5 Church Street, Dromore, Banbridge, Co Down, BT25 1AA

5 Church Street is a three-storey, three-bay corner commercial premises with its original shop-front, built in 1902 on the south side of Church Street in Dromore town centre. The building occupies a site with a documented history stretching back before the first Ordnance Survey of 1833, and may incorporate fabric from earlier structures. It is one of the last traditional turn-of-the-century shop-fronts of its type surviving in Dromore.

FORM AND PLAN

The building is rectangular on plan and angled to the southwest, with a two-storey modern return to the rear. The roof is a pitched natural slate construction with a raked cornice that returns to approximate an open pediment; there is a ball finial to the gable and a replacement rendered chimneystack. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are carried on projecting eaves.

EXTERIOR

The walling to the principal elevation is ruled-and-lined painted render with a moulded string course between the upper floors; ruled-and-lined render is used elsewhere on the building. The principal elevation faces northeast and is dominated at upper levels by a double-height recessed round-headed canted window spanning the first and second floors, with a label mould and keyblock. This canted window appears to be a modern replacement and has a modern decorated apron panel between floors. Plate-glass windows occupy the shop-front at ground floor. To the east elevation, the windows are 1/1 timber-framed sashes with horns and projecting painted sills.

The full-width ground-floor shop-front is an unusually intact example of its type. It comprises two large plate-glass windows set on rendered stall risers, with decorative glazing bars to their upper sections and timber divisions with carved brackets, flanking a central fully-glazed recessed doorway. The glazed timber door is surmounted by a transom light, and the porch floor and ceiling are finished in black and white geometric tiles and timber sheeting respectively. A modern fascia with cornice sits above, and the porch is enclosed by a modern timber gate.

The southeast elevation is angled at the left and diminished to second-floor level. It features a projecting chimneybreast with a corbelled base, windows to the first and second floors, and a 3/3 timber-framed sash at ground floor. The angled bay has windows to the first and second floors, a small 1/1 window to the ground floor left, and a recessed bolection-moulded four-panel timber door with brass door furniture, accessed by a painted render step and surmounted by a transom light with applied lettering reading "GUNNING HOUSE." The southwest elevation is abutted by the two-storey return, which extends further to the southwest. This elevation has a variety of timber-framed sash windows with horns and a replacement timber-sheeted entrance door at the left. The northwest elevation is abutted by an adjoining building.

SETTING

The building sits directly on the street frontage. An alleyway to the southeast leads to a rear garden enclosed by a corrugated metal gate.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

A building is recorded on this site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833. The Townland Valuation of 1828–40 lists a dwelling house and, abutting the rear return, a corn mill in separate ownership. The house, outbuildings and corn mill were valued at £12 12s and £8 respectively, with Edward McCartney and Thomas Waring recorded as occupiers.

By the time of Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), the property was divided. The front part facing the street was occupied first by John Drake, a spirit and porter dealer (recorded in the 1852 Directory), then by William John Agnew, and was leased from Edward McCartney, who by this time occupied the adjacent corn mill and was working as a grocer and miller (1852 and 1861 Directories). The shop and yard were valued at £10, with rent of £12 "at will," meaning either party could terminate the lease at any time. The building at this date was three storeys and measured 6 by 7 yards, with a two-storey return measuring 4 by 7 yards. In the early 1860s a new tenant had recently taken the premises, which were being repaired and refurbished with a new shop-front installed. A further rear return (still present) and a kitchen formed part of a separate tenement held by McCartney, connected to his corn mill by a doorway that was subsequently closed up. The corn mill, now demolished, abutted the return of the present house and was water-powered from the River Lagan; its French burr grinder and Irish sheller were worked approximately sixteen hours a day for nine months of the year.

The shop passed through a succession of tenants in the latter part of the 19th century: Andrew Bonnar, saddler (from 1877); William Cowden MD (1881); William Henry (1884); William Saul, woollen draper and haberdasher (1886 and 1880 Directory); John McAherty (1889); Miss Graham, a laundress (1893, also recorded in the 1901 census); and Thomas Wilkinson, boot maker (1899). The next recorded occupant was Joseph Hale, a butcher — notable for describing himself as an agnostic in the census — who is believed to have rebuilt the premises in 1902, an event reflected in a rise in valuation to £21. Early photographs of the Wednesday fowl and pork market at Dromore, referenced by Hanna and Quail, appear to show sides of meat hanging at the front of the shop.

By 1907 the premises were vacant. In 1908 Thomas Wilkinson returned as a boot maker and leather merchant. The 1911 census records him as resident with his wife and four young sons aged between one and five. The boot shop at that time had three windows to the front façade, seven rooms, and was designated second class. In 1917 the premises passed to James Ervine, proprietor of Ervine & Co, Drapers, Boot and Shoe Merchants and Haberdashers; the shop was at one time known as the Excel Boot and Shoe Store. Subsequent occupants included Robert Beattie (1933), Thomas Bloomfield (1935), and Francis Silcock, who purchased the house and shop in the 1940s for £1,250. During part of the 1930s the house and shop were let separately; valuer's notes from this period include a plan showing the shop to the front and living accommodation to the rear, the latter comprising three bedrooms, two reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery and WC, with no bathroom at that stage. In the 1950s the property was sold to M. E. Neeson. The shop has most recently been used as a Sports Injury and Rehabilitation Centre and is currently vacant.