76 Main Street, Moira, Craigavon, Co. Armagh, BT67 0LQ

76 Main Street, Moira

A two-storey Georgian townhouse built around 1735 as part of the early development of Moira, credited to the Rawdon family. The building was substantially improved during the early 19th century and retains good proportions and style. It originally functioned as the town's hotel and is now used as a shop with offices. The building forms part of an important group of townhouses in the centre of Moira, on the north side of Main Street opposite the old courthouse, and lies within a conservation area.

The structure is a four-bay mid-terrace townhouse of rectangular plan with extensive additions to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles and a clipped verge to the left gable end. Two brick chimneystacks are present without pots. uPVC rainwater goods run throughout.

The main walling is natural finished rubble coursed basalt with galletting, featuring 1½ red brick flat arches and surrounds to openings. A smooth rendered plinth runs across the base. The windows are a mix of timber sliding sash designs—6/6 and tripartite formats—with horns, painted white, and rectangular stone cills. The front entrance door is a six-panelled timber door with a half-circle fanlight above, set within an arched opening flanked by stucco pilasters with a cornice head and smooth rendered arch with key-block above.

The principal elevation faces south and is asymmetrically arranged, with the front door positioned left of centre. Tripartite windows occupy the ground and first-floor positions on the far left side; 6/6 sliding sash windows are located elsewhere. The far right side features an elliptical arched coach entrance. Two side-hung projecting signs and two fascia signs are mounted over windows, with inappropriate trough lighting installed above the left-hand fascia sign. The left gable abuts number 74 Main Street.

The north-facing rear elevation contains a two-storey lean-to extension projecting northwards across three bays on the right side, with an additional single-storey lean-to extension further right. The left-hand bay above the coach entrance retains a 6/6 sliding box sash window with a small fixed attic light above; all other windows are sliding sash of varying sizes and shapes. The rear walling is ruled and lined smooth render. The right gable abuts number 78 Main Street.

The building faces directly onto the principal road through Moira with direct entrance from the footpath. Access through the carriageway leads into a rear courtyard of sympathetically constructed commercial properties.

Historical Development

The 1833 Ordnance Survey map shows the building as part of two long rows of terraces lining Main Street, with an L-shaped outbuilding to the rear indicating early development. Annual Revisions from 1866–78 refer to it as '21 Town of Moira', encompassing what is now known as 76 and 78 Main Street. During this period, John Murphy occupied the building and ran a hotel from it. By 1891, the Ruddell family took over the tenancy and operated the hotel for a further 35 years. In 1926, the hotel was purchased from Margaret Ruddell by Susan Heaney. Following this acquisition, the Annual Revisions of 1920–29 note that the licensed hotel became a temperance hotel, discharging its licence to sell alcohol. The R.V. Binders valuations of 1933–57 record that Heaney purchased the property for £500 and found it in bad repair. By this stage, the hotel occupied only what is now number 76 Main Street. While no exact date marks the end of hotel operations, the 1975 General Revaluation Lists record that the premises remained occupied by the Heaney family, though it was functioning primarily as a shop with offices, a use it retained at the time of survey in 2010.

Despite minor alteration and adaptation, much of the building's historical fabric is retained internally, including many features of architectural and historical interest. The modest rear extensions do not significantly detract from the character of the building.