The lost ‘Dutch houses’ of Newry

From the mid 17^th century Dutch architecture began to have an influence on Irish buildings. Characterised by the famous curvilinear gable, Richhill House, near Portadown is a good example of this trend. During the 18^th century houses with this type of gable became common in major coastal towns and cities, especially where a strong mercantile economy with an ambitious merchant class was emerging. Such houses were once found in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

In Dublin, the pedimented curvilinear gables were known as ‘dutch billies’. Often found in pairs, the houses had a similar roof structure and floor plan with a single large chimney stack serving the rooms in each pair of houses. However, these houses were often poorly constructed and most had been demolished by the early 1960s.

Popularly known as the ‘Dutch houses’, two houses with pedimented curvilinear gables were located in Boat Street in Newry up until they were demolished in 1958. Sometime before demolition a description of these houses was undertaken which was later in published in An Archaeological Survey of County Down in 1966. 

This description reveals the houses to have had a basement, two floors with an attic storey and a projection at the rear. Both houses had two principal rooms on each floor with the larger one at the front. Like their counterparts in Dublin and elsewhere, these rooms were equipped with corner fireplaces. The fireplace in the first floor front room in one of the houses appears to have been quite been elaborate being framed with an ovolo (rounded convex) moulding and decorated with an egg-and-leaf and bead-and reel-enrichment. Above this was an entablature with a frieze.

Although it is not mentioned in the published description, at least one fireplace in these houses was decorated with blue and white tiles. Such tiles had been a popular form of decoration for fireplaces in Holland from the early 17^th century onwards and the idea was imported into Britain and Ireland in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Tiles usually depicted animals, sea creatures, floral and geometric designs, mythological figures and Biblical scenes. 

Shortly before they were demolished, a number of these blue and white tiles were ‘rescued’ from the houses in Newry. Three of these are on display in Newry and Mourne Museum and show Biblical scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

The ‘Dutch houses’ in Newry have been dated to the early 18^th century and during this period the area around Boat Street and Castle Street was being developed by Robert Nedham who had inherited the Bagenal estate, which included the town of Newry, in 1712. The houses show the architectural ambition current in Newry at that time, an ambition which compares favourably with that of other major towns in Ireland.

The Museum is currently offering free tours of the exhibition galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2.00 pm. These must be booked in advance by calling our Education Officer at 0330 137 4422. 

Newry and Mourne Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 am – 4.30 pm. Please call 0330 137 4422 or email museums@nmandd.org for further information.

Please visit our website at www.visitmournemountains.co.uk/museums/newry-and-mourne-museum