3 Old Coastguard Cottages

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End-of-terrace two-storey two-bay rendered coastguard cottage with square watch tower, built 1874 as one of a terrace of three; located to the east side of the bay in Portballintrae. L-shaped plan with two-storey watch tower to re-entrant angle at north and two-storey square projection to northeast; half-hipped gable front is abutted by a later single-storey slated enclosed verandah.

Hipped natural slate roof with angled tiles to hips and ridges; rendered chimneystacks having sandstone caps; pierced timber bargeboards to overhanging eaves supported on decorative timber brackets on continuous narrow timber band. Plastic rainwater goods on exposed rafter tails. Walling is painted roughcast render on a contrasting plinth. Windows are 1/1 timber sash with horns and flush sills, projecting sills to rear elevation and square projection; segmental-headed to first floor and square-headed to ground floor (unless otherwise stated); box oriel window on corbels to rear and tower; tripartite timber casement windows to verandah with contrasting smooth reveals.

The principal elevation faces northwest and comprises half-hipped gabled bay with two windows at first floor and full-width verandah at ground floor. To left, flush with the verandah, is the square watch tower. Tower has pyramidal roof with plain finial; box oriel window to first floor at northwest and northeast face; square-headed window to first floor at southwest face. Three diminutive rectangular openings to ground floor at northwest and segmental-headed two-panelled glazed timber door to northeast, accessed via a concrete step.

The southeast (entrance) elevation has gabled oriel window rising above eaves line at left, over window to ground floor. At right is a glazed and timber-sheeted door with transom light. Right bay has a window at left and a diminutive window opening at right.

The northeast elevation has window at first floor and is abutted at right by the two-storey square projection. Projection has pyramidal roof and a segmental-headed window to three sides at ground floor; and to northwest at first floor.

The southwest elevation is abutted by adjoining building; HB03/05/005B.

Setting:

Situated overlooking the bay of Portballintrae, between Beach Road and Lisanduff Avenue. Large lawned garden to front with gravel paths to entrance doors; garden bounded to road by roughcast cement rendered wall with saddleback coping; modern steel latch-gate leading to Beach Road. Enclosed to southwest by modern timber fence with timber gate. Gravel driveway entrance to southwest leads to rear yard, accessed via whitewashed wall with soldier coping and square rendered piers with undressed stone caps supporting original wrought-iron gate. Former toilet blocks of rock-faced blackstone to rear, with slated lean-to roofs, sandstone quoins and red-brick surrounds to timber-sheeted doors. Bounded to rear by undressed blackstone wall.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Painted roughcast render
Windows: Timber sash with horns
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

No. 3 Coastguards Cottages, a two-storey dwelling with adjoining watchtower constituting one of a terrace of three buildings (the others are nos 1-2 Coastguard Cottages (HB03/05/005A-B), was originally erected as part of Portballintrae Coastguard Station which was constructed c. 1875. The Coastguard Station first appeared in the Annual Revisions in 1876 shortly after its completion; the valuer noted that the station was recorded as a single building valued at £40 and leased by Sir. Francis MacNaughten of Dunderave House, Bushmills. The Coastguard station cannot be seen on the Ordnance Survey maps until the 3rd edition in 1904 which depicted the row as an oblong-shaped building captioned ‘Coastguard Station’ the map also noted that the blackstone toilet block outbuildings to the rear of the row had been constructed by at least 1904.

There was no discernible alteration to the site in the Annual Revisions until 1896 when the value of the Coastguard Station was slightly decreased to £39 10s. Originally the station consisted of the square watchtower and five small dwellings for the coastguards who resided in the area; the current Coastguard Cottages were created by the conversion of these smaller units in the late-20th century. The 1901 Census noted that the station was occupied by five coastguards and their families; in that year the station officer was a Mr. Henry C. Cross (50, Church of Ireland) who resided in the largest dwelling, which has been converted to constitute No. 3 Coastguard Cottages, whilst the boatmen resided in the smaller-sized smaller dwellings. The 1901 census building return described the Coastguard Station as a 1st class structure and noted that Cross’s larger dwelling consisted of seven inhabited rooms.

