Bank of Ireland, Church Square, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5PF

Bank of Ireland, Church Square, Rathfriland

This is a two-storey, end-of-terrace bank and adjoining manager's house, with a richly decorated stucco façade, situated on the west side of Church Square at its junction with John Street, with its main elevation facing east onto the square. The building originated as a pair of mid-19th century houses, one of which was converted into a banking hall in 1875, with both properties subsequently remodelled around 1911 to their present appearance, providing the banking hall and manager's house as they stand today. The listing covers the bank, the manager's house, the front boundary wall, gates, and railings.

Roofs and Chimneys

The pitched natural slate roof runs north to south. Three smooth rendered chimneys, each with an overhanging moulded coping and four pots, serve the two gable ends and the party wall between the bank and manager's house. Two equally spaced wall-head dormers project from the front pitch — one above the centre of the bank and one towards the left side of the manager's house. Each dormer has a pitched natural slate roof, plain bargeboards, and smooth plastered walls. The bank's dormer contains a pair of small one-over-one sliding sash windows with horns in a single opening, with fixed lights to each cheek. The manager's house dormer has a single two-over-two sash and a fixed light on the right cheek.

Principal Façade

The walls are smooth rendered and painted throughout. A panelled stucco dado with dado moulding forms the ground floor cill course at base level. A run moulded stringcourse runs at three-quarter height of the ground floor, and above the windows a moulded stringcourse frames a fascia topped by a moulded cornice, which in turn forms the first floor cill course. A further moulded stringcourse runs at three-quarter height of the first floor, with a fascia above it topped by a deep eaves cornice, a plain blocking course, scotia coping, and raised panelled corners. At each corner of the front and side elevations are tapering Ionic pilasters on moulded bases: those at ground floor level rest on the dado moulding and extend up to the fascia, while those at first floor level rest on the first floor cill course and likewise extend to the fascia. Advanced plain blocks sit above each pilaster at fascia level.

The bank section is three windows wide at first floor level on the principal façade. At ground floor centre is the main entrance: a varnished timber door with six raised and fielded panels, fitted with a semicircular fanlight inset with the bank logo, set in an opening with a concave reveal and key block. Single pilasters matching those at the front corners frame this opening. Their heads meet the three-quarter height stringcourse of the ground floor, above which are large fluted and foliated corbels that rise through the fascia as plain blocks to the first floor cill course, which rises further to form a segmental pediment over the doorcase. The panel between the pediment and the door contains a decorative cartouche with festoons of cloth and flowers. A modern metal plaque is fixed to the wall to the left of the entrance.

The left and right ground floor bays of the bank are identical. Each contains two semicircular-headed windows, each fitted with two fixed vertical lights and a semicircular transom. Plain tapering pilasters frame each window, with a fluted frieze below the three-quarter height stringcourse. Above each window is a moulded architrave with a moulded key block. The spandrel between each pair of windows carries a foliated relief panel, with matching half-sized spandrels to either side. At first floor, the three windows are one-over-one sliding sashes with horns. Pilasters matching those at each end of the façade flank the central window, whose cill is obscured by the entrance pediment below. The three-quarter height stringcourse at this level extends over each window as a drip mould with a moulded key block. An angled timber flagpole is attached to the wall between the left two first floor windows.

The ground floor of the manager's house is two bays wide and is detailed in the same manner as the bank, but without panel detail below the dado moulding. The left bay contains the entrance: a six-panelled door with a semicircular transom, set in a reveal similar to that of the bank entrance and framed by similar pilasters and corbels. Here, however, the corbels support plain blocks over which the cornice continues without a pediment. The right ground floor bay has a pair of semicircular-headed one-over-one sash windows with horns, over which the stringcourse forms a hood mould. At first floor, the manager's house has two one-over-one sliding sash windows detailed as those to the bank. The left window, positioned above the front door, is flanked by pilasters matching those at the ends of the façade.

Boundary Treatment

In front of both the bank and the manager's house is a narrow paved area enclosed by a chamfered, painted and rendered plinth supporting decorative wrought iron railings of early 20th century date, with a pair of matching gates at each doorway.

South Gable

The street falls away steeply to the left of the south-facing gable, exposing the plain base course. The ground floor detailing — dado, stringcourse, fascia, and spandrels — matches that of the bank's principal façade. Two windows of the same type as those at ground floor on the main front are separated by a similarly dressed blind window. Below the right window is a night safe bearing the inscription "Hibernian Bank Ltd." Above, two first floor windows are detailed as those on the front elevation, with keystones supporting moulded blocks that align with and match the first floor stringcourse of the main façade. The eaves cornice of the front elevation does not cross the gable but is replicated at either side above the corner pilasters. The gable has a Dutch-style profile that sweeps and scrolls, capped by a shallow segmental-headed pediment below the chimney. At the centre of the gable is an applied blind roundel with a keystone hood mould and foliated festoons. Below and to either side of the roundel are three decorative pilasters: the left and right ones are fluted and rest on the first floor window key blocks, while the central one rests on a matching corbel.

Rear Return

The south gable continues to the left as the south face of a rear return, which has a pitched natural slate roof with a chimney matching those on the main block at its gable end. The ground floor drops with the street and has no base course. A large rectangular opening on the left contains a modern metal roller shutter, its head framed by foliated corbels supporting a segmental pediment; these corbel brackets align with the dado moulding of the main block. Immediately to the right of this opening is a narrow, infilled window with a moulded cill, a segmental pediment, and an eared moulded architrave. At first floor, a pair of one-over-one sliding sash windows with horns share a string cill course that continues across from the main block. The west (rear) gable of the return is blank and unembellished. The rear elevation and the right gable of the main block were not inspected.

Historical Background

A building is recorded on this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and on all subsequent maps. The first valuation town plan of Rathfriland, drawn up in 1835, shows that this corner of Church Square — then known as Church Street — was occupied by a small dwelling belonging to one John Fagan (also recorded as Fegan), measuring 21 feet by 22½ feet by 10 feet, with three further properties to the north belonging to Robert Leech, James McGowan, and a member of the Fagan family respectively. By around 1861, the site had been significantly altered, with a large two-and-a-half-storey building in place, containing a post office, grocery shop, and dwelling, all held by John Fegan. The annual valuation revision books record that around 1875 a large southern portion of this building — corresponding to the present bank section — was leased by Richard Fegan to the Hibernian Bank, with the northern portion continuing as a private dwelling. This arrangement persisted until around 1911, when the bank acquired the dwelling as well and remodelled both properties to create the banking hall and manager's house seen today. The premises were subsequently taken over by the Bank of Ireland following its acquisition of the Hibernian Bank. The manager's house remained in residential occupation until around 1982.