20 Main St, Scarva, Craigavon, Co Down, BT63 6LS

A two-storey, four-bay mid-terrace building of late 18th or early 19th century date, predating 1830, originally comprising a pair of townhouses and now in commercial use. It is located on the east side of Main Street, Scarva, north of the village centre.

The building is constructed in brick with painted dashed walling, a smooth plinth band and platband, and contrasting raised reveals to windows and doors. The pitched natural slate roof (currently under safety netting due to slipping slates) is fitted with clay ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods, with a brick chimneystack. The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged. The left two bays contain a four-panelled timber door with glazed upper panels, with a single window to the right; two first-floor windows sit directly above. The right two bays have a single ground-floor window to the left with a timber-sheeted door to the far right; two first-floor windows sit directly above. A plain string course runs at first-floor level. The ground floor contains 6/6 exposed box timber sliding sash windows, with 3/6 sashes to the left pair of first-floor windows and 6/3 sashes to the right pair; several glazing bars have been removed. The left two bays formerly comprised one individual dwelling, while the right two bays formed the second. The left gable is abutted by 18 Main Street and the right gable by 22 Main Street. The rear elevation is not visible from the street, backed by a heavily vegetated embankment. The building forms part of a continuous terrace running the full length of the east side of Main Street, with a landscaped public area opposite and the Newry Canal beyond.

The building was originally lime-rendered and is likely to be one of the later structures constructed in Scarva. The large windows served to admit light for weavers working with handlooms; weaving was an important local industry, with 38 looms recorded as 'at full work' in 1834 and several inhabitants still recorded as weavers in the 1901 census. The village of Scarva was founded beside the newly-opened Newry Canal in 1746 by John Reilly of Scarva House. The canal, opened in 1742, connected Carlingford Lough with Lough Neagh to transport coal from east Tyrone to Dublin. Early development concentrated around the canal bridge, with the town extending northwards during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. John Reilly obtained a patent for holding fairs and markets and building a small dock and quay. Taylor and Skinner's 1777 map shows the early town development around the bridge. The 1797 Topographica Hibernica describes Scarva as a 'small neat village' with a large 'salt work' holding fairs four times yearly. By 1829, Capper's Topographical Dictionary recorded a population of 170 in 33 houses. By 1875, the Newry Canal was bringing cargoes of turf to the dock and quay for lighters, though the market had ceased. The population remained reasonably steady through the 19th century, standing at 157 in 1910.

The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and was listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40 as one of six houses exempt from valuation due to insufficient taxable value. At Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), the landlord was George Chapman. The property comprised two separate dwellings of identical size, one with a garden and one without, valued at £2.15s and £2.10s respectively, with annual rents of £3.10s and weekly rent of 1s.4d. Early occupiers included Henry Kelly and Mary Welsher, followed by James McKane. Occupiers recorded over subsequent decades included Archibald Neal, Hugh Bailey (1886), Anne McKay (1898), Anne Taylor (1902), William Lunn (1910), Thomas Allen (1911), Robert McKeown (1913), Robert Walker (1918), Frank Donnelly (1919), Herbert Martin (1921) and Patrick Maguire (1927). The second house was occupied by Denis O'Brien (1898) and Mary O'Brien (1905). The 1901 census shows the first house vacant while Denis O'Brien, a railway labourer, occupied the second with his wife, two children, his mother-in-law (a linen weaver) and his cousin (a domestic servant). By 1911 Mary O'Brien was a widow working as a seamstress, supporting two children and her aged aunt. The First General Revaluation (1933–34) listed Mary O'Brien and Patrick Maguire as occupiers, with both houses revalued at £2.15s and rents of 2s.6d each. The accommodation comprised a kitchen, reception room and two bedrooms, with one house having a scullery in the return. The building was subsequently used as a shop and is now vacant. Historic character and detailing have remained largely unaltered, making it representative of the premises that constitute the main street, many of which have been degraded by alterations.