Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB16/06/027 F

Address :
34 BRIDGE ST. ROSTREVOR CO.DOWN

Townland:

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Survey 1:
B

Date of Listing:
22/09/1981 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:

Vernacular:

Thatched:
No

Monument:

Derelict:

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OS Map No:

IG Ref:
J1799 1833

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Owner Category

PRIVATE

Exterior Description And Setting

Architects

Historical Information

This site is shown developed on the OS map 1834. The valuation book of the following year is difficult to decipher but it suggests that this plot and that of the present no.32 were at that point taken up by a ‘not new’ house measuring 27ft x 21 x 14½ , then occupied by John Dunn, a Tailor. By 1861 the plot had been divided with the dwelling on this site recorded as measuring 4½yds x 7 x 2[storeys] and was occupied by Owen Ward, with Bernard Feran the immediate lessor (who in turn undoubtedly held it from the Ross estate.) A ‘Miss Feran’ is noted as the occupant in 1867. In 1874 the rateable value of this house and the three similar dwellings to the immediate northwest and southeast [nos.30-32 and 36 - see HB16.06.027D-E, G] rose from £3-10-0 / £3-0-0 to £5-15-0, indicating that all four were either substantially refurbished or rebuilt at this time. The overall uniformity of the properties, and details such as the bevelled window reveals, suggests the latter, although, that said, there is no annotation on the contemporary valuation town plan of Rostrevor to indicate wholesale rebuilding. The new (or largely rebuilt) house was first leased to Mary Fearn [possibly the ‘Miss Feran’, mentioned above?], followed in 1883 by Samuel Owens, with Mary Fearn (or a relative of the same name) back again the following year. In the 1901 census Miss ‘Fearon’ is noted as a 73yr-old ‘housekeeper’, with the building itself recorded as a ‘2nd class’ dwelling with four rooms in use. In 1915 Edward and Elizabeth Fearon are listed as the tenants, succeeded by Bessie Fearon in 1916, William Blackmore in 1920, and Patrick Connolly in 1921. Joseph Parr is recorded as resident in 1941, P. Campbell in 1956 and Robert Scott from 1963 until at least 1972. BRIDGE STREET In origin, Bridge Street was part of the road from Kilkeel, connecting the latter with the original roads to Rathfriland (present Greenpark Road) and to Newry (a route which appears to have followed present Warrenpoint Road before heading inland along today’s Rath, Donaghguy and Greenan Roads). Oliver Sloane’s County Down map of 1739 shows the settlement of Rostrevor comprising solely of buildings along the northeastern side of the road, suggesting that this side of of Bridge Street may well mark the earliest part of the village. Development on both sides of the street is shown on an estate map of 1767 and Williamson’s 1810 county map, and this had reached its present extent by the time the 1834 first edition OS map. Known in the 1830s as ‘Post Office Street’, owing to the presence of that establishment, this title had been modified to ‘Old Post Office Street’ by 1861, and finally in c.1894, to ‘Bridge Street. The 1836 OS Memoirs describe the street as ‘leading from the centre of the main street in a south easterly direction to the bridge of Rostrevor…155 yards long, 95 feet broad at its broadest or north and western end and 25 feet at its narrowest part next [to] the bridge. The houses are of 2-storeys, in good order, all used for shops and having furnished lodgings for the accommodation of strangers.’ References - Primary sources 1 PRONI T1763/2 Map of County Down by Oliver Sloane, 1739 2 HERoNI Map of County Down by James Kennedy, 1755 3 PRONI D671/M7/2 Map of Rostrevor and surrounding lands, 1767 4 ‘A Map of the County of Down…by James Williamson, (1810) 5 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1834 6 PRONI VAL1B/361 (1835-36) 7 Day, Angelique and McWilliams, Patrick ed. ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…vol.3’ (QUB, 1990), p.35 (1835-36) 8 PRONI VAL2B/3/61C (1861) 9 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929) 10 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie [Accessed 2020.06.29] 11 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1902 12 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919 13 PRONI VAL3C/4/23, 1936-57 14 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1950 15 PRONI VAL4B/3/81, 1956-72 16 OS map, sheet 277, 1979

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Historic Interest

Evaluation

General Comments

Date of Survey