24 Bridge St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

24 Bridge Street, Rostrevor, County Down

This Grade B listed building is a substantial two-storey dwelling house with shopfront, located within Rostrevor's conservation area. The property occupies a site on Bridge Street, which was originally part of the road connecting Kilkeel with Rathfriland and Newry. The street itself formed the earliest nucleus of Rostrevor's settlement, with buildings first recorded along its northeastern side on Oliver Sloane's County Down map of 1739. Development expanded to both sides by 1767, reaching its present extent by the 1834 Ordnance Survey map.

The building's origins are somewhat complex. A smaller structure occupied the site in 1834. The 1835 valuation book records a 'not new' dwelling owned by Alexander Donaldson, measuring 29 feet by 21 by 14½ feet, with an additional upper floor section of 12½ by 21 by 6 feet that appears to have spanned over a neighbouring property. By August 1838, however, Mrs Boyle is recorded as possessing a house on this site rated at £16, suggesting that the present building may have been constructed between these dates. This dating is supported by the property's overall architectural style and by a 1955 sale notice referring to a 957-year lease dated 1839. Mrs Margaret Boyle, listed amongst Rostrevor's gentry in Slater's 1846 Directory, may have been responsible for its construction and was also connected with the nearby property Glynn-na-shee on Water Street.

The 1861 valuation describes the property as vacant with dimensions of 10 yards by 8 by 3 storeys, with rear sections of 3 yards 2 feet by 6 by 2 (over the gateway) and 4 by 3 yards 2 feet by 1, plus a single outbuilding of 9 by 5 by 2. Following Mrs Boyle's departure before 1861, the building passed through a succession of tenants: Miss Huston from around 1866, Ellen McAvoy in 1867, Elizabeth Sinton in 1881, Priscilla A. Stewart in 1883, Michael Cunningham in 1885, Ellen Taylor in 1892, Mary Cunningham in 1895, and Teresa Jordison in 1900.

The 1901 census records Mrs Jordison, a 48-year-old English-born woman describing herself as 'independent', living at the property with her teenage daughter and a domestic servant. The building is described as a 'first class' dwelling with 13 rooms in use. William Lyons became tenant in 1903 and either he or a relative of the same name was still in residence when the property was offered for sale in 1955.

The 1955 sale notice describes 'Riverside House' as 'a most commodious and well-built dwelling house' with 'large rooms, ample windows facing south, and commanding views of the river, glen, mountains and sea'. The sale details list 3 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms, kitchen with scullery, bathroom, a cement and paved yard with built-in meat safe, 2 very large out-offices and toilet. A stereoscopic photograph of around 1870 shows the building with its original Georgian-paned window frames. William G. Farrell occupied the property in 1958 and David Reid in 1966. The building was advertised for sale again in 1967 and 1969, and was recorded as vacant from at least 1970 to 1972.

Bridge Street itself was known as 'Post Office Street' in the 1830s owing to the presence of that establishment, modified to 'Old Post Office Street' by 1861, and finally renamed 'Bridge Street' around 1894. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe the street 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.'