7 Bridge St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

7 Bridge Street, Rostrevor, County Down

This is a Grade B listed building with a complex history of domestic and commercial use. The site appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and was recorded in the 1835 valuation book as a newly built house with dimensions of 19½ feet by 28 feet by 23 feet in height, together with a room over a gate of 8 feet by 14 feet by 15 feet, and a return section of 12 feet by 13 feet by 15½ feet. The property was then owned by Robert Willis, who continued to occupy it in 1838.

By 1861, the building had been converted to serve as the local police barracks. The 1861 valuation records dimensions of approximately 6 yards 1 foot by 9 feet by 2½ storeys, with the section containing the gateway measuring 3 feet by 4½ feet by 2½ storeys (excluding the gateway void), a return of 4 feet by 4 feet by 2 storeys, and an outbuilding of 7 feet by 7 feet by 2 storeys. This outbuilding does not appear in the 1835 records but is shown on the redrawn valuation town plan of circa 1838-39.

The building remained in use as a police barracks until 1881, when it was acquired by Thomas Marshall and leased to John Jameson as a private dwelling. Upon Jameson's departure, Mary Anne Marshall (apparently Thomas Marshall's widow) became the occupant in 1881 and from 1894 also held the neighbouring property at number 5. In the 1901 census, she is recorded as a 60-year-old widow originally from Belfast, living alone, with the building (presumably numbers 5 and 7) noted as a second-class dwelling with 11 rooms in use. Mrs. Marshall appears to have died in 1914, after which Sarah Ryan became tenant.

By 1917, the property had passed into the possession of Mary Gwynne and was converted to serve as the local post office. Elizabeth Whittaker, who had been serving as Rostrevor's postmistress since circa 1907, became the occupant and remained there until her death in early 1928. Subsequent tenants recorded in the valuation books include Charles Hanlon from circa 1937, followed by Winifred Gwynne listed as both owner and occupier in 1953, and Elizabeth Gwynne in 1954. Owen Morgan is recorded as renting the shop section of the building separately from 1956. Later owners include Marrianne Lyon from 1962 and John McQuaid from 1964, the latter occupying the whole building until at least 1972. The property was subsequently amalgamated with number 5 Bridge Street at some point after 1979.

Bridge Street itself originated as part of the road from Kilkeel, connecting that settlement with the original roads to Rathfriland (present-day Greenpark Road) and to Newry (a route which appears to have followed the present Warrenpoint Road before heading inland along present-day Rath, Donaghguy and Greenan Roads). Oliver Sloane's County Down map of 1739 shows Rostrevor settlement comprising solely buildings along the northeastern side of the road, suggesting that this side of Bridge Street may well mark the earliest part of the village. Development on both sides of the street is shown on an estate map of 1767 and Williamson's 1810 county map, with growth reaching its present extent by the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834.

The street was known in the 1830s as Post Office Street, owing to the presence of that establishment. This name had been modified to Old Post Office Street by 1861 and finally changed to Bridge Street circa 1894. Ironically, the post office returned to premises in the street circa 1917. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe the street as leading from the centre of the main street in a south-easterly direction to Rostrevor bridge, 155 yards long, 95 feet broad at its broadest point (north and western end) and 25 feet at its narrowest part next to the bridge. The houses are described as two-storey structures in good order, all used for shops and furnished with lodgings for the accommodation of visitors.

The building lies within a conservation area.