27-31 Main Street, Forkhill, Newry, Co Armagh, BT35 9SQ

This is a pair of two-storey dwellings with a garage, built between 1820 and 1839, located on the west side of Main Street in Forkhill, County Armagh. The buildings slope down a hill to the south. They possess limited architectural or historical interest.

The roof is pitched and covered with artificial slate, with two red brick chimney stacks positioned on the left gable and between the bays of the right-hand dwelling. A small terracotta finial sits at the right end of the ridge. Cast-iron rainwater goods are half-round. The walls are pebble-dashed with a mix of red, blue and green pebbles, with a smooth rendered and painted basecourse. The right-hand dwelling is wider, with its right bay stepping back slightly from the main block. Cement-rendered stepped quoins are present at each end and between the bays of the right-hand dwelling. A cement-rendered eaves course and cill course are also visible.

The left-hand dwelling features a modern glazed shopfront on the ground floor, with a recessed central door. Large windows are positioned on either side, and the fascia board is of plastic. The first floor has two equally spaced, 2/2 sliding sash windows with horns, concrete cills, and smooth cement-rendered architraves. The right-hand dwelling has a timber 3/3 panelled door with a narrow transom over, with two windows to its right, the rightmost being smaller. Three windows are placed above on the first floor. A decorative cast-iron bootscraper incorporating two fishes with a central shell is located to the left of the door. The right gable is almost entirely abutted by the garage; the exposed section is smooth line-rendered. The garage has a monopitched corrugated metal roof concealed behind a parapet and matching pebble-dashed walls with smooth cement-rendered pillars (with swept copings) and a decorative central panel. The pillars support a pair of t+g sheeted doors, with a cement-rendered recess containing a former petrol pump to the right.

The rear elevation of the left-hand dwelling is abutted by a rear return with a similarly detailed roof, including a skylight. The return presents cement-rendered rubble stone walls with a ground floor window to the right and a first floor window to the left, both 2/2 sliding sashes with external grilles, the first floor window having a granite cill. The gable end of the return is blank. The rear elevation of the right-hand dwelling was not inspected. The left gable has a top-hung uPVC window with a concrete cill, set left of centre on the first floor.

A building is shown at this location on an Ordnance Survey map from 1835, but the site’s development history could not be determined from the Valuation Books due to an unspecific plot number.