71 Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3JL

71 Bridge Street, Banbridge is a three-storey, four-bay mid-terrace former linen stores, 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 added around 1893. It is privately owned and currently operates as a shop, though it was vacant at the time of survey.

Architectural Description

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged, with a slight splay at the far left. The walling is ruled-and-lined painted render throughout. The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, and the rainwater goods are decorative cast-iron, ogee-moulded, carried on moulded corbels with decorative moulded brackets.

The windows are timber 1-over-1 sliding sashes with horns and painted masonry cills, though some uPVC replacements are also present. Four raised-and-fielded panelled timber doors feature bolection mouldings, each with a decorative square-headed leaded overlight above. At ground floor level, the door sits to the left, with a modern replacement glazed shop front extending to the far right. The first floor has four uniformly arranged windows, with slightly diminished second floor windows directly above. Individually fixed lettering spelling "ARCADE" is positioned between the first and second floor levels.

The left gable abuts the adjoining building to the north (part of the same group). The right gable abuts the adjoining building to the south (also part of the group). The right cheek is abutted by a diminished three-storey adjoining return that does not form part of these premises.

The rear elevation is abutted by an attached hipped three-storey-over-basement rear return, added around 1893. A light well is present to the right bay. The rear elevation of this extension features paired windows of varying sizes to all floors on the right; the basement windows are blocked up; and a cantilevered toilet is located between the second and third floors on the left. The left cheek of the rear extension is partially abutted by the adjoining building, with three windows over.

Setting

The building forms part of a three-storey terrace, with adjoining terraced properties to the north and south. The River Bann flows directly adjacent to the rear of the site. The surrounding buildings make up the commercial centre of Banbridge, comprising two- and three-storey 19th and 20th century buildings. The property forms part of a group (with nos 69–75 Bridge Street) representing the ongoing stages of development at this end of the town.

Historical Background

The site of nos 71–75 Bridge Street was originally occupied by a linen and yarn store. Griffith's Valuation of 1863 records that these stores were let by local linen manufacturers McConnell, Finlay & Co. and were valued at £65. Finlay also owned the adjoining no. 69 Bridge Street at around that time.

Between 1863 and 1870, ownership passed to Samuel Hill of Solitude House, who also owned a flour mill, kiln, and stores a short distance to the south on Bridge Street. From 1864, Samuel Hill let the linen and yarn store and offices to William Waugh, a linen merchant and Justice of the Peace for Banbridge, who resided at The Fort in Ballyvalley and maintained offices on Dromore Street.

Until 1870, nos 71–75 were valued as a single building. In that year the former linen, yarn store, and offices were deleted from the Annual Revisions and individual valuations for nos 71, 73, and 75 were created. It is not known whether this change resulted from a conversion or a rebuild; however, field research and the findings of the First Survey of 1977 suggest the terrace was constructed around 1840, making it likely the former stores were simply converted into private dwellings and commercial premises around 1870.

No. 71 was initially valued at £35 and described as a private dwelling and shop. It was not occupied until 1871, when Robert King came into possession of the site. In the same year its value was increased to £47 following its conversion into commercial premises. Ownership passed to James C. Stuart in 1872 — a local landowner who held over 1,200 acres around Banbridge — and over the following decade several tenants briefly occupied the property. In 1882, Robert Rea became the new owner when Stuart sold the building, coinciding with a reduction in the site's value to £38.

In 1886 the property was taken on by Thomas Young & Co., a drapers company that would continue to operate from the site for approximately 80 years. In 1893, the addition of the large rear return and renovations to the shop increased the value of the property to £46. In that same year, James Simms — who operated the adjoining nos 73–75 Bridge Street — purchased the building from Robert Rea for £315. Between the 1870s and 1890s, Simms occupied the adjoining properties and formed a small commercial arcade at the bottom of Bridge Street incorporating nos 71–75. Photographs from the turn of the 20th century show that a long shop sign ran between the ground and first floor along the full frontage of nos 71–75 (since replaced with individual signs for each building), while the surviving fixed lettering "ARCADE" between the first and second floor windows also dates from this period.

The 1901 Census records that Thomas Young (aged 46, Presbyterian) operated a drapery business from no. 71. The Building Return describes it as a first-class shop comprising nine rooms, with a number of outbuildings to the rear including a stable, coach house, piggery, boiling house, and store — all of which were subsequently replaced by the large modern rear return constructed by 1969–70. Thomas Young continued the business until his death in 1910, whereupon his widow, Margaret Jane Young, took over sole occupancy. The 1911 Census notes that Margaret's son Joseph (aged 17) worked as an apprentice draper, and that for a time the business was managed by a Robert Speer, the drapery manager. By 1911, the outbuildings had been greatly reduced to a shed and a store. The value of the shop and dwelling remained at £46 until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

Margaret Jane Young died in 1940, aged 85, leaving the house and family drapery business to her children. The Young family continued to operate the drapery for a further twenty years. Joseph Young, a local councillor and Justice of the Peace, was the last family member to operate the business, which closed in the 1960s. The building was listed in 1977.