43 Bowling Green, Strabane, County Tyrone, BT82 8BW

43 Bowling Green, Strabane, County Tyrone

This is a three-storey terraced townhouse of around 1835, one of an almost identical and almost certainly contemporary late Georgian pair. It is now used as a beauty salon, having been converted in 2001. It is a now rare example of a substantial late Georgian townhouse within Strabane that still retains much of its internal layout and original detailing. The listing covers the original house and its railings.

The property sits within the terrace on the east side of Bowling Green, with its front elevation facing south-west. The façade is asymmetrical. On the ground floor to the right is the main entrance, consisting of a panelled timber door beneath a semicircular fanlight with radial tracery, all set within a moulded surround featuring a vermiculated keystone. The doorway is reached by a flight of stone steps with simple wrought-iron railings, some of which have urn finials; these railings continue around the basement area below. The steps are shared with the entrance to the neighbouring property to the south-east. To the left of the entrance is a window with a horned timber sash frame with Georgian panes in a six-over-six arrangement, set within a moulded surround with a keystone. The first floor has two similar windows, though without keystones, and the second floor has two shorter versions with three panes over six. At basement level there is a window to the left, similar in character to those on the second floor but without a surround and fitted with wrought-iron security bars. To the right of this, on the north-west-facing wall that supports the entrance steps, there is a doorway with a sheeted timber door.

The front façade is finished in painted rusticated render at ground-floor level, painted plain render above, and painted roughcast at basement level. Only a small section of the north-west gable is visible; it is rendered, and several large projecting chimney breasts rise against it.

To the left-hand side of the rear elevation there is a two-storey return with a shallow-pitched lean-to roof. On the north-east-facing rear façade of this return, there is a ground-floor window to the left with a horned timber sash frame in a one-over-one arrangement, and to the right of this a doorway with a recent part-glazed timber door. The first floor of this rear façade has a matching window to the left. On the north-west-facing side of the return, the ground floor has a window to the right matching those on the north-east façade, and the first floor has a similar window to the right alongside a smaller window set at a slightly higher level with a recent timber frame to the left.

On the rear façade of the main section of the house, the ground floor has a window to the right, similar in size to those at first-floor level on the front, fitted with a recent timber frame made to resemble the original Georgian-paned sash. The first floor has a similar window to the right, with a smaller one further to the right on the second floor. To the left is a window set at the half-landing level between the first and second floors, with a frame matching the others. The entire rear elevation is finished in painted plain render. The gabled roof of the main section appears to be wholly slated, with rendered parapets to the north-west. There is a large rendered chimneystack to the north-west carrying several octagonal clay pots. Rainwater goods are cast iron to the front and PVC-u to the rear.

Historical background

The site is shown as developed on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34. The town plan of Strabane prepared to accompany the valuation survey of 1832–34 has unfortunately been lost, making it very difficult to trace the buildings on this street at that date with any certainty. Reading through the valuation book itself, there appears to be no entry matching the size of this property or its near-identical neighbour. It therefore seems likely that both houses date from sometime after 1834, though their late Georgian styling strongly suggests they were built close to that date, probably in the later 1830s. What is clear is that both buildings were standing by at least 1857, as confirmed by the second valuation of that year and all subsequent records.

In the 1832 valuation, an Alexander Auchinleck — listed as an attorney in Pigot's 1824 Directory — is recorded as owning an old, long, one- to one-and-a-half-storey thatched house measuring 43½ feet on the Bowling Green. It seems likely that this earlier structure occupied the site of the present building, with its plot probably also covering those of the present numbers 39 and 41, both of which were also in the hands of Auchinleck's representatives by 1857.

In 1857 number 43 was occupied by a George Arnold, with the representatives of Alexander Auchinleck as the immediate lessors. George Arnold remained in residence until 1863, when a Miss Arnold is listed as tenant. She was succeeded four years later by William Napier, followed in 1872 by Oliver Stevenson. In 1892 the freehold was acquired by William Keatly, who also lived in the house between that year and 1902, when he rented it to Daniel McClements. Subsequent tenants included Robert P. Cresswell (1921–24), Timothy Gallagher (1924–29), J. Laverty (1929–c.1934), Robert Burke (1938–47), and Mildred Burke (1947–49). A John Burke is listed as occupier from 1949 and remained there until at least 1972. The property was converted to a beauty salon in 2001.