Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/05/027

Address :
31 Main Street Hillsborough County Down BT26 6AE

Townland:
Hillsborough

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
01/12/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
184/05

IG Ref:
J2428 5871

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Terraced two-storey with attic early-nineteenth century stone and redbrick house. Square on plan facing east with rubblestone two-storey return and single-storey flat-roofed extension. One of a terrace of four similarly scaled houses lining the west side of Main Street, Hillsborough. Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, two shared redbrick chimneystacks and cast-iron guttering on iron brackets to brick eaves course with cast-iron downpipe. Modern rooflights inserted to the rear pitch. Snecked coursed basalt walling, squared pink granite quoins and redbrick surrounds to all openings. Camber-headed window and door openings formed in redbrick with painted masonry sills and replacement timber sash windows. Front elevation is two windows wide with a replacement tripartite timber sash window to the ground floor and a camber-headed door opening having replacement timber panelled door with replacement overlight opening onto two granite steps with wrought-iron bootscraper. A granite milestone abutts the front elevation (HB19/05/026). South side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.33 (HB19/05/028). Rear elevation abutted by gabled two-storey rubblestone return and further flat-roofed single-storey extension with decking and steel railing. Replacement glazed timber doors to the first floor opening onto the decked flat-roofed extension. North side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.29 (HB19/05/025B). Setting: One of a terrace of four houses lining the east side of Main Street at its elevated end where it joins The Square. Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron Walling Coursed rubblestone Windows Replacement timber sash

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

No. 31 Main Street was constructed sometime between 1803 and 1833 on land owned by a Mr Robinson who is recorded on an 1803 plan of Hillsborough as the occupant of Hill House (HB 19/05/029). It is first depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and the Townland Valuation plan of Hillsborough as a small square building located close to the top of the hill on Main Street. The Townland Valuation of the 1830s records that the house was occupied by a Mr. Hugh White and was valued at £6. The house appears to have been built at the same time as Nos. 27 and 29 Main Street, all three buildings being valued at £6 and erected on the same plot of land owned by Robinson in 1803; Nos. 27 and 29 were certainly constructed at the same time as they were built at the same level, although No. 31 was built at a slightly higher level. In 1861 Griffith’s Valuation records that the house was owned by the Marquis of Downshire who let it to a Mr. Hugh Morrow. The valuer recorded the house as a 1a- class dwelling measuring six by seven yards and two-storeys high, and valuing the house at £6 10s. From 1861 to the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 there was no change to the value of the house, or discernible alteration to the layout on the Ordnance Survey maps (1858-1920). In 1864 the house lay vacant (after Hugh Morrow moved into the neighbouring No, 29) and it was not until 1874 that a new occupant was recorded. George Johnston resided in the house until 1878 when a Ms. Mary Anne Balmer came into possession of the premises. A number of occupants resided in the house over the next few years. In 1891 a Mr. Francis McBride came into possession of the house. The 1901 Census tells us that McBride, a 70 year old widower, lived in No. 31 Main Street with six of his children; his three daughters who were employed as Linen winders. The building return records the house as a 2nd class dwelling consisting of four or five inhabited rooms and no out offices. In 1904 Francis’s eldest daughter became the new occupant of the house after her father’s death. In 1911 the census tells us that she was the sole occupant and still worked as a Linen winder. Mary McBride was recorded as the occupant of No. 31 Main Street until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. In 1974 Brett described this building as one of ‘four extremely good stone houses (Nos. 29 – 33), with some brick trim, some galleting, and most of the Georgian glazing intact.’ The house was listed in 1976 and in 1983 repair work was carried out on the windows and the chimney (NIEA File). References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI D671/M/8/25 – Hillsborough Map c.1800 2. PRONI D671/M/8/57/1 – Hillsborough Illustrated Map 1803 3. PRONI VAL/1/B/344 A-B – Townland Valuations 1834 4. PRONI VAL/1/D/3/5 – Town Plan 1834 5. PRONI OS/6/3/14/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834 6. PRONI OS/6/3/14/2 – Second Edition OS Map 1858 7. PRONI OS/6/3/14/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1902-1903 8. PRONI OS/6/3/14/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-1920 9. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/45A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1856-64 10. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14A – Annual Revisions 1864-1879 11. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14B – Annual Revisions 1880-1889 12. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14C – Annual Revisions 1890-1908 13. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14D – Annual Revisions 1909-1928 14. PRONI VAL/12/B/20/14E – Annual Revisions 1928-1930 15. Ulster Towns Directory (1910). Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in the towns and villages of Mid Down: Hillsborough, Dromore, Dromara, Ballynahinch, the Spa, Drumaness and Saintfield’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1974. 2. NIEA File – HB19/05/027.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

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

Historic Interest

R. Age X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced two-storey with attic early nineteenth-century stone and redbrick house. A modest townhouse forming part of a terrace of varying house types lining the east side of Main Street, Hillsborough. Retaining its original Georgian proportions the external features, although replacement, are intact. Part of a group of three similar houses nos. 27-31 Main Street, (HB19/05/025 A-B, HB19/05/027), adjoining Hill House at the corner of Main Street and The Square, (HB19/05/029), it has group value with nos. 27 and 29 Main St; built at the same time and contributes to the overall character of Hillsborough.

General Comments

Listing criteria R also applies.

Date of Survey

28 September 2010