Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/01/001

Address :
The Market House The Square Portaferry Co Down BT22 1LN

Townland:
Ballyphilip

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
07/09/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Hall

Former Use
Market

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
206/12

IG Ref:
J5941 5088

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Relatively plain, two storey, hipped roof, market house of 1752, now used as a community hall. The building is located in the centre of Portaferry town square. Front (N elevation) is symmetrical. It has two arched openings to the ground floor, which used to be open but are now filled with semi-circular windows and walls. Panelled doors either side of arches. To the first floor there are four sash windows with horns and Georgian panes. No parapet, slate over edge of pediment. The E and W facades are blank. The ground floor of the S façade has four (almost square) sash windows, much as before; small painted plaque in centre of entire elevation with words ‘Erected 1752 by Andrew Savage Esq.’ and the Savage coat of arms. To the first floor there are four similar windows, slightly taller than windows on ground floor. Eaves course and pediment, with centrally located clock (with rope pattern surround and makers name ‘N.J. Mackie Belfast’). The entire façade is finished in roughcast with a base course. Cast iron gutters and down spouts; sandstone cills No parapet, slate protruding over edge of pediment. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates and two plain rendered chimney stacks; no chimney. Small bell in crude wooden enclosure over parapet (N Elevation), not centred. Recent landscaping around building including paving, stone cobbles, cast iron bollards, trees with iron grill surrounds. There is a cast iron water fountain 2 m to the NW of the Market House.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The plaque on south elevation suggests that this building was built in 1752, but several publications, including the Archaeological Survey of Co. Down (1966) suggest that the present structure dates from c.1800. The authors of the Survey, however, have not cited any source to support this claim. The Ordinance Survey Memoirs, which date from the early 1830s, make no mention of any reconstruction and merely give a date of 1752, possibly solely based on the observance of the Savage plaque. The fact that the plaque was there at all, however, tends to suggest (but not confirm) that the structure had not been substantially altered since that date. The confusion over dating may result from the fact that during the 1798 Rebellion, the market house, in which the Loyal Portaferry Yeomanry was quartered, was attacked by a band of United Irishmen. Prior to the attack the Yeomanry commander, Captain Charles Matthews of Springvale, blocked up the ground floor arches for fear of being smoked out by the rebels. The attackers, though repulsed by the Yeomanry (with the help of cannons temporarily removed from the revenue cutter 'Buckingham' lying off the quay), may have succeeded nonetheless in causing some damage to the market house. Conceivably this damage, as well as the blocking up of the arches, may have resulted in the structure being repaired, or partly rebuilt, between late 1798 and c.1800. Whether partially rebuilt or not, there seems little doubt that a market house has stood on this site since 1752. The man responsible for its construction, Andrew Savage of Portaferry, was a member of the ancient family of Savage of the Ards who had been developing the town since the early seventeenth century. He had been a soldier in the Spanish army, and like many of his name had remained Catholic. Marriage to Margaret Nugent, the daughter of Andrew Nugent of Dysert, however, later resulted in his changing both his name (to Nugent) and becoming a Protestant. His wish to have a market house within Portaferry can be traced as far back as 1739, when he first aired the idea but was discouraged by his father-in-law from proceeding with a scheme which was apparently beyond his means. Despite this admonition, however, Savage clearly recognised the need for such premises within a growing commercial centre such as Portaferry, and by 1752 had realised his plans, paying for the construction of the market house from his own coffers. Like many other market houses in Ireland at this time, however, the building acted not just as a place to carry out business and attract trade to certain areas, but as a court and a centre of local government, as the conduct of business and of regional administration tended to be intertwined. It also provided as place for social activity and more leisurely pursuits. The description of the premises provided by Ordinance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s reveals some of this diversity, stating that 'the rooms to the right and left in the upper storey are the library rooms for the Literary Society and the Mechanic Institute Library. The centre room serves (but seldom) for a ballroom. In this room the seneschal holds manor court, where debts to the amount of 40s and under are settled. There is also a court leet held in June (once in the year) for appointing a grand jury, petty constables, plotters and apprizers, laying on cess for the repair of houses, purchasing weights, seals. A temperance society frequently drink tea in this room, upon which they ornament it with green leaves etc.’