17 MILL ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay three-storey rendered house, built early 1800s (possibly c1834). Originally combined with No.19 Mill Street (HB05/02/006) as one property, in 1891 it was divided equally to provide two dwellings. Rectangular on plan facing southeast as part of a continuous terrace lining the north west side of Mill Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with four traditional iron skylights (two each to front and back pitch), terracotta ridge tiles, replacement steel rainwater goods and shared rendered chimneystack to the north east party wall with black clay pots. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement timber sliding sash windows with angled horns and exposed sash boxes.

Two-bay three-storey front elevation with 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to the ground and first floors, 6-pane timber casement windows to the second floor. Square-headed door opening to the left with four-panelled timber door having bolection mouldings and rectangular overlight.

Southwest side abutted by adjoining house No.19 Mill Street (HB05/02/006).

Two-bay three-storey rear elevation has a single-bay flat-roofed extension, rough-cast cement rendered walling and square-headed window openings with concrete sills and replacement timber casement windows.

Northeast side abutted by adjoining building No.15 Mill Street (HB05/02/005C).

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 Natural slate
RWG Replacement steel (SE); replacement uPVC (NW)
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined render (SE); roughcast render, unfinished (NE)
Windows Replacement sliding timber sash (SE); timber casements (NW)

Historical information

No. 17 Mill Street, an early-Victorian three-storey two-bay building located on the north west side of Mill Street, was constructed prior to 1857 along with the adjoining No. 19 (HB05/02/006). 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 17-19 Mill Street is likely to 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 17-19 Mill Street were originally built as a single building valued at £11. The valuer noted that the building was originally utilised as a lodging house and was owned by Alexander McDermott, a local landlord who resided in the townland of Falmacrilly. Nos 17-19 Mill Street ceased to be utilised as a lodging house in 1864 when ownership of the building passed to the McDonnell family of Kilmore House (HB05/01/012). The building was leased out to tenants as a private dwelling with a Ms. Mary Reeny recorded as the first occupant. Ownership of nos 17-19 Mill Street 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 17-19 Mill Street outright.

Nos 17-19 Mill Street continued to be utilised as a single dwelling which was occupied by the Blaney family from 1869 until 1891. In the latter year the Annual Revisions recorded that Joseph McCollum subdivided the building into two dwellings, each of which were valued at £6 and 10 shillings. Despite this change the 1911 Census continued to record nos 17-19 as a single property and noted that it was occupied by Matilda McCollum, a local seamstress and dressmaker. The census building return described the property as a 2nd class dwelling which included a drapery shop (located in the ground floor shopfront at No. 19 Mill Street) and consisted of five inhabited rooms with a piggery as its sole outbuilding. The two-bay dwelling at No. 17 Mill Street was occupied by a Mr. John McAlister between c. 1915 and the 1930s. The occupants of the house changed with great frequency between the 1930s and 1970s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 17 Mill Street was increased to £8 and 10 shillings. This was increased to £12 and 10 shillings by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) when the McCollum family continued to be recorded the owners of No. 17 (but not the adjoining No. 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. 17 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

The NIEA HB Records note that No. 17 Mill Street underwent a complete internal and external renovation in c. 1981. The building underwent a second alteration in c. 1994 when its roof was reslated in Bangor Blue slates (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 – HB05/02/005D

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Terraced single-bay three-storey rendered house, built early1800s (possibly c1834). Rectangular on plan facing southeast, it has group value with No.19 Mill Street (HB05.02.006) as the two were originally built as one property until subdivided in 1891. An early Victorian terraced house that, although modest in scale, is well proportioned and remains a good example of its time, with largely appropriate replacement fabric to the front facade. Despite inappropriate replacement windows to the rear, No.19 forms an important part of a coherent row of houses on Mill Street; as a whole, the brightly painted terrace of domestic scaled buildings adds significant character to the Cushendall Conservation Area and gives the centre of the village its intact and distinctive appearance.