3 MILL STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace five-bay three-storey rendered commercial building, built c.1895, with shopfront and carriage arch. Rectangular on plan facing southeast on the northwest side of Mill Street adjacent to Turnley's Tower (HB05/02/001).

Pitched natural slate roof (partially removed at time of survey) with terracotta ridge tiles and three rendered profiled red brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted ruled-and-lined render over red brick walling with painted rusticated render quoins. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and original horizontally-glazed timber sliding sash windows with convex horns.

Five-bay three-storey front elevation with carriage arch opening to the left and traditional shopfront incorporating principal entrance doorcase to the centre. Original timber sash windows are 1/2 to the second floor and 2/2 to remaining floors. Shopfront comprises a large timber-framed display window and recessed shop entrance with double-leaf glazed timber door framed by slender pilasters. To the right of the shop is a square-headed door opening with original timber panelled door having bolection mouldings, sidelights and overlight, also framed by pilasters and all surmounted by plaster fascia and cornice. The carriage arch has a replacement pair of vertically-sheeted timber doors.

Southwest side elevation abutted by lower adjoining building No.5 (HB05/02/003A).

Rear elevation is abutted by a flat-roofed ground floor extension. Original lime-washed rough-cast rendered walling with original 1/2 and 2/2 horizontally-glazed timber sash windows.

Northeast side elevation is blank with partially exposed red brick walling and fronting onto the garden of Turnley's Tower (HB05/02/001).

Setting:
Standing adjacent to Turnley's Tower at the centre of Cushendall village with a small enclosed yard accessed via the carriage arch and a small two-storey building to the rear of the site.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined render over red brick
Windows Original sliding timber sash

Historical information

No. 3 Mill Street, a three-storey five-bay late-Victorian building located next to Turnly’s Tower (HB05/02/001), was constructed in c. 1895. The building closed one of the last gaps along Mill Street which was developed by the Turnly family from the turn of the 19th century; the majority of the two and three-storey buildings along the street were erected in the first half of the century. Cushendall’s proprietor Francis Turnly had travelled to China in 1796 where he raised a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 Turnly used this money to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family at a cost of £24,000; Turnly subsequently renamed the settlement Cushendall. Brett states that Turnly was an eccentric character who ‘effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property.’ Cushendall consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill and a bridge at the time of the purchase however, due to an increase in the number of tourists travelling through the area (on the way to the Giant’s Causeway) the village was developed into a coastal resort with the erection of hotels (such as the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street) and numerous commercial properties (Dallat, p. 45; Brett, Buildings of Co. Antrim, p. 288; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

The Annual Revisions note that No. 3 Mill Street was constructed in 1895 on land that was owned by John Turnly and was previously utilised as a building ground. The valuer noted that the building consisted of a house and shopfront which was valued at £17 upon its completion. The property was initially occupied by Robert McAlister who was described by the Census of Ireland as a local provision merchant. The 1903 Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Cushendall depicted No. 3 Mill Street along its current layout possessing a coach arch and a single-storey outbuilding to its rear. The 1911 Census Building Return described the property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of eight inhabited rooms and possessed a number of out offices including a cow house, a piggery and fowl house which were contained within the properties sole outbuilding. Patrick McAlister continued to reside at No. 3 Mill Street until his death in 1917 at which time the property was acquired by a Mr. James Whiteford, who maintained the building as a grocers shop. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the building was increased to £27. The occupants of the building changed with great frequency between the 1930s and 1960s with ownership passing from the Turnly estate to a Ms. Ada Douglas in c. 1951. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) No. 3 Mill Street was occupied by a Ms. Kathleen McCaughan and had been increased in value to £41.

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim described Mill Street in the following terms: ‘An outstandingly good street by Ulster standards; there is almost nothing to jar the eye … this street demands, and deserves, the most careful and sensitive consideration of any change of any kind’ (UAHS p. 34). The buildings along Mill Street were subsequently included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975, only the second conservation area in the province to have been designated at that time, ‘testimony itself to the special qualities of the village.’ In that year the village was also chosen as one of Northern Ireland’s four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 3 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent an extensive renovation in 2001 which included the reconstruction of one of its chimney stacks, the reslating of its roof in Bangor Blue slates and the replacement of its defective window frames (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
4. PRONI OS/8/84/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/7A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/12A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
10. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
11. PRONI Wills Catalogue (10 Feb 1917)
12. First Survey Record – HB05/02/002 (1971)
13. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/002

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings and areas of architectural importance in the Glens of Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Co. Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1996.
3. Dallat, C., ‘The road to the Glens’ Belfast: The Friar’s Bush Press, 1989.
4. ‘Cushendall Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1975.
5. ‘Cushendall Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1993.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End of terrace five-bay three-storey rendered substantial commercial building with shopfront and carriage arch, built c.1895. It is located in the centre of Cushendall village on the northwest side of Mill Street between Turnly's Tower (HB05/02/001) to its north east side and No.5 Mill Street (HB05/02/003A) to its south west side. Much internal and external historic character remains such as the coach arch leading to the rear, the traditional shopfront and timber sliding sash windows. No.3 is a larger scaled building than the terraced buildings of Mill Street and it bridges the gap between the terrace and the tower. Of local interest, it is a significant component of the historic village centre.