Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB16/06/028

Address :
RIVERSIDE 38 BRIDGE ST. ROSTREVOR CO.DOWN

Townland:

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Survey 1:
B1

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

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
HOUSE

Former Use
HOUSE

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:

Vernacular:

Thatched:
No

Monument:

Derelict:

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OS Map No:

IG Ref:
J1800 1832

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Owner Category

PRIVATE

Exterior Description And Setting

Architects

Historical Information

On the OS map 1834 a smaller building is shown on this site. The valuation book of the following year is difficult to decipher, but it suggests that this plot was at that point taken up by a ‘not new’ dwelling in the hands of Alexander Donaldson, measuring 29ft x 21 x 14½, with an additional upper floor section of 12½ x 21 x 6 that appears to have spanned over a separate neighbouring property to the northwest (on the site of present no.36 then occupied by Thomas Gribbon), with the whole rated at £4-11-7. In an annotation in the same book of August 1838, however, a Mrs Boyle is recorded as possessing a house on the site of the current no.38 rated at a relatively respectable £16, which suggests that the present building may have in place by this point, and so dating it to some time between these years. This theory supported by the overall style of the property and the fact that a sale notice of 1955 (see below) refers to the 957yr lease of the property as being dated 1839. ‘Mrs. Boyle’, may have been the Mrs Margaret Boyle, listed amongst the gentry of Rostrevor in Slater’s 1846 ‘Directory’, and who may have been responsible for the building of nearby ‘Glynn-na-shee’ (33 Water Street - see HB16.06.) She left the property some time before 1861, as it is recorded as vacant in the valuation of that year; the same source notes the dimensions as 10yds x 8 x 3[storeys], with rear sections of 3yds 2ft x 6 x 2 (over the gateway) and 4 x 3yds 2 ft x 1, with a single outbuilding of 9 x 5 x 2. According to the later valuations, the property remained vacant until c.1866 when a Miss Huston is noted as the tenant, followed by Ellen McAvoy in 1867, Elizabeth Sinton in 1881, Priscilla A. Stewart in 1883, [?Michael] Cunningham in 1885, Ellen Taylor 1892, Mary Cunningham 1895, and Teresa Jordison in 1900. In the 1901 census Mrs Jordison, a 48yr-old English-born lady who describes her occupation as ‘independent’, is recorded as living there with here teenage daughter and a domestic servant, with the building itself described as a ‘1st class’ dwelling with 13 rooms in use. William Lyons became tenant in 1903 and either he, or a relative of the same name was still living there in 1955 when the property was put up for sale. In the sale notice, ‘Riverside House’ is noted as a ‘most commodious and well-built dwelling house’ with ‘large rooms, ample windows facing south, and commanding views of the river, glen, mountains and sea…[and comprising]…3 receptions rooms, 7 bedrooms, kitchen with scullery, bathroom…cement and paved yard with built-in meat safe, 2 very large out-offices and toilet.’ William G. Farrell is recorded as the occupant in 1958 and David Reid in 1966. The building advertised for sale again 1967 and 1969, but listed as vacant from at least 1970 to 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 Slater’s commercial directory of Ireland’ (Manchester, 1846) 9 PRONI VAL2B/3/61C (1861) 10 PRONI VAL12B/19/21A-F (1865-1929) 11 NLI STP_1203 Stereo paired photograph of ‘Old Bridge, Rostrevor’, c.1870 [Present no.38 Bridge Street appears in this photo with its original Georgian-paned window farmes.] 12 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, accessed 2020.06.26] 13 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1902 14 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1919 15 PRONI VAL3C/4/23, 1936-57 16 OS map, Co. Down sheet 54, 1950 17 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 5 September 1955, p.2 18 PRONI VAL4B/3/81, 1956-72 19 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 5 May 1967, p.21 20 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 7 May 1969, p.18 21 OS map, sheet 277, 1979

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Historic Interest

Evaluation

General Comments

Date of Survey