34-44 Dromore Street, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5LU

A terrace of six two-storey, two-bay urban vernacular dwellings positioned on the west side of Dromore Street in Rathfriland, stepping down the hill in three pairs. Built in the mid-19th century (first appearing on the 1860 Ordnance Survey 1:500 map but absent from the 1833 edition), the terrace forms an attractive composition at the junction of two main routes into the town.

Each pair of houses shares a pitched natural slate roof with half-round metal rainwater goods, now in poor repair. The left pair (Nos 34-36) has rendered chimneys with advanced coping to each gable, as does the central and right pairs. A rendered skew is present to the end north gable. The front walls are lined in cement render, unpainted. Each pair is a mirror image, with a single tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the centre (party wall) and windows to the outer bay. The exposed timber door frames rest on painted granite base blocks. Windows are single to each floor, all 2/2 vertically divided sashes with horns and unpainted granite cills, diminished in size at first-floor level. The first-floor window of No. 38 is a 1/1 sash with horns; No. 44 has painted granite cills. A rendered boundary wall continues to the south at the left end of the front elevation. The left gable is rendered and blank, embanked with earth to first-floor level, while the right gable is rendered and blank with exposed granite rubble.

The rear elevations are constructed of rubble granite with brick dressings to openings, again mirrored within each pair. Each pair shares a single-storey corrugated metal lean-to porch at the centre. No. 40's lean-to has partly collapsed. The rear windows vary: No. 40 has a 1/1 sash to ground floor left, a 6/1 sash (formerly 6/3) to first floor, and a narrow three-paned fixed light serving the stairwell above the lean-to. No. 42's lean-to is at ground floor left; at ground floor right is a 6/3 timber sash without horns, and above it a 2/2 sash with horns at first floor. A narrow three-paned fixed window serves the stairwell at first floor left. No. 44's lean-to abuts ground floor right; at ground floor left is a 6/3 sliding sash without horns featuring a bull's-eye pane to the lower sash, with a 2-paned fixed window above at first floor. A narrow fixed 2x3 window serving the stairwell is positioned at first floor right. Nos 34, 36 and 38 were not internally inspected due to dense overgrown vegetation but appear consistent with the others.

The buildings retain their original external details. Where inspected internally, they remain little altered, each following a two up, two down plan form with narrow winding stairs. Each property has a rear yard enclosed by rendered rubble walls, with a single-storey outhouse to the west side. The outhouses have pitched natural slate roofs and rubble walls, each with a sheeted door and window to the yard and a single door on the rear wall.

Historical records indicate mid-19th-century construction. A valuation book of circa 1862 values each house at £2 5s. 0d. with a weekly rent of 1s. 2d. per house. The terrace was occupied into the late 20th century; Hugh Woods is believed to have been the last resident, vacating No. 42 in 1997. Latterly, residents paid as little as 15 pence rent. The site is currently recorded as derelict.