6-8 Dromore Street, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5LU

6–8 Dromore Street, Rathfriland — Late 18th-Century Town House with Outbuildings

This is a large double-pile, three-storey townhouse built in the late 18th century (c.1760–1779), sitting on the south side of Dromore Street in Rathfriland. It is a building of considerable interest, combining an attractive and unusually asymmetrical front elevation with a well-preserved interior, a range of historic outbuildings, and a documented history connected to one of the town's most prominent families. The listing covers the house itself, the front wall and railings, the yards, and the outbuildings.

EXTERIOR — FRONT ELEVATION

The main block is four openings wide and three storeys tall, with a pitched natural slate roof. A rendered chimney rises from the north gable and a second chimney sits between the first and second openings from the left. The eaves course is of moulded granite, with modern plastic rainwater goods attached to it. The walls are painted lined cement render.

The main entrance occupies the rightmost opening at ground floor. It features a four-panelled door with bolection mouldings and brass furniture, dating from the mid-to-late 19th century, with a plain glazed transom above it. The doorcase itself is of finely dressed granite dating from the late 18th century and is topped by a moulded granite drip mould. A bell pull is fixed to the wall to the right. The two windows to the left of the entrance are 1-over-1 exposed box sliding sashes with horns and painted granite cills. All other windows on the front elevation are identical. At the far left is a large flat-headed coachway with flat iron gates leading to the rear. The four windows on each of the upper floors diminish in height at second-floor level. The two left-hand windows on each floor are spaced further apart than the others, contributing to the asymmetrical character of the façade.

To the north, a second two-storey block with a pitched natural slate roof and a rendered chimney on its west gable sits adjacent to the main block. It has two windows on each floor, aligned with the first-floor windows of the main block. The small front area is enclosed by plain railings and a rendered dwarf granite wall, with urn-topped cast-iron posts to the railings and a matching gate.

Inside the coachway, a window opening on the right (north) wall has been infilled with concrete blocks.

EXTERIOR — REAR ELEVATION

The rear of the main block is almost entirely abutted by a three-storey rear pile, except at the rightmost bay. This bay contains the coachway at ground floor, an angled link at first-floor level (probably 19th century) connecting across to the rear pile, and a modern rectangular single-pane casement window at second-floor level.

The rear pile's roof is similar in form to the front pile, with two rendered chimneys — one at the centre of the ridge and one rising from the wall head to the right of centre. A clay ridge tile on the rear pile (south block) is inscribed "S. MURPHY". The current occupant (as recorded in 1999) claimed there was also a date of 1690 on this tile, but it was no longer readable at the time of survey.

The south gable of the rear pile has two windows on each floor, except where the angled link fills the right opening at first-floor level. At ground floor, the left opening is a 1-over-1 sash window with horns, and the right opening is a pair of six-paned timber casements with an external iron grille. The first-floor left window is a modern 1-over-1 casement in an original opening. To its right is the angled link, which has a modern timber 4-over-2 window and a flat roof, described as of no interest. The two second-floor windows are modern casements, with a vent in the gable apex.

The rear elevation of the rear pile has unpainted cement rendered walls. Reading from left to right at ground floor: a modern post-war cube porch with rendered walls and a concrete roof, with a modern door on its right cheek; above the porch is a window opening whose cill has been raised to accommodate the porch structure, fitted with a modern stained timber window. To the left of centre is a large 2-over-2 modern casement window lighting the kitchen. To the right is the back door, which retains a late 18th-century door of four raised and fielded panels with two glazed upper panels.

The upper floors of the rear pile's back elevation have two windows on the left side of each floor, and one window between the first and second floors on the right (serving the stairwell), with another above it between the first and second floors. All are 1-over-1 exposed box sashes, except the first-floor left window, which has been replaced with a modern 1-over-1 casement. The second-floor windows are diminished in height. The left (east) gable of the rear pile has an infilled window opening at attic level.

INTERIOR

Internally the house retains much of its original fabric, including the plan form, doors, panelling, and staircase. It also contains many attractive late 19th-century features, most notably an exceptional bathroom suite with an original toilet that remains in working condition. The late 19th-century fittings are thought to date from the period when the property changed hands following the death of Joseph Murphy in the 1870s.

