THE SWEET SHOP

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced single-bay three-storey rendered house, built early 1800s (possibly c1834) with stucco former shopfront spanning the ground floor. Originally combined with No.17 Mill Street (HB05/02/005D) 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 a modern (Velux type) skylight (to front pitch), terracotta ridge tiles, cast-iron guttering on drive-through brackets and shared rendered chimneystack to the south west 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 ogee horns and exposed sash boxes.

Single-bay three-storey front elevation with 4/8 timber sliding sash window to the second floor and 8/8 to the first floor. Shopfront comprises a former shop display window with paired 6/6 replacement timber sliding sash windows on single concrete sill and square-headed door opening to the right with four-panelled timber door having bolection mouldings and rectangular overlight, all framed by fluted stucco pilasters surmounted by plain fascia and hood cornice.

Southwest side abutted by adjoining house No.21 Mill Street (HB05/02/007).

Single-bay three-storey rear elevation with rough-cast rendered walling and square-headed window openings with replacement timber sliding sash windows, 3/6 to second floor and 6/6 to first floor. Square-headed door opening incorporating window opening to the right having replacement sheeted and glazed timber door with 4/8 timber sliding sash window.

Northeast side abutted by adjoining building No.17 Mill Street (HB05/02/005D).

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 Cast-iron
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 19 Mill Street, an early-Victorian three-storey single-bay building located on the north west side of Mill Street, was constructed prior to 1857 along with the adjoining No. 17 (HB05/02/005D). 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 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 single-bay dwelling and shop at No. 19 Mill Street continued to be occupied by Matilda McCollum until her death in 1925 at which time the property fell vacant. The tenants of the house changed with great frequency from the 1930s until 1952 when a Ms. Kathleen McCaughey occupied the site, remaining at the address until at least the 1970s. Ownership of No. 19 Mill Street passed to William Blaney, a retired gardener (PRONI Wills), in 1950. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 19 Mill Street was increased to £7; this was increased to £19 shillings by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the building remained owned by the Blaney family.

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. 19 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 19 Mill Street underwent an extensive renovation in c. 1994 which included the reslating of its roof in second hand slates, the addition of cast iron rainwater goods, the installation of a new front door and new sliding sash windows which matched the original (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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (17 Jan 1925; 30 Mar 1954)
14. First Survey Record – HB05/02/006 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/006

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.

Online Sources
1. http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Antrim-Glen-Cottage-The-Wee-Sweet-Shop-Cushendall-P14426 accessed 20th May 2016

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 c1834. Rectangular on plan facing southeast, it has group value with No.17 Mill Street (HB05.02.005D); the two were originally built as one property until subdivided in 1891. An early Victorian terraced house with a stucco shopfront reputedly added in the early 20th century. Although modest in scale, it is well proportioned and remains a good example of its time, with largely appropriate replacement fabric to the exterior, for example windows and shop-front. Now used as self-catering accommodation, the original internal plan form remains recognisable. 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.