Brookvale, 37 Water St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

Brookvale is a house at 37 Water Street in Rostrevor, County Down, built around the early 1830s. A building matching its plan and location appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, and in the valuation of 1835 it is recorded as a 'new' building then in the possession of Robert Fivey. The valuation describes it as measuring 39 feet by 26 feet by 21 feet in height, with a return section of 17 feet by 16½ feet by 16 feet and offices (outbuildings) of 46½ feet by 16 feet by 15 feet and 14 feet by 16 feet by 7 feet, rated at £16-19-4, increasing to £24 by 1838. The building's appearance and these valuation records suggest it was constructed shortly before 1835. It is likely to have been one of the three good private houses noted in Water Street in the 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs.

Robert Fivey, who may have moved into the house around the time of his wedding to Elizabeth Taylor of Dublin in 1829, is recorded as still living in Rostrevor in 1842, though his continued residence at this address is uncertain. The property was later occupied by Mrs. Johnston until circa 1856-57 and Dr. Massey until circa 1860. By the 1861 valuation, James Wiseman is listed as occupant; he may have been the cabinetmaker of that name with premises in Newry from around 1830 to 1852 who also worked as an auctioneer.

The 1861 valuation describes the property as a 'very neat private house' with 'new painted front palisading', though with a 'rather backward site' and 'good gateway and yard to offices', measuring approximately 12½ feet by 8½ feet by two storeys with a return of 5 feet by 5 feet by two storeys and outbuildings of 5 feet by 5½ feet by one storey, 14 feet by 5½ feet by two storeys, and 8 feet by 3½ feet by one storey. In November 1861 the house, then known as 'Riverside', was offered for sale. The advertisement described it as 'that beautiful summer residence' containing a drawing room, parlour, study, four bedrooms and servants' apartments, alongside a 'neat well-stocked garden', with all in 'a thorough state of repair, not requiring one shilling of outlay'.

Subsequent tenants recorded in the valuation books include Sarah A. McNeill from circa 1866, John Scott in 1872, Mrs. Vesey in 1874, J. Admondesham Vesey in 1876, William Blayney (uncertain) in 1877, Anne Blayney in 1879, Popham Wrixon in 1881, Mathilda Wrixon in 1890, M. Harbison (uncertain) in 1896, Richard Linton in 1903, and Mary Earby in 1918, joined as co-tenant by William E. Lyons in 1921. Lyons became sole tenant in 1923, and by 1936 had sublet to Lilly Cupple, followed by Eva Chadwick in 1937 and John Sinclair in 1941. William A. Lyons is recorded as living here and named as freeholder from 1963 until at least 1972. The house retained its original form until 2016, when a flat-roofed extension was added to the rear.

Water Street itself is an L-shaped street shown with approximately its present extent of development on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map. While the Rostrevor Conservation booklet of 1979 identifies it as the town's earliest place of settlement, it does not appear on any map before 1834. It appears more likely that the Bridge Street–Mary Street crossroads was the original nucleus, with Water Street developing from there at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century as Rostrevor began to develop as a popular resort for the gentry. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs refer to it as 'The Back Lane', describing it as running at right angles to the main street a little above the church in a south-easterly 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. It measured 155 yards long and 300 feet broad, with houses and cottages in good order. The memoirs note that on the communication between Back Lane and Post Office Street are three good private houses—these are still in place as numbers 31, 33 and 37.