Bovenett House, 26 Scarva Street, Loughbrickland, Co Down, BT32 3NH

Bovenett House is an early 18th-century detached house of considerable local importance, standing in the centre of Loughbrickland on the west side of Scarva Street. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the village, and its lease — dating from 1704, when Andrew Donaldson acquired the land for a yearly rent of £10 for a term of 2,000 years — supports a construction date in the early 18th century, most likely between 1700 and 1719. A 17th-century origin has been suggested in some secondary sources but is not supported by the primary evidence.

The house is asymmetrical in plan, with four bays, two storeys, and an attic, and has a rectangular footprint with an L-shaped two-storey projecting bay to the rear. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles. The rendered chimneystacks carry tall terracotta pots (the southern pot is a replacement) and there are three decorative pinnacles on plinths to the front. Cast-iron ogee gutters sit on an ovolo-moulded eaves course, with uPVC rainwater pipes below. The external walls are roughcast render on a smooth rendered plinth.

Windows throughout are replacement timber sliding sash, mainly four-over-four paned, with exposed boxes and projecting sills. Narrow four-over-four sidelight windows flank the entrance door.

The principal elevation faces north-east and is asymmetrically arranged with six windows aligned across both the ground and first floors; those to the far left are more widely spaced. The entrance is a timber raised-and-fielded six-panel door with brass furniture, set slightly off-centre, flanked by sidelights, and reached by three granite steps.

The south-east gable has a diminutive window to the left at attic level and a six-over-six window to the centre of the ground floor. The rear south-west elevation is joined at its centre by the two-storey L-shaped projecting catslide bay. To the left of this elevation there are windows at ground and first floor; to the right, the first floor has a paired six-over-six window and a four-over-four window, while the ground floor has a paired six-over-six window and a half-panelled timber door with sidelight. The projecting bay itself has a nine-over-nine window and a diminutive two-over-two window to the recessed section on the left; the right bay has a four-over-four window at both ground and first floor; all cheek elevations are blank. The north-west gable has a diminutive window to the right at attic level.

The setting to the front is east-facing onto Scarva Street, bounded by a roughcast rendered wall with stone coping. Tall roughcast-rendered gate piers with pointed caps support a cast-iron latch gate. The forecourt is lawned, with a water pump and a paved pathway leading to the entrance door. A wing wall to the south includes a round-headed arch opening with a metal gate, and an elliptical-arch opening further south provides vehicular access to the rear tarmacadamed yard. At the far south is a walled garden enclosed by a roughcast rendered wall, entered through a round-arch opening from the central yard. To the west is a linear range of single-storey smooth rendered slated outbuildings, abutting the gable of a neighbouring cottage. Further west is a two-storey rubble stone former coach house with red-brick dressings to a variety of openings, all now boarded, including a carriage-arch entry with a timber-sheeted door. The coach house is bounded to the north along the road by a rubble stone wall.

Much of the architectural detailing of the house is largely intact and its historic character has survived well, though this is somewhat compromised by the modern exterior finish. The house retains note for its style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form, and the quality and survival of its interior.

The building has had a rich and varied history of use. In the early 19th century it formed part of a terrace extending southwards from the present structure, as shown on a map of 1819, with a large return reaching as far back as the outbuildings. By the second Ordnance Survey edition of 1859 this terrace had largely gone. The present-day layout of the town is suggestive of a former widening of the street at this point, and some local sources have interpreted this as a former market square with Bovenett House at its centre, pointing to a possible former use as the market house for Loughbrickland, which was in its early years a significant market and post town. This former use is not directly evidenced, however.

Following Andrew Donaldson, the leasehold passed to Thomas Fivey in 1767, then to David Fivey, who appears to have lived in the house, and then to Elizabeth Fivey around 1820 — all relatives of the Fivey family of Union Lodge (now Lisnabrague Lodge). The Townland Valuation of 1828 to 1840 lists the tenant as a Mr Greer, with a valuation of £11; by 1830 the leaseholder was James Little. Recorded at that time were the house and its return, three single-storey thatched outbuildings, one two-storey slated outbuilding, a yard, a garden, and a pleasure garden. Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864 lists the occupier as John Carsewell, who leased the property from James Little for £20 annually, with the valuation raised to £14 10s. The valuer at that time noted that the house was "very old and expensive to keep in repair, offices not all in use and going to the bad."

In the late 1860s the house temporarily became the Presbyterian manse for the village, occupied first by Reverend Robert Crawford and then from 1870 by Reverend A C Buchanan, until he moved to Aghaderg Lodge. The building was re-roofed in 1870, and the valuation was raised to £17 10s, indicating further improvements at this time. Subsequent occupiers included John Valentine and then Mrs Little in 1890, at which point the valuation was reduced to £10 10s, perhaps reflecting a period of disrepair. William Scott followed in 1892 and Sefton Corry in 1896.

The house then served as a doctor's surgery and dispensary. Dr Francis Heron was recorded as resident from 1898; the 1901 census confirms he was a general practitioner and Dispensary Medical Officer, living with his wife, two young children, his brother (an architectural draughtsman), and a female domestic servant. From 1905 the resident doctor was James Henry Moag, who lived with his sister and cousin, a chauffeur. Dr Moag was temporarily evicted from the building but returned in 1912. In 1914 the dispensary and doctor left when a new doctor's residence and dispensary was built at 49 Scarva Street.

By 1918 the house had been purchased by Joseph Sands, a poultry dealer who paid £240 for it and used a former stable and loft at the rear for poultry plucking. Other outbuildings at the time included a former piggery used as a boiler house, a byre, and a garage. In 1929 the house became a constabulary barracks, with the valuation raised to £21, likely reflecting improvements and alterations, though this change of use proved very temporary. By the early 1930s the house was once again a domestic dwelling. A valuer's survey at that time recorded accommodation comprising five bedrooms, two reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery, pantry, bathroom with cold water only, and a WC. Water was drawn by pump from a well, though electric light had been installed. The house was revalued at £20 and then lowered to £18 in 1938 following an appeal. It remained in the Sands family until at least 1957, and continues to be occupied as a private dwelling.

In common with other village properties, the house had a plot of land attached to its lease situated outside the village area. The house is listed in respect of both its architectural and its local, social, cultural, and economic historical interest, and the listing extends to the house and yard walling.