OUTBUILDINGS

To the rear is an interesting arrangement of yards, outbuildings, and a walled garden, all of which are original and contribute considerably to the character of the property. Two outbuildings are particularly prominent as they also front Back Road, to the northwest of the house.

The first, nearest Dromore Street, is a single-bay, three-storey building with a pitched natural slate roof, tiled verges, and no gutters. The walls are random rubble granite with brick eaves, and all openings to the upper floors have brick relieving arches. The north (road) elevation has two window openings at first-floor level in the middle and a loading door at each end. The second floor has four window openings aligned with those below. The east gable is blank. The building is abutted by a lower rubble stone building, now roofless. On the south (yard) elevation, a single-storey building abuts the ground floor on the left. There is a loading door at ground-floor right, one to each upper floor, and the top floor also has three small replacement windows. The west gable is blank, and the wall continues to the right as the wall of another outbuilding.

The second outbuilding lies further along the road. It is of similar construction to the first but without brick relieving arches. Its north (road) elevation has a pedestrian door to the left and a wider door to the right, with a loading door between them at first-floor level and a small shuttered opening at first-floor right. The east gable is blank, but traces of an infilled loading door at first-floor level are visible. This section was formerly abutted by a lower gabled building of which only the ghost survives, along with a large segmental-headed coach arch to Back Lane. The south (yard) elevation has a door at ground-floor left (approached by steps down from ground level) and a small window opening at ground-floor right; both openings have feather-and-wedge split granite lintels. The upper floor is blank. The west gable is blank and is abutted by a lower gabled outbuilding in ruined condition, whose road elevation has various openings. This building is in turn abutted to the north by a mono-pitched building, now also ruinous.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

According to McCracken, Charles II granted the lands in the late 17th century to John Hawkins, who in turn granted a tenement on Dromore Street to Redmond Murphy. A town map of 1776 (Meade Estate map, now held in the Norfolk and Norwich Record Office) marks this site as plot number 83, with "John Murphy of Newry Street" as the tenant, though no building is shown at that date. McCracken records that the Murphy family erected the present house in the late 18th century.

The Murphys were a prominent local family. In 1792, when Wolfe Tone visited Rathfriland, he recorded an encounter with two Murphy brothers at the town inn on Church Square. His journal, quoted by McCracken, reads: "Stop at Murphy's Inn… Stopped short by the intelligence that the landlord will give us no accommodation. The fellow absolutely refuses. He has cold beef and lamb chops but will give us neither and turns off on his heels. The dog is a Quaker. Got a Mr Murphy at last, brother of our 'hospitable' landlord and a decent man. He seems very much ashamed of the behaviour of his brother."

Bradshaw's Directory of 1820 (published 1819) lists Samuel Murphy (gent) in the town. The First Valuation book of 1834 (PRONI VAL 1B/358A, p.148; /358B, p.75) records the house as belonging to Samuel Murphy with the relatively high valuation of £33 8s 0d. The recorded measurements of its components at that date were: 18ft × 22ft 6in × 17ft; 24ft × 30ft; 9ft × 20ft (over gate); and a return of 48ft × 22ft × 30ft (the rear part of the double pile). All the existing outbuildings are shown by this date. However, the 1836 valuation map shows the building without its left bay over the coachway, suggesting this element was added later.

The last of the Murphy line, Mr Joseph Murphy, died in the 1870s. He was the last of the town's Quakers, and on his death the Quaker meeting house on Newry Street (HB16/08/037) was closed. Bassett, writing in 1886, described him as "a man who had a great taste for antiquity, and to whom the Belfast Museum is indebted for much valued contributions." The present occupant in 1999 believed the Murphy family had linen mills in Belfast. The late 19th-century fittings within the house are thought to date from after his death, when the property changed hands.

Before the Second World War the house was occupied by Dr Elliott, who used the front left room as a surgery. His timber name plate was still in the building at the time of survey. The occupants at the time of the 1999 survey had owned the property since the 1950s and had operated a television repair shop in the front left room until that year. The house is also said to be haunted.