Glynn-Na-Shee, 33 Water St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

Glynn-na-Shee, 33 Water Street, Rostrevor, County Down

A house of grade B1 listing status, sited within Rostrevor conservation area.

The building's origins can be traced through historical records. A structure of similar plan appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834. In the valuation of 1835, this is recorded as a 'new' dwelling measuring 40 by 31½ by 21 feet with an 8-foot basement used as a dwelling. The property included a return section of 10½ by 6½ by 24 feet and offices backing onto the northeastern stretch of Water Street, comprising buildings of 54 by 16½ by 15 feet, 22 by 9½ by 6 feet, and 26 by 10 feet by 6 feet (noted as an 'open shed'). The valuers recorded that the property was 'built by Mrs. Boyle'. This may have been Alice Boyle, listed as a publican in Rostrevor in Pigot's Directory of 1824, or more likely Margaret Boyle, named amongst the local gentry in Slater's Directory of 1846. The date of construction is not precisely known, but the building's appearance and valuation evidence suggest a date of circa 1830. The property was originally occupied by Hugh Carleton, who paid £100 per annum. Carleton was the son of Francis Carleton (died 1829) formerly of Green Park, north of the town. Hugh Carleton had vacated the property before 1846.

By the 1861 valuation, the property was recorded as a 'very good private house' occupied by Esther Ensor, with dimensions of 13 yards by 10 by 2 storeys, a return of 2 by 3½ by 2, and offices of 17 by 6 by 2 and 9½ by 4 by 1. The house was recorded as vacant by 1874. Mrs. Eliza Halligan occupied it by 1877, followed by Thomas A. Vesey, a medical doctor, by 1881, who named the house 'Knapton'. Dr. Vesey died circa 1911, and the property remained with his widow until at least 1916. Another doctor, W.J. McCartan, may have continued to conduct a surgery from the premises. Martha M. Groves was recorded as occupant in 1921, and Miss Annie Burns by early 1922.

In spring 1922 the 'commodious house' was put up for sale and was acquired within several weeks by the Northern Ireland government as a barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary (soon to become the Royal Ulster Constabulary), replacing an earlier barracks on the site of the present Irish National Foresters' building at 37 Bridge Street, which had been burned during the troubles of the previous year. The police retained the building until 1937, when a new station was built in the Square. The property was subsequently acquired by Alexander Fisher (died 1948), a solicitor from Newry, from whom it passed to his daughter Dorothy (died 1972).

Water Street itself is L-shaped and shown with approximately similar extent of development to the present day on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834. The Rostrevor Conservation booklet of 1979 identifies the street as the town's earliest place of settlement, though it does not appear on any map prior to 1834. It appears more likely that the Bridge Street and Mary Street crossroads was the original nucleus of the town, with Water Street developing from the former end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century when Rostrevor began to develop as a popular resort for the gentry. Known as 'The Back Lane', the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 describe it as running at right angles to the main street, a little above the church in a southeasterly direction to the Rostrevor or Kilbroney River, linking to the lower end of Post Office Street by a short street on the northern side of the river. The street measured 155 yards long and 300 feet broad. The Memoirs note that the houses and cottages in this lane were in good order. On the communication between the Back Lane and Post Office Street stood three good private houses, which remain in place: numbers 31, 33, and 37.