Old Court House, AKA Former market house, The Square, Ballynahinch, Co. Down, BT24 8AE

Old Court House

A two-storey market house built in 1795, situated on the north side of The Square in the centre of Ballynahinch, with its west gable facing High Street. The building was originally constructed by Lord Moira and served as both a market house and manor court, with the upper storey primarily used for court business and the ground floor for market activities. According to Ordnance Survey memoirs of 1834, the market was held every Thursday and the building had a crane or weighhouse attached, presumably at ground floor level.

The south-facing front façade is finished in lined render and painted. The ground floor contains a doorway with a plain sheeted door and security grill, along with three windows of various sizes with modern frames. The first window from the left has been enlarged and was originally a doorway; the second is smaller and was also originally a doorway; the third is very small and appears to be a recent insertion. A further doorway to the far right is now blocked up. An internally illuminated PVC sign is mounted above the windows. The first floor has four evenly spaced sash windows. The façade is topped with a parapet in coursed fieldstone rubble and stone coping. At the centre of the parapet is a small gable containing a clock face. Stone pinnacles stand at either end of the parapet.

The west gable has had a large shop window and doorway inserted at ground floor level, with a long internally illuminated PVC sign mounted above, and a smaller modern sign board above that. Two very small windows with single pane frames are present at first floor level. This gable is finished in lined render and painted.

The east gable is abutted by a house and its exposed section is blank, finished in unpainted rough cast. The rear elevation is obscured by neighbouring properties. A large shop now covers much of the north façade, with only the top left-hand quarter still exposed. This section contains a single sash window with two-over-two vertical glazing bars, finished in unpainted rough cast.

The roof is gabled and covered in natural slate, with a stone-built chimney stack at each gable. A cupola sits at the centre of the roof ridge, set on a square rendered base and surmounted by curved gables, in turn surmounted by a lead-sheeted octagonal cap with a ball pinnacle. This cupola dates from 1841, though it was reduced in height in 1957. Originally the roof was surmounted by a taller, more graceful cupola with a small dome supported on eight columns. Cast iron rainwater goods are present. The immediate frontage is covered in tarmac.

The building underwent renovation in 1841, when Samuel Lewis had described it as dilapidated in 1837. The cupola and clock appear to have been added during this 1841 renovation. The building continued to function as both court and market house into the early twentieth century. In 1935, it was sold by the Ker family to a local businessman named McCoubrey for £450. Since then it has housed a working men's club on the upper floor and various shops on the ground floor, most recently a car parts and bicycle shop which used the upper floor as storage.

The ground floor openings have been much altered in recent years, with several original doorways either blocked or enlarged. A shop front has been inserted on the west gable. The façade has been rendered from at least the early twentieth century. The shop front to the gable was present by 1974 and may date from around 1935. The building has undergone significant alteration over the years, particularly to the cupola, which was largely made of wood and was reduced in height in 1957.