14-16 Bridge Street (aka Bridge house) Castledawson, Magherafelt, Co Londonderry BT45 8AD

Bridge House, 14-16 Bridge Street, Castledawson

This two-storey five-bay thatched house faces north-east on Bridge Street, a short distance behind a hedge and forecourt bordered by the street. It adjoins the listed bridge over the Moyola River. The building is located in the townland of Shanemullagh and is accessed from an intersection with Main Street. A pair of curved-headed, spearheaded flat iron gates hung on large square pillars with rough stone tops provides access to the yard. The forecourt is enclosed by a railing that terminates at the south-east end in a square pillar. The north-west gable of the house overlooks the Moyola River, with the street continuing past Christ Church towards Moyala Park.

The house is constructed with roughcast or harled coloured wall finishes. Originally two separate two-storey houses with attics, the building has been converted into one dwelling while retaining as much early detail and layout as possible. The raising of the road in front necessitated the formation of a brick-vaulted structure to permit access. The thatched covering is dressed over the gables and finished with a deep fascia at front and rear. Each gable rises to a chimneystack with corbelled and flaunched top; a similar feature exists over the present dining room fireplace position. Each stack is provided with two black fireclay pots.

The roadside elevation displays two four-panelled entrance doors, each with Chippendale style fanlights, dividing the frontage into three sections. Between these doors are 6/6 vertically sliding windows without sash stops and with sills of intermediate depths. The dressings to openings are plain. The south-east gable contains a 6-pane casement window. The opposite gable has a fifteen-pane and a twelve-pane casement at ground floor level, with a four-pane and a two-pane casement window at upper level.

The rear elevation, with harled and coloured finish, displays a variety of window types at varying levels. Ground floor lighting comprises two 6/6 vertically sliding windows and a twelve-pane casement window without a sill. At landing level is a six-pane casement. The first floor is lit by an 8/8 vertically sliding window without sash stops or sill, with framing exposed and set at the face of the building, together with two 6/6 vertically sliding windows. The right-hand window has an exposed frame set on the face of the building with head level lower than the others. The sashed windows lack sash stops and sills are of varying depths at the leading faces. Above at landing level are a six-pane casement with narrow sill and a four-pane light without a sill. The right-hand south-east gable is heavily buttressed at the rear.

A single-storey annex with natural slated roof abuts the south-east gable, with a lean-to corrugated iron roofed store in front.

Historical Development

Valuation records of circa 1833 describe a "very old house" with shingled roof, measuring 34½ feet by 25½ feet by 20 feet, with an addition of 13½ by 16½ by 8 feet, a cellar of 18½ by 25½ by 7½ feet, and an office of 28 by 20 by 14 feet. It was then occupied by Robert McRory and held a relatively high rateable value of £5-12-0. The Ordnance Survey map of 1830 and the valuation town plan of Castledawson of circa 1838 show a building matching this plan but with a projection to the north-west.

The revised valuation town plan of 1858-59 shows a similar-sized structure now containing two properties, minus the north-west projection. The accompanying valuation records both as quality '1a', suggesting slated structures built within the previous twenty years. The smaller northern property was recorded as a rent office with caretaker's residence for the Dawson estate, rated at £7-5-0, measuring 6 yards by 8 yards 2 feet by 1 storey, with a basement of 11 yards 1 foot by 8 yards 2 feet by 1, a detached single-storey office and single-storey stable. The larger southern property served as the local Constabulary barrack, measuring 12 by 8 yards 2 feet by 1, with an attic storey addition of 6 by 8 yards 2 feet by 1/3 of a storey, a basement of 6 yards by 8 yards 2 feet by 1, and a single-storey office of 5 yards 1 foot by 5 yards 2 feet. The combined measurements of the two 1858 properties correspond exactly to the length and breadth of the circa 1833 house, suggesting the latter was remodelled with the roof altered rather than completely demolished. The house seen today, formed by combining the two 1858 properties, probably contains fabric from a pre-1830s dwelling.

Number 14 served as a Constabulary barrack until 1877, remaining vacant until 1880 when let as a dwelling to Robert McLarnon. The property subsequently passed to Matthew McLarnon in 1881, Dr William Duncan in 1891, John Kinnelly in 1895, and George Hunter in 1905. In 1908 Thomas Tipping Jnr. took the lease of both number 14 and the neighbouring rent office (number 16), sub-letting the basement area to Mrs Beattie. In 1922 James Wood acquired the freeholds of both properties. By this stage number 16 had ceased functioning as a rent office, and both properties may have been amalgamated. James Wood remained in residence in 1929. The roof remained slated until the early 1990s.

The extent of listing includes the house, outbuilding, gate pillars and gates.