12 Frances Street & 2-6 North Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4JA is a Grade Record Only listed building in the Ards and North Down local planning authority area, Northern Ireland.
12 Frances Street & 2-6 North Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4JA
- WRENN ID
- sunken-facade-meadow
- Grade
- Record Only
- Local Planning Authority
- Ards and North Down
- Constituency
- Strangford MP: Jim Shannon (DUP)
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Address
- 12 Frances Street & 2-6 North Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4JA, BT23 4JA
- Irish grid reference
- J 489 741
- Coordinates
- 54.59399, -5.69612
- Source
- NI Environment Agency listing
Description
Site of former two storey public house at the corner of Frances Street and North Street, Newtownards, with a return extension to North Street.
The building was constructed in 1778, originally as part of Alexander Stewart's extensive improvements to Newtownards during the late 1760s and 1770s. Stewart, who became landlord of the town in 1744, oversaw the creation of a new market house and a more regular street pattern, particularly on the north side of the town. Back Street (later renamed Frances Street) and North Street were developed with some sixty new houses built between approximately 1769 and 1777, mostly constructed of stone or slated. The former inscription on the building's front read "Built by Hans Lowery 1777".
The building appears originally to have been one of these new residential houses but was subsequently substantially altered and extended. The original structure was a two storey building with a slated roof and rendered chimneys. The walls were roughcast with painted stone quoins and base, featuring a first floor band course and broken parapet. The main front measured approximately 32 feet.
At ground floor level, the building contained two 'Ards' doorways with plain pilasters and plain five-centre archivolt with keystone, featuring 'rising sun' fanlights above panelled doors, alongside a wide pub window. A total of four first floor double-hung windows had horizontal astragals with plain surrounds and flat pediment-shaped lintels. An inscribed panel was positioned below one end window. Ground floor sashes were set in window openings of similar character to the first floor.
During the early to mid twentieth century, the building underwent an extensive makeover, receiving an early twentieth century Art Deco-influenced treatment with a distinctive stepped parapet to the front. Window openings were altered at this time. The building was demolished around 1990 and the site is now occupied by a modern three storey bathroom fittings showroom.
Local climate
12 Frances Street & 2-6 North Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4JA sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,130 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 93% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 1 freeze-thaw cycle a year, fewer than 99% of listed buildings. Of these, 1 follows at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- No flood data for this area
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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- Ulster Bank, 22 Frances Street, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 3DN
- Reformed Presbyterian Church, Regent Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4LH
- Queen’s Hall, West Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4EN
- 39 High Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 3HS
- 44 High Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 3HZ
- 31 Frances Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 3DW
- 43 High Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 3HS
- House, (near 7 East Street), Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 3E?
- Former Presbyterian Manse, Mark Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4D?
- First Presbyterian Church, Frances Street, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 3DY