The Ross Inn, Bridge St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

The Ross Inn is a public house located on Bridge Street in Rostrevor, County Down. It is a Grade B listed building situated within a conservation area.

The site was developed by the 1760s as part of the expansion of Rostrevor, and is shown on an estate map of 1767 and all subsequent maps. The present building dates to 1893, constructed after a fire destroyed the previous structure on this site and at number 1 Church Street. The new properties were built for Arthur Hughes, with number 2 Bridge Street becoming the Central Hotel and number 1 Church Street a grocery shop. The architect is unknown.

According to the 1901 census, Arthur Hughes, a 48-year-old hotel keeper, lived here with his wife Bridget, their 11-year-old son Arthur John, and a domestic servant. The building was recorded as a first-class public house with 20 rooms. The younger Arthur had been born in the USA, indicating the family had previously lived there. By 1911, an older son, Daniel, aged 26 and an auctioneer, was resident and also noted as American-born.

The Hughes family retained the hotel and shop until 1913, when Patrick Morgan acquired or inherited the properties. The Morgan family held them until 1944, when Henry Smyth took the lease from the Ross of Bladensburg estate. Subsequent lessees included Mary Smyth from 1957, Margaret Baxter from 1958, and Ms Baxter remained in occupation in 1972.

In its original form, the north elevation (facing Church Street) featured a carriage entrance at the far left, two regular-sized windows on the upper floor, and a pub front consisting of a large window either side of a corner entrance with a continuous signboard and slim pilasters framing the three openings. The Bridge Street side had a doorway and window, and the property possessed four chimneys rather than the current single stack. Number 1 Church Street originally had a ground-floor doorway with a separate shop window and lacked the present dormer window.

The street itself (Church Street and The Square) does not appear on maps from 1739 or 1755, first being shown on the 1767 estate map. It was likely established as part of the development or upgrading of the road (now the B25 Kilbroney Road) connecting Rostrevor to Hilltown, which began development by Wills Hill, later 1st Marquis of Downshire, in the 1760s. The generous breadth and name of the street suggest it was intended as a market place. In April 1769, the landlord Robert Ross obtained a patent to hold a weekly market and quarterly fairs. The parish church was completed in 1821, closing the vista of the broader section. By the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, the street had developed to its present extent. The 1836 Ordnance Survey Memoirs describe Main Street as running north-east to south-west for 620 yards, with the section between the new and old church measuring 180 yards at a breadth of 120 feet, the remainder averaging 30 feet. Houses were nearly all two storeys and mostly in good order, with many providing furnished lodgings for summer visitors.