32 Main Street, Scarva, Banbridge, County Down, BT32 3NQ

32 Main Street, Scarva — Two-Storey Mid-Terrace Townhouse with Coach House, pre-dating 1830

This is a two-storey, three-bay mid-terrace townhouse with an adjoining two-storey coach house, built in the late 18th or early 19th century and predating 1830. It sits centrally in the village on the east side of Main Street, facing onto the landscaped public area beyond which runs the Newry Canal. The building follows a rectangular plan form with a rear outbuilding attached. Its style and character have remained largely unaltered, much historic fabric survives in good condition, and it is considered the best surviving building in the terrace — a strong example of a substantial village premises of its era.

Exterior — Main House

The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles and cement coping. Rainwater goods are cast iron. The chimney is smooth rendered with corbelled courses and pots. The walls are finished in ruled-and-lined render with rusticated long-and-short quoins, a projected plinth course, and a corbelled eaves course. Windows are 1-over-1 timber sliding sashes with masonry cills and stop-end chamfered heads and jambs. The front door is a replacement timber door with geometric coloured glass and a rectangular overlight; an etched emblem is located in the bottom left pane.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged, with the front door centrally placed and a single window on either side. The three first-floor windows are slightly diminished in height compared to those below.

Exterior — Coach House and Outbuildings

The left gable of the main house is abutted by an asymmetrical two-storey outbuilding finished in painted roughcast render, with eaves and ridge levels matching the main house. This section has two timber sheeted doors: the right one gives access to the rear passageway, and the left one, which has an overlight, accesses the coach house. A large double-leaf timber sheeted door with original ironmongery is located to the left. There are also two timber sheeted loading doors — one with a cill and one set on plinth blocks — and quoins to the left gable.

The coach house is extended to the rear by a two-storey gabled coachmaster's house, with a variety of timber sheeted doors and lattice lights facing the rear yard, an artificial slate roof, and smooth rendered walling.

The rear elevation of the main house is asymmetrically arranged with a variety of timber sliding sash windows and a timber casement to the ground-floor left. Concrete replacement cills are present throughout. The rear door is timber with glazed upper panels and is sheltered by a lean-to corrugated plastic canopy supported on plain columns. The ground-floor left is abutted by a lean-to outbuilding. The right gable adjoins the Scarva Coal Store.

Setting and Rear Yard

The building forms part of a continuous terrace running the full length of the east side of Main Street. To the rear is a small yard accessed through a barrel-vaulted passageway. The yard is enclosed by a variety of single-storey outbuildings with corrugated-iron and natural slate lean-to roofs backing onto rubble masonry retaining walls. Walling is painted brick with timber sheeted doors and fixed metal-frame windows. Interiors are painted masonry and brick with exposed timber roof structures; some original fireplaces remain. Masonry steps lead up to the rear garden, with wrought-iron gates and a gas lamp over a masonry pier at the foot of the steps. The front of the house faces onto the landscaped public area, beyond which runs the Newry Canal.

Interior

The floor tiling in the entrance hallway displays Masonic symbols, which may date from the early 20th century occupation of the house.

Historical Background

The building is of late 18th or early 19th century date, originally lime-rendered, and is likely among the earlier buildings to be constructed in Scarva. It has evolved over time and now presents an appearance typical of 19th century village tenements. It is the most substantial structure on the Main Street. A suggestion has been made that it formerly served as a coaching inn, or that the outbuilding was used to store cargoes transported along the Newry Canal, but no corroborating evidence for either supposition has been found.

The village of Scarva was founded in 1746 by John Reilly of Scarva House, beside the newly opened Newry Canal. The canal had opened in 1742 to connect Carlingford Lough with Lough Neagh, principally as a means of bringing coal from east Tyrone to Dublin quickly and cheaply (McCutcheon). Reilly obtained a patent to hold fairs and markets in anticipation of developing the town, and built a small dock and quay. Taylor and Skinner's 1777 map shows early development concentrated around the bridge over the canal. The 1797 Topographica Hibernica describes Scarva as a small, neat village with a large salt works, where fairs were held four times a year. By 1829, Capper's Topographical Dictionary records a population of 170 living in 33 houses. The earliest buildings are likely those nearest the bridge, with the town extending northwards through the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

By 1875 traffic along the Newry Canal was bringing cargoes of turf to Scarva, using the dock and quay for lighters, though the market was no longer being held (Knox). The population remained relatively steady through the 19th century, standing at 157 in 1910.

The house appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40, when the occupier was Francis McAlevey and the dwelling and outbuilding were valued at £8. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 records the house as the property of J.T. Reilly, let to Francis McAlevey, valued at £13 10s and let for £3 17s on a perpetual lease. At that time, dimensions are given for the house, two two-storey outbuildings, and two single-storey outbuildings. Two single-storey thatched cottages are recorded adjoining the house. Subsequent recorded occupiers include Samuel Hill (1884), John Duncan (1903), James Martin (1906), and Sarah Jane Martin (1921). The 1901 census lists the occupier as William Boyce, though his census return is missing. The 1911 census records James Mulligan Martin, mason and farmer, living there with his wife and four children aged between 2 and 10.

At the First General Revaluation of 1933–34, the occupier was Sarah Jane Martin, widow of James Mulligan Martin. The building was revalued at £18, then reduced to £12 on appeal. The accommodation at that time comprised a kitchen, scullery, two rooms, three bedrooms, and offices, all described as being in good condition. The valuer noted that Sarah Jane Martin was 80 years old in 1949, and that the house was then purchased by Violet Jones.

The adjoining vernacular houses were demolished in the 1940s and replaced by a motor garage, valued at £15, constructed of concrete and roofed with corrugated asbestos at a cost of approximately £450. The occupier was Chambers Gillespie, who leased the building from Marjorie M. Dunlop. This structure, now a coal store, adjoins the right gable of the main house. Like many similar tenements in Irish towns and villages, this building originally had a plot of land outside the village attached to it; when that land was later let separately, the outbuildings, which would previously have had an agricultural use, became redundant. The building was listed in 1977 and remains in use as a dwelling.