Former RUC Barracks, Church Square, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4AT

Former RUC Barracks, Church Square, Banbridge

This is a former police barracks built around 1860, situated on the north side of Church Square in Banbridge town centre. It is one of the earliest purpose-designed police stations surviving in Ireland in near-original condition, and is doubly significant as the building originally also housed the rent office of the Downshire Estate — an unusual dual function reflected in the way it was assessed separately in Griffith's Valuation of 1863, which valued the police barracks at £25 and the estate rent office at £10. The building is well-proportioned in typical mid-Victorian style, robust in character despite some loss of architectural detailing, and remains largely as built. It has been vacant since 1991 and has fallen into a state of disrepair. The adjoining Sergeant's House to the north is also a listed building.

Architecture and Appearance

The building is two storeys over a basement, rectangular in plan, constructed of rock-faced black stone laid in courses. Yellow brick is used throughout as a dressing material: there are yellow brick quoins at the corners, a yellow brick plat-band running between the ground and first floors, and yellow brick surrounds to the windows. The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate, with a central red brick chimney stack. The projecting eaves are corbelled in red and yellow brick, with paired moulded yellow brick brackets, and fitted with cast-iron ogee rainwater goods.

The windows are mainly 6-over-6 timber sliding sash (where they survive), slightly reduced in height at first-floor level, with projecting granite sills.

The principal elevation faces southeast and is four windows wide on each floor, with the windows slightly grouped towards either side. To the southwest, a projecting red brick porch — reached by five steps — contains a window to its southwest face and a bricked-up doorway; it abuts the main building at ground-floor and basement level. A full-height return to the rear abuts the northwest elevation, with windows at first-floor, ground-floor, and basement levels; this elevation is partially obscured at the right by a Portacabin. The northeast elevation has three first-floor windows, a projecting porch at ground-floor centre flanked by two windows, a timber-sheeted door at basement centre, a window to the left, and a single-storey projection to the right. A lower two-storey extension abuts the building to the northeast, with two windows on its ground floor and a doorway at basement level to the right.

History

The building does not appear on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860 but is recorded in Griffith's Valuation of 1863. The Griffith's fieldbook describes the rent office accommodation as comprising a porch, a return, and "two good rooms," with the constabulary barracks occupying the remainder of the building. The barracks is first named and shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903. The Ulster Towns Directory for 1877 records that the Downshire Office was administered by J. T. Reilly as agent of the estate.

By 1894 the Annual Revisions described the building as "very substantially built and in good repair," noting an enclosed yard to the rear, a yard pump providing a good water supply, and satisfactory drainage and sanitary arrangements.

The 1901 Census return listed seven policemen in residence: a Head Constable, a Sergeant, and five Constables. All were single — married men were generally not expected to live at a barracks. Most came from rural farming backgrounds and more than half were Catholic, having been born in various counties including King's County, Kerry, Monaghan, Donegal, and Tyrone. By 1911 one additional officer had been added, but the barracks otherwise remained of similar composition. The Census building return classified the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks as a first-class building, with a stable and coach house as its only outbuildings.

In 1909 the estate office was removed from the valuation lists and the Royal Irish Constabulary took over the entire building, which was then valued at £35. Following Partition in 1923, the Royal Ulster Constabulary continued to occupy the premises. In 1925 the Ministry of Home Affairs purchased the barracks for £1,200. By 1927 its rateable value had risen to £59, reflecting extensions to the rear that provided new quarters for the Head Constable: a three-bedroom house with kitchen, sitting room, pantry, bathroom, and WC.

In 1969 the architectural historian C. E. B. Brett described the building as "a square Blackstone building... with yellow brick dressings... good ironwork railings; dour but full of character, rather like a policeman's uniform." The RUC continued to occupy the barracks until 1991, when a new station was built on the Castlewellan Road. The building has remained vacant since that time.

Setting

The building is prominently located at the centre of Church Square, directly south of the Masonic Hall and facing the Crozier Monument. It sits at a lower level than the road. Modern metal security fencing, metal gates, and a metal security hut on a stone plinth have been added to the southeast elevation, detracting from the building's appearance and compromising its setting. The River Bann flows along the west side of the site, crossed to the southwest by a bridge. The Sergeant's House lies to the north, accessed via an entrance north of the Masonic Hall.