32 Bridge St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

32 Bridge Street, Rostrevor, County Down

This Grade B2 listed building is a terraced house that forms part of a uniform row of four dwellings (numbers 30, 32, 34 and 36) on Bridge Street in Rostrevor village.

Historical development

The site was developed by 1834, as shown on the Ordnance Survey map of that year. The 1835 valuation book suggests that this plot and the present number 34 were initially occupied by a single "not new" house measuring 27 feet by 21 feet by 14½ feet, then home to John Dunn, a tailor. By 1861, the plot had been subdivided. The dwelling on this site measured 4½ yards by 7 yards by 2 storeys and was occupied by Arthur Fagan, with Rose Feran as the immediate lessor.

In 1874, the rateable value of this house and the three similar adjacent dwellings rose significantly from £3-10-0 or £3-0-0 to £5-15-0, indicating that all four properties were either substantially refurbished or rebuilt at this time. The overall uniformity of the properties and details such as bevelled window reveals suggest wholesale rebuilding, though no annotation on the contemporary valuation town plan of Rostrevor indicates this conclusively.

The newly rebuilt house was first leased to Archibald Girvan, followed by a succession of tenants: John Fitzpatrick (1880), John Orr (1883), Bernard Dunne (1884), Charlotte Bushell (1885), Catherine Fearon (1891), Patrick Cole (1892), Marshall Weir (1894) and Elizabeth Weir (1896). The 1901 census records Mrs Weir, a 40-year-old widow employed as a laundress, living here with three children. The building was recorded as a second-class dwelling with four rooms in use. Later tenants included Martha Fearon (1912), Edward Fearon (1915), Maria Hillis (1920), Gertrude Hynes (1929), William John Parr (1936) and James McGivern (from 1965 until at least 1972).

Context: Bridge Street

Bridge Street originated as part of the road from Kilkeel, connecting to the original roads to Rathfriland and Newry. Oliver Sloane's County Down map of 1739 shows Rostrevor settlement comprising buildings solely along the northeastern side of the road, suggesting this side of Bridge Street may mark the earliest part of the village. Development on both sides occurred by 1767 (shown on an estate map) and had reached its present extent by 1834. The street was known in the 1830s as "Post Office Street" due to the presence of a post office, modified to "Old Post Office Street" by 1861, and finally renamed "Bridge Street" around 1894. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe it as "leading from the centre of the main street in a south easterly direction to the bridge of Rostrevor…155 yards long, 95 feet broad at its broadest or north and western end and 25 feet at its narrowest part next the bridge. The houses are of 2-storeys, in good order, all used for shops and having furnished lodgings for the accommodation of strangers."

The building lies within Rostrevor conservation area.