Candy Plum, 4-6 Main Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AE

Candy Plum, 4–6 Main Street, Hillsborough

This is a mid-terrace, three-bay, two-storey-with-attic former house, now in use as shop premises, prominently sited on Hillsborough's main thoroughfare. The building originates from around 1790, though the present structure largely reflects a significant late Victorian remodelling, probably dating from around 1872, which introduced the historic shop-front, dormer windows, and other later Victorian features. It is an increasingly rare example of a well-preserved historic shop-front, with its major architectural components largely intact.

Architectural Description

The building is rectangular on plan, with a slightly projecting shop-front to the west. It has a full-height rear return and a two-storey modern extension to the rear. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and replacement brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on an ovolo moulded eaves course. The external walling is painted smooth render, with a moulded string course between the first and attic floors and moulded volutes to either side of the central gable. Windows throughout are 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash with horns and projecting masonry sills. The attic gable has a segmental-headed window, and there are decorative bargeboards and finials to the wall-head dormer windows. The ground-floor shop-front has plate glass windows.

Principal (West) Elevation

The principal elevation faces west. At ground floor is the shop-front and a carriage arch, with five windows to the first floor. At attic level, the central gable features paired round-headed windows, flanked by two wall-head dormer windows.

The shop-front consists of two plate glass windows enclosed by channelled pilaster jambs, flanking a central recessed doorway. The door is glazed-and-half-panelled with a transom light above. The porch has geometric coloured tiles to the floor and a timber-sheeted ceiling, and is surmounted by a plain fascia with modern applied lettering and a cornice. To the left of the shop-front is a carriage arch with a moulded archivolt and triple keyblock. To the far right is a recessed five-panelled timber door with brass door furniture, surmounted by a grille fanlight and accessed via two stone steps; it has a moulded surround with a triple keyblock matching that of the carriage arch.

Other Elevations

The north elevation is abutted at ground floor by the lower adjoining building; the exposed section above is blank. The east (rear) elevation is abutted centrally by the return and to the right by the flat-roof two-storey extension, which is in turn abutted by a smaller, more modern L-shaped extension of no architectural interest. To the right of the rear elevation there is a carriage arch at ground floor, two windows to the first floor, and a 3/3 dormer window at attic level. The return has a timber casement window at ground floor and two windows at both first-floor and attic levels. There is decorative brickwork to the flue, with replacement chimneystacks to the gable. The north elevation has windows at ground and first-floor level. The flat-roof extension has a continuous plate glass window at attic level. The south elevation at ground floor is abutted by an adjoining building.

Setting

The building is prominently situated on the main thoroughfare of Hillsborough, forming part of a well-preserved 18th-century terrace leading up to Hillsborough courthouse and Hillsborough Castle. It overlooks Hillsborough Parish Church to the rear. The carriage arch opens onto a gravelled rear car park enclosed by hedgerow and a rendered party wall to the north.

Historical Background

No. 6 Main Street first appears on a map of Hillsborough dating from around 1800, depicted as an oblong building at the bottom of Main Street with a large rear return and an oblong outbuilding to the rear of its yard. A similar illustrated map of around 1803 confirms this arrangement. By the time of the Townland Valuation Map of around 1830, the site was unchanged, recorded as a single private dwelling occupied by a Miss Annie Wright and valued at £4 4s.

By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1861, the property had passed to a Mr Joseph Johnson, who leased it from the Marquis of Downshire. The property was then described as a two-storey first-class-plus dwelling valued at £8, measuring 10 by 5½ yards, with a single-storey rear return measuring 5½ by 6 yards; the outbuilding at the rear was a two-storey structure measuring 13 by 5 yards, used as a coach house, which has since been demolished.

Joseph Johnson died on 22 December 1864, after which the property stood vacant for several years until 1872, when it was taken over by Mr Henry McDowell, a local saddler. The valuation of the property rose to £13 at this point, an increase that likely corresponds with the installation of the current shop-front and the addition of later Victorian features to the front of the building — including the dormer windows and chimneys — and probably also the addition of the current second storey to the rear return.

In 1881, McDowell was replaced as occupant by Mr James Beattie, who also purchased the building outright from the Marquis of Downshire. In 1884, Beattie divided the property into two dwellings (nos. 4 and 6 Main Street); he continued to live at no. 6 and let no. 4 to a series of tenants between 1884 and 1911 at an annual rent of £12. Following the division, no. 6 was revalued at £6 10s. and no. 4 at £8. James Beattie remained at no. 6 until 1902, when he was succeeded by Mr Leslie Lyons Wilkinson, a cycle mechanic, who vacated the property in 1909.

In 1911, a Mr Samuel Johnson became the occupant of both nos. 4 and 6 Main Street, which were revalued together as a house and shop at £22. The 1911 Census records Samuel Johnson as a 35-year-old Presbyterian egg merchant living at the property with his wife Elizabeth (aged 35, employed as a draper) and their three infant sons. The Census Building Return describes nos. 4–6 Main Street as a first-class draper's shop with 15 rooms, along with a stable and coach house in the outbuilding at the rear. Johnson and his wife employed a dressmaker and two shop assistants. Samuel Johnson continued to live at no. 6 until his death around 1928, after which his widow Elizabeth was recorded as occupant until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

The 1966 edition of the Ordnance Survey map shows little change to the site since the Townland Valuation map of around 1830, though the rear outbuilding appears to have been enlarged in the intervening period. This outbuilding has since been demolished to make way for the two-storey modern redbrick extension, now used as a hair salon. The building is currently occupied solely as shop premises, used by a clothes retailer.

Alterations

Despite some alterations — including the replacement chimneystacks and the modern rear extension — the building retains much of its original character. The historic shop-front is largely intact with its detailing well preserved.