29 Bridge Street, Rostrevor, Co. Down, BT34 3BG

A plain, formal two-storey end of terrace house and shop, built in 1897. The building stands on the south-west side of Bridge Street in the centre of Rostrevor village, within Rostrevor Conservation Area.

Building Form and Structure

The building consists of a main front two-storey block with a pair of gabled rear returns. The return to the south-east, positioned at the back of the former shop section, is considerably longer than its neighbour serving the rear of the house section. Behind the shorter return lies a small garden, with a tall retaining wall set against higher ground to the north-west and south-west.

The main block has a pitched natural slated roof with a replacement brick chimney stack to the ridge. The gabled roof also features two large Velux-type skylights to the front and three further chimneystacks, part rendered and part brick. Metal rainwater goods serve the front elevation.

Front Elevation

The north-east facing front elevation is finished in painted lined render with a plain plinth and raised 'in-out' quoins to the right (north-west end only). A moulded eaves sits above a plain frieze.

The house entrance stands to the right of centre, featuring an original panelled timber door with overlight. To the far right is a standard-ratio window with a 2/2 timber sliding sash frame, now fitted with a plywood insert and painted stone cill. To the left of the house entrance is the shopfront, refurbished in a traditional manner. The first floor contains four evenly-spaced windows matching those on the ground level. A noticeably tall area of walling above the upper floor windows indicates a substantial attic level.

North-West Elevation

The gable of the main block is finished in painted lined render matching the front elevation and is devoid of openings. The north-west sides of the rear returns could not be observed.

Other Elevations and Returns

The remaining elevations could not be observed. The long south-east return is abutted at ground level by a flat-roofed addition to the rear of the neighbouring property (nos. 31–35 Bridge Street, now consolidated as one property with no. 29), and a taller structure at the south-west end. The exposed upper level of this return is finished in cement render and features five squarish windows of slightly varying size, all with relatively recent multi-pane timber frames.

Historical Development

The plot's development can be traced through valuation records and historical maps. The 1835–36 valuation map indicates that only the north-westerly half of the present plot was developed at that date, occupied by a small dwelling belonging to John Goodwin, composed of sections measuring 8 feet by 20 by 13 feet and 11 by 20 by 6 feet.

By the second valuation of 1861, two two-storey houses occupied the whole plot. The north-western property was noted as vacant and dilapidated, rated at £1–10–0, whilst its neighbour, a lodging house leased by John Feenan, was rated at £3–10–0. The north-western property was refurbished circa 1863 and subsequently leased to Bryan Roney. It is recorded as demolished in 1882, with its plot absorbed by the property to the immediate west (current no. 27).

In or shortly prior to 1897, the whole concern, including no. 27, was acquired by Catherine Crawford, and the present block was constructed. The house section, which included rooms over the shop, was initially rated at £19, whilst the shop and room were rated at £12. Catherine Crawford, whose family had held the neighbouring public house (today's nos. 31–35) for some years prior, ran the new shop herself as a hardware store. The new dwelling was leased to Ellen Taylor from circa 1900, and the 1901 census records her as running it as a boarding house. Catherine Crawford retired circa 1907, and both the house and shop passed to her youngest son, Edward Crawford. Brigid Crawford is recorded as occupier in 1950, and Acquin (or Aquin?) Crawford in 1966. The family retained no. 29 until at least the early 1980s. The property subsequently changed ownership, with the shop converted to become part of the neighbouring Rostrevor Inn in more recent years.

Bridge Street Context

Bridge Street originated as part of the road from Kilkeel to Rathfriland and Newry. Oliver Sloane's County Down map of 1739 shows Rostrevor's settlement comprising solely buildings along the north-eastern side of the road, suggesting this side of Bridge Street may mark the village's earliest development. Development on both sides of the street appears on an estate map of 1767 and Williamson's 1810 county map, reaching its present extent by the 1834 first edition Ordnance Survey map.

Known in the 1830s as Post Office Street owing to the presence of a post office, the name was modified to Old Post Office Street by 1861, and finally changed to Bridge Street circa 1894. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe the street as running from the centre of the main street in a south-easterly direction to Rostrevor bridge, measuring 155 yards long, 95 feet broad at its broadest (north and western) end and 25 feet at its narrowest part near the bridge. The memoirs note that the houses are two-storeys, in good order, all used for shops and having furnished lodgings for strangers.

Condition

The building does not meet the legislative threshold for consideration for listing. Large-scale development affecting the fine grain of nos. 31–35 Bridge Street has occurred, with development surrounding the building to the rear.