34 Water St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

34 Water Street, Rostrevor, County Down

This is a one-and-a-half-storey terrace house, now forming part of a picturesque row of three dwellings. The building's origins are complex. Ordnance Survey mapping from 1834 shows a single building covering the combined sites of the present numbers 30 to 34, recorded in the valuation of 1835 as a "not new" single-storey thatched house in the possession of William Sarsfield, measuring 44 feet by 14½ feet by 7 feet, with associated outbuildings of 14 by 14½ by 7 feet and 11 by 13 by 5½ feet, valued at £3-18-0 for rating purposes.

By the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1860, a terrace of three houses minus the single-storey section at the north end is visible. The valuation of 1861 records the house on the site of the current number 34 as the residence of Margaret McVeagh, held on lease from Lady Florence Balfour of nearby Fairy Hill, who in turn held it from the Ross estate. The house is described as a "neat cottage but roof in bad order", measuring 7 yards by 5½ yards by 1 yard, with a thatched roof, and graded as "not new", suggesting the terrace may have been created from the earlier structure, though this is not certain.

The property subsequently passed through several tenants: William Mullen from 1872, Patrick Owens from 1874, Charles Grant from 1883, and John Dowd from 1893. The valuation in 1874 increased substantially from £1-15-0 to £3-10-0, indicating that the one-and-a-half-storey picturesque row now visible was created around this time, though the dwellings may incorporate some of the fabric of their predecessors. The 1901 census records John Dowd as a 54-year-old gardener occupying the house with his wife Annie and four daughters, the property noted as a second-class dwelling with four rooms in use. William Dowd is listed as tenant in 1927, Annie Dowd by 1936, and Emma Maguire from 1966 until at least 1972.

Extensions have been added at various dates: a small extension, possibly a shed, was added to the rear between 1902 and 1919; a larger addition was inserted between 1950 and 1979; this was subsequently replaced by an even larger extension after 1979.

Water Street itself is L-shaped and appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 with approximately the extent of development visible today. Though a 1979 conservation study suggests it may be the town's earliest place of settlement, it does not appear on any map before 1834 and likely developed as an extension from the Bridge Street and Mary Street crossroads—the probable original nucleus of Rostrevor—in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when the town began to develop as a resort for the gentry. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 refer to the street 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 towards the Rostrevor or Kilbroney River, and linking to the lower end of Post Office Street by a short street on the northern side of the river. The street is noted as 155 yards long and 300 feet broad, with the houses and cottages described as being in good order. Three good private houses stood on the communication between the Back Lane and Post Office Street—numbers 31, 33, and 37—and these properties remain in place.

The building is situated within Rostrevor Conservation Area.