. During the 1850s clocks were added [?or replaced] to the pediments on the north and south elevations and some internal renovation and decoration appears to have been carried out later in the century. Drawings within the Savage/Nugent Estate Papers (PRONI) also show that there may have been plans to alter the facade and add classical features to the building during the mid nineteenth century also. Throughout this time the market house continued to occupy an important position in Portaferry society and to play host a number of diverse functions. A daily reading room was opened on the premises in 1853 and the founders of Portaferry’s first bank, ‘The Penny Bank’ made use of the building as a place to receive deposits around this time also. The market house remained a place of varied activity well into this century, but by the 1930s its prominent ‘social’ position within the town had diminished somewhat with the ground floor merely acting at times as a barber’s shop, a butcher’s shop and a carpenter’s workshop. This demotion in status had a lot to do the improvement in communications and changes in the structure of local government over the previous century, which had resulted in the subsequent shift of administrative bodies to buildings elsewhere, such as Newtownards. More crucially, by this stage also, Portaferry’s role as an important market centre had been successfully challenged by other towns. By the mid 1960s the much dilapidated state of the building prompted both calls for its demolition and a parallel proposal for its renovation. The latter argument eventually won the day and the market house was purchased from the Nugent estate by North Down Rural District Council, and restored during 1971-72. Restoration resulted in the building once again assuming a key position in relation to the activities of the local community, and it has been used as a place for public meetings, a senior citizens’ day centre, and as the premises for local clubs and societies ever since. References- Primary sources 1 Walter Harris, 'The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down' (Dublin 1744), p. 44. [ Harris describes Portaferry as ‘a market town, but irregularly built, and few other than thatched houses in it’.] 2 PRONI D.552/A/2/8/7 Savage/Nugent Papers: Letter from Andrew Nugent to Andrew Savage, July 1739 [The Savage/Nugent Papers contain many documents relating to Portaferry and the surrounding area] 3 'Taylor's and Skinner's Maps of the roads of Ireland' (Dublin 1777) 4 PRONI D.552/B/3/3/1 Savage/Nugent Papers: ‘A Plan or Map of the Town of Portaferry’ by Patrick O’Hare, 1799 5 PRONI D.552/B/4/44 Savage/Nugent Papers: Architect’s drawings of a planned court house [?at Portaferry] c.1830-1850 6 PRONI D.607/F/226 Downshire Papers: Letter from George Stephenson to Lord Downshire, 12 June 1798 7 Linen Hall Library ‘Pigot & Co.’s Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory’ (Manchester 1824) 8 'Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II', ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991) p. 12 [The Memoirs state that the market house was built in 1752.] 9 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 OS maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32 10 PRONI VAL/1B/37 1st valuation, Ballyphilip, c.1835-38 11 PRONI VAL/1D/3/4 Valuation town plan of Portaferry, c.1838 12 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1846), p.520-23 13 PRONI and Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ]) 14 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), p.592-95 15 PRONI OS/8/23/1- OS town plan of Portaferry, 1859 16 PRONI VAL/2B/3/14 Second valuation, 1863 17 PRONI VAL/12E/112/1- Valuation maps of Portaferry, c.1863, with revisions of 1902 18 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870), pp.341-43 19 PRONI OS/8/23/2 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1874 20 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886) 21 PRONI OS/8/23/3 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1900 22 PRONI VAL/12E/112/2- Valuation maps of Portaferry, 1902, with revisions of 1935 Secondary sources 1 G.F. Armstrong, 'The Savage Family in Ulster' (London 1906), pp. 361-62 2 'Archaeological Survey of County Down' (Belfast, HMSO, 1966), pp. 433-34 3 G. Philip Bell, C.E.B. Brett, Sir Robert Matthew, 'Ulster Architectural Heritage Survey: Portaferry & Strangford' (Belfast UAHS 1969) 4 PRONI Portaferry: Sources for Local History (PRONI ?1970s) 5 C.E.B. Brett, 'Court houses and market houses of Ulster' (Belfast, UAHS 1973), p.76 6 J. McCartney, "The Market House, Portaferry" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society', No. 3 (1979), pp. 13-14 7 R. Pierce, A. Gray, R. Oram, 'Taken for Granted: A Celebration of 10 years of Historic Buildings Conservation', (Belfast, 1984) 8 R. Oram, "The Buildings of Portaferry" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society' No.16 (1992)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form F. Structural System J. Setting

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity V. Authorship Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Fine and little altered Market House built in1752 and prominently sited in the centre of Portaferry

General Comments

Date of Survey

29 May 1997