In 1912 the Coastguard Station was sold by the Admiralty and as a result was no longer exempt from taxation; the row was purchased by a Mr. James McNeill in 1914. The value of the row was subdivided in 1914 to take into account the five separate dwellings; the total value of the station remained at £39 10s., the watch tower was valued at £5, the station officers residence at £8 10s. whilst the four boatmen’s dwellings were each valued at £6 10s. The occupant of the officer’s dwelling in 1914 was a Mr. William Douglas, however after 1920 no occupants were noted and only the lessor Margaret McMullan was recorded (having come into ownership in 1919). There was no subsequent change to the value of the Coastguard Station by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1923. By the end of the valuation the station’s watchtower was still the property of the Admiralty, having been retained due to its prominent location, during the purchase of 1912; No. 3 Coastguard Cottages is accessed by a rear entrance and also by a door on the north-east elevation of the tower.

A small fishing village situated along the North Coast, Portballintrae was identified as a strategically ideal location for the erection of a coastguard station due to the safety offered by its horseshoe-shaped bay and sheltered fishing harbour; a number of smaller rubble coastguard buildings predated the current station which was erected in c. 1875. Photographs of the coastguard station dating from the early-20th century show that the station’s enclosed verandah was a later addition, likely added after the terrace was sold by the Admiralty in 1912 (Parkhill & Pollock, p. 54).

In 1972 Girvan described the station in the following terms noting the : ‘A terrace of six [sic] coastguard houses … the eastern end houses a three-storey tower, capped by a steeply pitched roof; above the arrow-slit windows of the ground floor is an oriel-bartizan, complete with machicolations (for pouring oil on troubled waters?), a feature repeated on the west end. Each house has a lean-to verandah. The whole is harled.’ Girvan stated that the Coastguard Station had fallen derelict by 1972 and in 1975 the First Survey Image confirmed that the station lay vacant and in a state of disrepair; the windows broken and the verandah sealed with rusted shutters (Girvan, p. 23; First Survey Record). The coastguard station was listed in 1977 and in the late 20th century the derelict building underwent a renovation during which the former five boatmen’s dwellings were converted into three modern cottages. The interior of the cottages have been modernised, however the external façade has been sympathetically restored and, along with the retention and conversion of the blackstone toilet blocks into outbuildings, the original character of the Victorian Coastguard Station has been maintained.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/3/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1855
2. PRONI OS/6/1/3/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1904
3. PRONI OS/6/1/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1921
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2A – Annual Revisions 1859-1864
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2B – Annual Revisions 1864-1876
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2C – Annual Revisions 1876-1884
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2D – Annual Revisions 1885-1889
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2E – Annual Revisions 1889-1895
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/21A – Annual Revisions 1896-1909
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/21B – Annual Revisions 1909-1921
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/13A – Annual Revisions 1923-1929
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1918)
14. First Survey Record – HB03/05/005 (1972)
15. Ordnance Survey Map – 6-8 (1965)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W., ‘North Antrim: Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in North Antrim including towns of Portrush, Ballymoney and Bushmills’ Belfast, Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Parkhill, W; Pollock, T., ‘Coleraine & the causeway coast’ London: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

End-of-terrace two-storey two-bay rendered coastguard cottage with square watch tower, built 1874 as one of a terrace of three; located to the east side of the bay in Portballintrae. Altered in the early nineteenth-century to incorporate an enclosed verandah to front, the integrity of the terrace as a whole and much of its original character is nevertheless largely intact, making this an important surviving and relatively rare example of its type. Prominently sited, the coastguard cottages form a well-maintained and coherent group and are an important feature along this part of the coastline. Making a significant contribution to the architectural and maritime heritage of the wider area, they are of important local interest.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply