ferguson Bt. Revisions beginning in 1860 show that the factory is now a series of 6 houses with separate tenants. The houses are numbered 20a to f (only numbers 20 c, d, e and f ,corresponding to the present day numbers 8, 10, 12 and 14, are currently listed). 20 c to f are listed as unoccupied and leased from John G Smyly. 20 c, d and e are valued at £5 10s and the larger house at the north end of the row is valued at £6. By 1864 all the houses were occupied, having two tenants each. In 1879 the houses are renamed ‘Factory Row’ and there are various changes of occupier. The lessor remains the Smyly family during the period of revisions (until 1929). The ordnance survey town plan of 1905 shows walled yards behind each house. In 1989 the houses were purchased by Hearth Housing Association. Their website suggests that the house at the north end of the row was occupied by the owner or manager of the factory due to its more sophisticated stonework and larger windows. They state that, “the conversion of the factory into houses followed an unusual plan, with each front door leading to a common staircase shared by a pair of houses each with only two ground floor rooms and two small bedrooms”. In March 1990 the terrace sustained damage during a bomb blast. “Under the contract [for renovation] the pairs of houses were combined so that each front door led to only one house…The first floor joists had been exposed below, and as much as possible of the joists has been left showing below the plaster – some joists retaining nails where items had been hung from the ceiling. The original cast-iron windows, with pivoted top-lights, were almost all damaged in the bomb, and new ones were cast; but many of the staircases and doors were salvaged and re-used after extensive repairs.” An on-site inspection of the structure reveals that the northernmost house (No.14) has all window openings formed in stone including the window above the carriage arch (now incorporated into the adjoining house, No.12). The remainder of the terrace has all openings formed in redbrick. This variation in window openings would confirm the idea that No.14 was the weaver manager’s house, with the remainder of the structure having previously had smaller window openings (also formed in stone), which were later enlarged using redbrick to match those of the manager’s house and to form a coherent terrace. The rear view of the entire terrace gives a clearer picture of the window formations of the former factory, being smaller on the first floor from the carriage arch southwards. A further observation confirming the distinction between No.14 and the remainder is seen in the stonework, being of a slightly higher quality from the carriage arch northwards, here the stone is roughly coursed, while the remaining houses are built in rubble, and the presence of squared quoins to the north end. References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/6/16/1 – First Edition OS Map (1833) 2. PRONI OS/6/6/16/2 – Second Edition OS Map (1855) 3. PRONI OS/6/6/16/3 – Third Edition OS Map (1905) 4. PRONI OS/8/72/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan 1905 5. PRONI VAL/1A/6/16 – Townland Valuation Map 6. PRONI VAL/1/D/6/3 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c.1834) 7. PRONI VAL/1B/626A – Townland Valuation Records (1828-1840) 8. PRONI VAL/2/D/6/5 – Griffith’s Valuation Town Plan (c.1859) 9. PRONI Griffith’s Valuation, printed copy – Union of Castlederg 10. PRONI VAL/12/E/166/1 – Annual Revision Records Town Plan (1904-9) 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/42/27A-F – Annual Revision Records (1860-1929) Secondary Sources 1. Hearth Housing Association Website. [Internet Source]. Available from: Accessed 12th April, 2009.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A rare and interesting surviving terrace of worker's housing that was originally built as a weaving factory. Converted to dwellings soon after being built, the building initially contained sixteen units. Now in use as four units and sensitively restored by Hearth Housing c1990, the terrace has retained its urban vernacular style and proportions and features of interest both externally and internally. With the stone front and diminutive iron windows, this terrace greatly enhances the approach to St. Patrick's Church(HB10/02/023), directly north and together with the church makes a positive contribution to the heritage of the town.

General Comments

Date of Survey

02 April 2009