25 Church St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

Former numbers 23–25 Church Street, Rostrevor, comprise a handed pair of rendered two-storey single-fronted terrace dwellings with a central carriage arch. Built between 1838 and 1861—likely in the early 1840s—they were first recorded in the second valuation but not in the first.

In 1861, number 23 was a neat private house let to Richard Stephenson, whilst number 25 was occupied by John Godwin, who operated a posting establishment (a business hiring out horses) from the premises. Godwin held the lease of both dwellings from the Ross estate and may have been responsible for their construction. The 1861 valuation records both measuring 5 yards by 9½ yards by 2 storeys. Number 23 possessed a section over the gate at front of 2 yards 1 foot by 4 yards 2 feet by 1 storey, with an equivalent section to the rear. Number 25 also included outbuildings within the yard behind measuring 13 by 6 by 2 storeys and 8 by 4 by 1½ storeys, where Godwin presumably conducted his business.

Number 25's posting use had ceased by 1865, after which both properties reverted to domestic use. From 1871 to 1883, both were held by Henry Godwin. In 1884, the lease of number 23 was acquired by Hugh Brown. Subsequent tenants at number 23 included James Treanor (1885), John Owens (1892), Margaret Brown (1893), Jane Hillis (1906), Eleanor Godwin (1911), and Margaret Dickson (from 1913 to 1918, when the property stood vacant until at least 1923 when Mary White is noted as occupant). Number 25 remained with the Godwin family until 1913; Robert Lavery was recorded as tenant in 1914. Mr Lavery and Ms White occupied numbers 25 and 23 respectively in 1930. The Cole family lived at number 23 for much of the remainder of the 20th century. Ellen Morgan was resident in number 25 from the early 1930s until circa 1953, followed by Mary Smith from that date until at least 1972. Both houses were listed in September 1981 and appeared to remain occupied until circa 2000. They were demolished without Listed Building Consent in November 2016.

The pair sits within Rostrevor's Church Street and The Square, a north-east to south-west thoroughfare that does not appear on Sloane's map of 1739 or Kennedy's map of 1755, but first appears on an estate map of 1767. The street was likely established as part of laying out or upgrading the road (now the B25 Kilbroney Road) linking Rostrevor to the new village of Hilltown, developed by Wills Hill (later 1st Marquis of Downshire) from the 1760s. Its generous breadth and name suggest it was intended to act as a market place. In April 1769, Rostrevor's landlord Robert Ross obtained a patent allowing weekly markets and quarterly fairs. The 1767 map shows both eastern and western sides developed to the present south-west extent and to the site of the current parish church in the north-east. That church, completed in 1821, formed a closing of the vista of the broader portion of the street. By the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, the extent of development visible today was in place, with buildings opposite the church and further along the narrower section to the north-east. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of October 1836 describe the street as running north-east to south-west for 620 yards, with the portion between the new and old churches (180 yards) measuring 120 feet broad, the remainder averaging 30 feet. Houses were nearly all two storeys and mostly in good order; a number offered furnished lodgings for summer visitors. The new church, situated at the extremity of the broadest part of the street in line with its direction, with its body and square tower appearing in relief against thick foliage to the north, formed "the most pleasing and remarkable object."