Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB16/03/005 A

Address :
4 Newry Street Kilkeel Newry Co Down BT34 4DN

Townland:
Magheramurphy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
14/08/1981 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
284/4 SW

IG Ref:
J3053 1451

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Owner Category

Private Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Nos 4 - 8 Newry street form a substantial three storey / three bay mid-Georgian town house in the classical tradition. The front is symmetrical with central bay a half width of the other two. There is a two storey single bay extension abutting the left gable and tied into facade. The ground floor of the whole block is of a lower height than the floors above, giving the whole building a top heavy appearance. Property is presently in two ownerships and both ground floors have been converted to commercial use, their shop fronts obscuring the lower portions of the first floor windows. Central and right bays are No 4. Left bay and extension are Nos 6 and 8 (HB16/03/005B). They form a single architectural composition and the records should be read together. Roof is pitched and gabled. No 4 has man made roof covering. The right gable is raised and coped in granite. There is a smooth rendered and corbelled chimney to gable. Eaves are corbelled and rainwater goods are plastic to No 4. There is a single cast iron skylight in rear pitch. Front(south west) wall is rock faced ashlar granite with flush pointing. No 4 has a post war shop front filling ground floor level completely. The shop fills right bay and the doorway to upper floors is to left, in the central bay. Ground floor wall is ashlar granite and shop has a recessed central entrance flanked by timber display windows. Chromium vent below each window states, ‘Quinn’ (the former supermarket chain). Left bay of No 4 is central bay of whole composition and contains an inter-war three panelled door with six glazed top panes and a transom over. Door is not in its original location, offset to left of original openings above. Over both bays is a flush plastic fascia stating ‘M.J.SAWEY, LICENSED BETTING OFFICE’. Each upper floor of whole building contains five openings and the extension to left has a single window to each. At first floor, to centre of main block (left bay of No 4) is a spoke-headed 3/3 sliding sash window set within a semicircular headed moulded ashlar opening with raised impost and projecting keystone. Keystone is inscribed with ‘17-90’ and the letter ‘A’. This window's lower sash seems once to have been 6-paned and the cill has been raised to accommodate the insertion of the modern door and shop front below. To right bay at first floor (over modern shop) are two 6/6 exposed box sliding sashes which also seem to have been truncated to accommodate the shop front below. To second floor on all three bays of whole building), in line with openings below, are similar sash windows with painted dressed granite cills. Rear elevation of No 4 is abutted at ground floor by a single storey modern extension. Wall to left (central) bay at first floor is partially rendered, snecked granite rubble with single large stones forming lintels. Right bay is wet dashed. To left (central) bay is a semicircular headed fixed landing window, with raised cill to accommodate a lean-to rendered shed with corrugated roof, which abuts below. To right bay a second lean-to abuts, with cement rendered walls and artificial slate roof. At second floor windows are diminished in height and in line with those below. The small semicircular headed window to left (centre) contains a 2/2 (horizontally divided) sliding sash. The two right windows are replacement 1/1 sliding sashes.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

1790 datestone attests to year of construction. Both halves are described as one property in the 1834 valuation book. It then belonged to Alexander Adderly, M.D and measured 43ft6in x 26ft x 22ft, and also had cellars. It is possible that the ‘A’ on the datestone was Dr Adderly. Also at this time the addition to left gable is measured as 12ft x 24ft 6in x 20ft, and occupied by a Samuel Floyd. ‘Alexander, Adderly, surgeon.’ is listed as resident in Kilkeel in 1819, although it is uncertain whether it was at this address. In the 1790s the young General Chesney of Packolet House (HB16/04/003) was familiar with the surgeon, ''Every Sunday, whatever the weather, the (Chesney) family walked the five miles to church in Kilkeel. On wet days the children arrived soaked and shivering to be thawed out before a blazing fire by Mrs Adderly, the doctors wife, who fed them on gingerbread to sustain them for the ordeal of church''. By the 1862 valuation, the main house had been divided onto two semi-detached dwellings, occupied by a John Reid and Jane Annett. The son of Mrs McErlaine, who lived in the house for 79 years until her death in 1998, provided the following information. The house and shop has been the family since c1900. The shop was millinery until c1985 when it closed, and has been vacant since. He provided a poster, dating from 1900 advertising the shop. The photograph of the ground floor c1900 showing two separate shop fronts. One to left, on extension and one to right in main block (to left of central door). The left shop front had a four-panelled door with a four paned transom. To its immediate left was a twelve paned shop window, with masonry stallriser. Over all was a plain fascia, with thin brackets to either end. The right shop front had a sheeted door with five paned transom over, and a window to left. To left of window, to right of door and between the two are thin timber pilasters, which rise to a plain fascia with overhanging timber cornice. To right of central door on façade is a third shop front. It has a central door with three paned transom, narrow pilasters and fascia with overhanging cornice. 16 paned windows, both with granite cills, flank door. A photograph of the property taken in 1951 shows no 4 to have a traditional timber shop front with central door, and angled face emblazoned 'John Quinn Ltd'. A 1962 photograph shows this shop front to have been replaced by the current modern one. The 1951 photograph also illustrates that the central door between the two shop fronts is directly in line with the semicircular headed window on first floor (as opposed to left of its centre as it is today). The door depicted has a transom light, seems crudely placed in the facade and has no ashlar dressings like the window openings above. The doorway lintel is formed by the cill of the semicircular headed window which has a lower cill level (and its bottom sash is six paned) than it has today. The photograph also illustrates that the two first floor right windows (over Saweys shop) are 6/6 sliding sashes. The central door (1951 photograph), seems to be a crude insertion, suggesting that the main entrance may have been elsewhere; which is strange as the building is symmetrical. One suggestion might be that the ground to the front was lowered and the cellar became the ground floor, which may be another way of explaining why the current ground floor is not as high as those above. If the ground level was originally a few feet higher, the main entrance may have been accommodated within the central first floor window opening (with semicircular head). The head may have formed a fanlight and steps may have risen from the higher ground level to the door. Level changes in the past in Kilkeel lead to the creation of the 'steps' at the junction of Newry Street (this street) and Greencastle Street, where the road is substantially lower than the buildings on either side; so this theory may be close to what happened here. Primary sources: 1. Datestone on building. 2. PRONI – VAL 1B/390B, p104 (1834 valuation). 3. PRONI - VAL 1B/390A, p.118 (1862 valuation). 4. PRONI - OS 8/15/1/3 (1860 Down OS map). 5. PRONI - VAL 2B/3/81H. 6. T. Bradshaw 'General Directory of Newry, Kilkeel' 1820. 7. Photograph dated 1951 in Historic Monuments Record of Northern Ireland 5-33 Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2LA. 8. Photographs dated 1975 in Historic Monuments Record of Northern Ireland 5-33 Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2LA. 9. Photograph dated 1962 in ''From the Mountains to the Sea'' p.15 (Friars Bush 1989). 10. Owner in 1998 11. Poster in owners’ possession. 12. Photograph in owners’ possession. Secondary Sources: 1. ''The Chesney Family'' The Mourne Observer 08/06/1956.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A very attractive mid-Georgian structure retaining much of its original character even though it has been subdivided and remodelled for commercial use at ground floor. Although retaining little internal fabric (where inspected) this building is very interesting, of an early date in the town and is still worthy of statutory protection.

General Comments

Date of Survey

31 August 1998