73-75 Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3JL

73–75 Bridge Street, Banbridge — Former Linen Stores, built c.1840

This is a three-storey, five-bay, mid-terrace former linen and yarn store built around 1840, located at the north end of Bridge Street on the east side, forming part of a terrace opposite the junction with Downshire Road. The building has a rectangular plan with a large rear return, and sits within a group of related historic buildings representing successive stages of development at this end of the town. The River Bann flows directly to the rear of the site, and the surrounding buildings form the commercial centre of Banbridge, comprising two- and three-storey 19th- and 20th-century structures to the north and south.

Architectural Description

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles. Rainwater goods are decorative cast-iron half-circle gutters with box downpipes. External walls are finished in ruled-and-lined painted render. Windows throughout are 1-over-1 replacement uPVC sliding sashes (casements to the rear), set above painted masonry cills.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged. At ground floor level there is a door to the right, flanked by moulded pilasters, and a modern replacement glazed shopfront extending to the far left, incorporating a replica timber pilaster. Above, five uniformly spaced first-floor windows are each matched by a second-floor window directly above. The upper floors have retained their general character and proportion, and there is evidence that some historic fabric and detailing survive internally, though the ground floor has been significantly altered. The left gable is abutted by the adjoining building at No. 77 Bridge Street.

The rear elevation is abutted by a large modern three-storey gable-ended return, three windows wide, and is considered of no architectural interest. To the left face of this modern return there is abutted a diminished three-storey historic return with a pitched roof, which is in an advanced state of decay. The rear return itself has been replaced.

Historical Background

Nos. 71–75 Bridge Street were either converted from, or built to replace, a building previously used as a linen and yarn store. Griffith's Valuation records that the former linen and yarn stores on this site were let by linen manufacturers McConnell, Finlay & Co., and were valued at £65. Finlay also owned the adjoining No. 69 Bridge Street around 1860.

Between 1863 and 1870, ownership passed to Samuel Hill of Solitude House, who also owned a flour mill, kiln, and stores a few metres to the south on Bridge Street. From 1864, Samuel Hill let the linen and yarn store and offices — incorporating Nos. 71–75 — to William Waugh, a linen merchant and Justice of the Peace for Banbridge, who resided at 'The Fort' in Ballyvalley.

Prior to 1870, Nos. 71–75 were recorded as a single entry in the Annual Revisions. In 1870, the former linen and yarn stores were deleted from the valuation sources and individual records were created for Nos. 71, 73, and 75. Whether this change reflected a conversion or a complete rebuild is not certain; however, field research and the findings of the First Survey (1969) suggest the terrace was constructed around 1840, making it likely that the former stores were simply converted into private dwellings and commercial premises around 1870.

Between the 1870s and 1890s, local trader James Simms formed a small commercial arcade at the bottom of Bridge Street incorporating Nos. 71–75. Photographs from the turn of the 20th century show a long shop sign running between the ground and first floors across Nos. 71–75 (subsequently replaced by individual signs for each building). The surviving fixed lettering spelling 'Arcade', situated between the first- and second-storey windows of No. 71, also dates from this period.

No. 73 Bridge Street

No. 73 was originally valued at £38 and was not occupied until 1871, when James Simms took possession; the value of the site was raised to £40 in the same year. In 1871 ownership passed to James C. Stuart, a local landowner who held over 1,200 acres around Banbridge. Simms operated a druggist and grocery business from the premises and continued to reside there with his family until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. The value of the site was raised to £47 around 1893 when an additional store was built.

The 1901 Census records that James Simms (aged 51, Presbyterian) lived at No. 73 with his wife Marianna and their six children, the eldest of whom, George Herbert, worked as a druggist alongside his father. Simms also employed a number of apprentices who boarded at the premises. The 1911 Census building return described No. 73 as a first-class dwelling and shop consisting of 13 rooms, with several outbuildings including a stable, coach house, turf house, workshop, and store. In 1910, ownership of the property reverted to Louisa Hill of Solitude House — widow of Samuel Hill, who had died in 1891 — and she was noted as lessor until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

No. 75 Bridge Street

No. 75 was converted alongside No. 73 around 1870 and was originally valued at £35, though it was not occupied until 1872 when a Mr H. W. Smyth came into possession. Ownership passed to James C. Stuart at the same time he acquired No. 73. Around 1880, James Simms — already occupying No. 73 — came into possession of No. 75, which he converted into a post office; this resulted in a reduction in the site's value to £27. Simms continued to operate the post office until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. As with No. 73, ownership of No. 75 reverted to Louisa Hill of Solitude House in 1910.

Survey and Listing History

During the First Survey in 1969, Nos. 73–75 were recorded under a single entry. A subsequent additional inspection recognised the split in the building: No. 73 was assigned its own record and No. 75 a separate record. Nos. 73 and 75 were individually listed in 1977. More recently, field research found that the ground floors of Nos. 73–75 had been combined into a single shop — at the time of survey housing a tanning salon — and both properties are now recorded together under a single record. This record incorporates the former separate record for No. 75.