Downshire Arms, 28 Main Street, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5UJ

The Downshire Arms is a Grade B2 listed building situated at the north-east corner of Main Street and Rathfriland Road in the centre of Hilltown. It forms part of an important architectural group with St John's Church opposite, serving as a significant focal point for the town.

This is the left (western) building of a pair of early 19th-century structures. Originally functioning as an inn, it has been amalgamated with the adjoining former market house and courthouse (now listed separately as HB16/07/005C) to form the present hotel. Both buildings were extensively refurbished around 1993. The associated yards and outbuildings to the rear are listed separately as HB16/07/005B.

The building is two storeys with basement and attic, comprising three bays, and retains considerable visual presence and form despite having been gutted. It is constructed with painted smooth cement rendered walls and has a pitched natural slate roof. Semicircular steel gutters run along a two-stage rendered eaves course with downpipes at either end. Two painted cement chimneys with projecting copings are present—one on the west gable and another at the centre of the ridge.

A small dormer window with segmental leaded roof and leaded cheeks sits centrally on the front pitch, containing a pair of small 1/1 sliding sashes. Two similar dormers are positioned on the rear pitch.

At ground floor centre, an arch carries the pavement over an external basement passage to the former inn entrance, now disused. The doorway features a painted reproduction six-panelled door with raised and fielded panels (top two smaller), flanked by plain sidelights with timber apron panels and a three-paned semi-elliptical headed fanlight. Wrought iron boot scrapers flank the doorway to left and right. Each outer bay at ground floor contains a set of tripartite windows—a 6/6 sliding sash flanked by two 2/2 sashes within a single opening, all featuring finely dressed granite cills. Single 3/3 sliding sash windows with exposed dressed granite jambs, lintels and cills appear in the basement to both left and right bays; both are now fitted with modern metal security bars. Three equally spaced first floor windows, one to each bay, consist of 3/6 sliding sashes with granite cills. A wrought iron bracket supporting a modern timber sign is mounted on the wall above the central window.

The basement to the front elevation is paved and accessed by a metal ladder at the west end. It is enclosed by left and right bays with a rendered and painted dwarf wall with rounded coping featuring curved sweeps at either end and around the central door. This wall supports iron railings with cast iron mouldings to base and head and plain finials.

The left gable fronting Rathfriland Road is rendered to match the façade. At basement level, a modern flush timber fire escape door with rising steps is positioned on the left, with a modern electric light above. At ground floor is a 6/6 sliding sash with a 3/6 sash directly above on the first floor; the remainder of the gable is blank. The right cheek of the rear return continues to the left, containing a ground floor 6/6 sash and a first floor 3/6 sash above. A dwarf wall and railings matching those to the façade enclose this elevation, with a small integrated gate at the right corner serving basement steps.

The rear elevation is abutted on the right by a two-storey rear return. The remainder (and part of the adjoining East Block) is abutted by a modern single-storey flat-roofed extension. The remaining wall to first floor is painted smooth render with two doorways, each containing a pair of modern French windows leading onto the extension roof. The extension has a leaded roof and a wide modern timber canted bay window to the yard. Its roof is enclosed by a modern reproduction Georgian balustrade with matching metal escape stairs. At ground floor, a flight of concrete steps descends right to a modern basement door below the extension, while a second flight rises left to a ground floor door.

The rear return features a pitched natural slate roof with the right pitch (as viewed from the rear) longer than the left. A rendered chimney is positioned on its rear gable. The eaves, gutters and walls match the main block. Its left cheek is abutted at ground floor by the extension and has a modern vent at first floor. The rear gable displays a fixed 3x2 paned window (opening size matching a 3/3 sash) centred at first floor. The right gable forms a party wall with the second building.

Historically, plans for an inn at Hilltown were drawn around 1801 but were never realised; this design was subsequently redeployed at Banbridge. No hotel or market house appears on the large-scale map of 1803. Robert Sharlan's plan of proposed alterations, supposedly dated 1805 (though this date appears only in the archive catalogue, not the manuscript itself), may relate to revisions of an unimplemented scheme. According to P.J. Rankin, the inn was actually constructed in 1815 by Robert Magill. The building collapsed in a storm and was rebuilt in 1818. Both this building and the adjoining market house appear on the 1834 valuation map. The inn is cited in the 1835 valuation under occupant Patrick Cowan, and is referenced as a hotel in the circa 1861 valuation under Hugh Hall. The building is attributed to architect Thomas Duff.

The structure has undergone alterations, particularly the extensive refurbishment of circa 1993 and subsequent modifications including modern extensions and updated fenestration, which detract from its original character. Despite this, the building retains considerable historical and social importance as a cornerstone of Hilltown's townscape.