9 Church Street, Banbridge, County Down, BT32 4AA

9 Church Street, Banbridge, County Down

This is a former terraced dwelling, built around 1850 on the site of an earlier building, now converted to use as a solicitor's office. It stands on the north side of Church Street in Banbridge town centre and forms part of an early 19th-century terrace opposite Seapatrick Parish Church. Although it sits within this terrace, it was not originally built as part of it. The building was largely destroyed in the 1980s, most likely by fire, losing its roof and all internal features, and has since been substantially rebuilt. These extensive alterations have seriously compromised its historic interest, and it is considered a common type and not among the better examples of its kind. It was delisted in November 2013.

The building is two storeys, three bays, and rectangular on plan, with a two-storey gabled return to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles. There is a rendered chimney stack with tall terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are cast-iron half-round. The external walls are painted smooth render on a smooth rendered plinth.

The principal elevation faces south-west. At first floor level there are three unevenly spaced 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with projecting masonry sills. At ground floor level the arrangement has been altered: there is an enlarged multi-paned timber window to the right, a half-glazed replacement timber door with a square-headed overlight just left of centre, and a raised-and-fielded four-panelled timber door with a square-headed overlight to the left.

The north-west elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The north-east elevation has one window to the first floor right and two narrow timber casement windows to the ground floor right; at the left it is abutted by a two-storey gabled return with a casement window to each floor. The left cheek of the return was not viewed. The right cheek has a modern flush door at ground floor and a door at first floor right, and is abutted by masonry steps that rise from left to right to give access to the first floor. All windows to the rear are protected by steel security bars. The south-east elevation is abutted by the adjoining building.

To the front, the building forms part of a street-fronted terrace. To the rear is a tarmacadamed car park shared with number 10, accessed via modern metal gates to the north-west.

Historical background

The site has a long history of occupation. A stylised map of the 'Bann Crossing' dated 1703 shows what may be a single-storey three-bay dwelling in the vicinity of the current terrace, possibly the earliest building on the site. A new bridge was erected across the River Bann in 1712, and in the years that followed Banbridge grew into a significant centre of the linen industry, holding the largest linen cloth fairs in County Down by 1744. By that time the town belonged to Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, who laid out its streets and encouraged development by granting plots of land at nominal rents in perpetuity, together with small farms known as 'town parks' on the outskirts.

Maps of 1755 and 1771 show buildings on the site, as does the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, though gaps in the terrace at that stage and valuation records indicate that some rebuilding and remodelling took place before the second edition map of 1860. The Church Street terrace as a whole dates from between approximately 1800 and 1865, and primary evidence suggests it was built up around a core of simpler earlier structures reflecting the town's growing prosperity from the worldwide linen trade.

In the Townland Valuation of 1828 to 1840 the property is listed as the home of Samuel McGill but was exempt, not reaching the threshold for inclusion in the fieldbook. By the time of Griffith's Valuation the building had been rebuilt or remodelled as a two-storey structure valued at £10 5s. At that time it had two outbuildings, one of which was thatched, and was occupied by Thomas Preston, a tailor, who died in 1872. His widow Sarah took over the house in 1873 and was still resident at the 1901 census, recorded as a 70-year-old widow living on dividends. The house was then a second-class dwelling with five rooms.

By 1911 the occupier was Richard Hamilton Bennett, a 33-year-old bookkeeper, living with his wife from County Cork and their two young daughters. Subsequent occupiers included Edward S Hill (1913), Oliver B Spokes (1920), and George Russell (1923). At the time of the First General Revaluation, George Russell was the tenant, leasing the house, offices, and garden from the Marquess of Downshire on a 200-year lease dating from 1905. The property was revalued at £14 10s and comprised four bedrooms, a narrow lobby, two reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery, and a bathroom with bath, lavatory, and WC, with hot and cold water. A plan and dimensions recorded at that time show a return, wash house, and store to the rear, with a right of way from the neighbouring house into the rear yard. Joseph S Agnew took over the house in 1956.

In the 1980s the building lost its roof and internal features, probably as the result of a fire. It was subsequently rebuilt with the front facade considerably altered, including new window and door openings at both floors, and has since been in use as a solicitor's office. The proportions of the facade have been changed and the interior fully refurbished, leaving the building with something of its former character but with its historic interest substantially diminished.