Enville, 11 Castlewellan Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4AX

Enville, 11 Castlewellan Road, Banbridge

A two-storey with attic, five-bay Victorian merchant's dwelling built around 1845, situated on the Castlewellan Road close to Banbridge town centre, on a rectangular plan form. The building originally formed part of the same commercial complex as the adjoining warehouse (now listed separately), and the two together represent a relatively rare surviving example of a yarn and linen warehouse remaining virtually intact alongside the main house in its original context. Together they are of considerable group value and significant interest in understanding the commercial development of Banbridge.

Exterior

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles. The overhanging eaves are detailed with patera to the soffits and fascia, and paired moulded eaves brackets — features which were singled out for praise in the first survey of 1969 as "very delicately-detailed." The rainwater goods are ogee-moulded cast iron. Roof lights have been replaced. The walls are stucco rendered with rusticated channelling and raised quoins; the chimneystacks have been removed. Windows throughout are 6/6 timber sliding sash with no horns, set within moulded surrounds beneath projected moulded canopies, with a continuous moulded cill course running across the first floor windows.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged. The front door sits left of centre, with a single window to either side of it and a single plate glass display window inserted to the far right — a change carried out when the building was converted into a commercial showroom, though the 1969 survey noted that "its introduction was effected with skill and sensitivity… the moulding and sill skilfully carried through," preserving the original character of the façade. The five first-floor windows are uniform. The front door itself is a four-panelled timber door with bolection mouldings, a central divide, and brass ironmongery. It is set into a granite doorcase comprising masonry squared columns with a squared-headed overlight, framed by moulded architraves with decorative scrolled brackets supporting a moulded canopy cornice.

The left gable is abutted by the adjoining building. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with ruled-and-lined painted render. It has two replacement ground-floor doors and replacement timber-framed casement windows, a round-headed fixed landing light with horizontal glazing bars, and three first-floor windows. The right gable is asymmetrically arranged and incorporates a wedge-shaped single-storey flat-roofed abutment with a shop front, its detailing generally matching the principal building. It has two first-floor windows, the left of which has been changed to a glazed door, and two segmental-arched 3/6 timber sliding sash attic windows.

Interior

The interior layout and detailing has largely survived, with only minor loss of historic fabric. The building is considered a fine example of a merchant's dwelling with much good detailing remaining.

Setting

The building forms part of the street frontage associated with the adjoining warehouse. To the rear there is a large yard now used as a car park serving commercial units within the enclosure.

Historical Background

Although the building is dated to around 1845, a structure is recorded on the site as early as 1833 on the first edition Ordnance Survey maps. Whether that earlier structure was the current dwelling is not certain, but Enville House had definitely been erected by 1860, when the second edition map shows it adjoining Mill Court.

Griffith's Valuation of around 1863 records that both Enville and the adjoining complex — described as a linen and yarn store — were owned by William Waugh, a local linen manufacturer, Justice of the Peace, and magistrate for Banbridge. The house and stores were jointly valued at £128. Annual Revisions show that Waugh occupied both the house and the adjoining store until 1872, when the store passed to a Mr James C. Stuart. Waugh continued to be listed as occupant of the house — individually valued at £48 after 1874 — until 1881.

In 1881 Joseph Morton took possession of both the house and the adjoining former linen and yarn store, converting the latter into a warehouse for his provisions business. Morton was a provision and seed merchant who had originally operated out of offices on Newry Street from at least 1843 to 1861 before taking the lease on the Castlewellan Road site. He worked alongside his son, also named Joseph, until his death around 1880, after which the business continued under the name "Joseph Morton, provision and seed merchant." Before Morton took possession, the store had been individually valued at £90 and described as "reeling, winding, warping and yarn stores"; under Morton it was reclassified as "grass and seed stores" and reduced in value to £60, a reduction the valuer in 1886 attributed to the store being "very little used."

Joseph Morton Junior continued to occupy Enville House until the early 1930s, letting the adjoining stores to A. Cross & Sons from 1899. The 1901 census records Joseph Morton Junior (aged 58, Presbyterian) residing at Enville with his wife Grace (47) and their ten children. The census building return classified Enville as a first-class dwelling of nine rooms, with a stable, two cow houses, and a store among its rear outbuildings. By the 1911 census the site was little changed, though only a single stable was recorded among the outbuildings. A. Cross & Sons vacated the adjoining premises in 1922, at which point Morton reoccupied them. Joseph Morton resided at Enville until his death in 1931; by his widow's death in 1934 the family had moved to Moorlands, though his son Reginald was still recorded as residing at Enville in 1935.

Enville House and the adjoining warehouse were purchased by the Northern Ireland Electricity Board in the 1950s and used as an electricity showroom until at least 1969, when the first survey record was made. It was at this time that two ground-floor windows were replaced with a single large plate glass display window, and the single-storey flat-roofed shop extension to the north gable was most likely added. The building was listed in 1977. It has continued in commercial use since then, most recently housing a dry cleaner's on the ground floor with the upper floors converted into modern offices.