The Manse, 84 Church Street, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1AA

The Manse at 84 Church Street, Dromore is a red-brick mid-Victorian former manse built in 1876 for the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian church. It represents a robust example of Victorian ecclesiastical architecture, retaining much of its original fabric and setting.

The building is a two-storey symmetrical structure with an L-shaped plan. The principal elevation faces south and is three openings wide. It features single-storey canted bays flanking a double-leaf six-panelled timber door, surmounted by a segmental-headed transom light with carved trefoil detailing and a slated canopy on brick piers with stone caps and base. A feature round-headed window to the first floor centre is topped with a gablet.

The walls are constructed of Flemish-bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth. Windows are segmental-headed to the ground floor and square-headed to the first floor, all 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash with projecting granite sills. The hipped natural slate roof has leaded hips and ridges, with two tall red-brick chimneystacks featuring fluted shafts. A-frame bargeboards with finials adorn the gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods run along the overhanging eaves. A single-storey entrance porch is positioned to the front, with a modern extension to the rear.

The north elevation features a return to the left, while the right bay contains two first-floor windows abutted at ground level by the modern extension. The east elevation has four first-floor windows, with a group of three diminutive windows at the centre of the ground floor.

The setting is well preserved. The house is set back from Church Street with a lawned and shrubbed garden to the front containing mature trees. A tarmac driveway leads to the house, accessed from Church Street via a pair of sandstone gate piers supporting original cast-iron gates. The garden is bounded to the south by a mature hedgerow and to the east by a rubble stone wall. To the east stands a two-storey red-brick coach house of similar style, featuring bargeboards and finials to its gables. The coach house has a corner chamfered to ground floor and corbelled out to first floor; it has been fully refurbished as a modern office and retains its natural slate roof.

Historical Context

The manse replaced a previous dwelling that stood on the site from the mid-19th century. In 1876, the former dwelling was demolished to make way for this new construction. The Irish Builder published plans in 1874 for a new manse for the Unitarian Church in Dromore by Dublin and Belfast-based architect Timothy Hevey (1846–1878), though whether Hevey was responsible for the current design is unknown. The completed manse was valued at £30 upon completion, reducing to £27 during the occupation of the Reverend David Thompson from 1881, a valuation that remained constant until 1930.

The first recorded occupant was the Reverend Robert Miller in 1876. David Thompson occupied the manse from 1881 until his death in 1900, after which it was let to private tenants briefly. In 1908, the Reverend Alfred Davison took possession as minister of the Non-Subscribing Church. The 1911 Census recorded the manse as a first-class dwelling of 11 rooms with the adjacent two-storey coach house as its sole outbuilding. Davison remained resident until at least 1930.

The Non-Subscribing Church in Dromore was constructed around 1800, following a split in the congregation of the First Dromore Presbyterian Church around 1725. The manse was constructed at a cost exceeding £1,300 as part of a series of church building projects that also included the erection of a schoolroom within the church grounds in 1880. The building continued to serve as the church manse until at least 1978 when it was listed. It passed into private ownership in the late 20th century and remains in residential use. A single-storey modern conservatory represents the only significant addition of recent years.