13 MILL ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay three-storey rendered house, built c.1830s (possibly c1834), with traditional painted shopfront to the ground floor (c.1900). Originally built with No15A Mill Street as one property, in 1869 it was divided equally to provide two dwellings; recombined to a single dwelling by 1901, by which time the ground floor shop was added; and sudivided again by the 1930s. Rectangular on plan facing southeast as part of a continuous terrace lining the north west side of Mill Street.

Pitched fibre cement roof with terracotta ridge tiles, cast-iron guttering and shared rendered chimneystack to the north east party wall. Ruled-and-lined cement rendered walling (unpainted) with rusticated rendered quoins to the right only. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and early twentieth-century horizontally-glazed timber sliding sash windows with slender horns and exposed sash boxes.

Two-bay three-storey front elevation with 1/2 sliding timber sash windows to the second floor having convex horns and 2/2 sliding timber sash windows to the first floor having slender ogee horns with continuous sill incorporated into hood cornice to shopfront. Shopfront comprises a six-pane timber-frame square-headed shop display window with timber sill and recessed square-headed door opening with replacement timber 6-panelled door having two glazed panels, all framed by fluted stucco pilasters (console brackets missing) surmounted by plain rendered fascia and hood cornice.

Southwest side is abutted by adjoining building No.15A (HB05/02/005C).

Rear elevation has rubble red sandstone walling with a two-storey lean-to extension. Some single-pane and 2/2 sliding timber sash windows visible.

Northeast side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.11 (HB05/02/005A).

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace of similarly scaled buildings lining the north west side of Mill Street, within the Cushendall Conservation Area.

Materials
Roof Fibre cement roofing tiles.
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Ruled-and-lined cement render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 15 Mill Street, an early-Victorian three-storey two-bay building located on the north side of Mill Street, was constructed prior to 1857 along with the adjoining No. 15A (HB05/02/005C). The majority of the two and three-storey buildings located along the north side of Mill Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the landowning Turnly family. 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).

Nos 15-15A Mill Street may date from as early as the Townland Valuations (1834), however it is difficult to identify specific structures in that source due to the loss of the accompanying Townland Valuation Town Plan for Cushendall. The building was first recorded with certainty on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) and Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which noted that nos 15-15A Mill Street were originally built as a single building valued at £9 and 10 shillings. The valuer noted that the house was leased from the McDonnell family of Kilmore House (HB05/01/012) to a Mr. John McKillop. In c. 1865 McKillop purchased the property outright from the McDonnell family and in 1869 subdivided the building into a pair two-bay dwellings, each of which were valued at £5 and 15 shillings; the newly created No. 15 Mill Street was occupied by Rose Anne McKillop from 1869. Ownership of both dwellings briefly passed to a Mr. Robert Hugh Orr in 1880 but in 1888 Joseph McCollum, a local publican who resided at No. 23 Mill Street, purchased nos 15-15A Mill Street outright (the McCollum family continued to own the houses until at least the 1970s).

The Census of Ireland suggests that nos 15-15A Mill Street had been combined into a single property by 1901. In that year the building continued to be occupied by Rose Anne McKillop who operated a drapery shop from the premises (the shopfront occupying the ground floor of No. 15 is original). In 1901 the census building return described nos 15-15A Mill Street as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of nine rooms and possessed a stable and cow house to its rear yard. The building appears to have once more been subdivided into two separate properties by the 1930s. The shop and dwelling at No. 15 Mill Street was increased in value to £11 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57). The valuer noted that the McCollum’s leased the address to a Mr. Robert Thompson between 1937 and 1955 but reoccupied the site in 1955. The McCollum family continued to be recorded as occupants of No. 15 Mill Street by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the value of the building stood at £19.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described nos 9-23 Mill Street as ‘a long terrace of three-storey rendered houses with quoins, all with similar proportions and detailing, but most rather dreary … the shops in the terrace have simple fascias.’ In addition the guide described Mill Street in the following general 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 Guide, p. 34). The buildings along Mill Street were 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. 15 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976 (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/1/B/148 – Townland Valuations (1834)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/1/40B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/7A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/12A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/02/005 (1971)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/005B

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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Terraced two-bay three-storey rendered house, probably built c.1834 with traditional painted shopfront to the ground floor (c.1900). Rectangular on plan facing southeast as part of a continuous terrace lining the north side of Mill Street. Retaining much of its original character and materials to the exterior, including sliding sash windows and rubblestone walling to the rear. Despite inappropriate replacement roof slates, the well-proportioned front facade is enlivened by the later traditional shopfront. No.15 has group value with No15A (HB05.02.005A) as the two were originally combined as one dwelling. The pair form an important component part of a continuous terrace of early domestic scaled buildings within the Cushendall Conservation Area that give the centre of the village its intact and distinctive appearance.

General comments

Previously No 13 now known as No 15
HB05/02/005 was 11 - 17 , now is 11, 15, 15a & 17