21 MILL STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Symmetrical terraced three-bay three-storey rendered townhouse, originally built as two houses, mid 19th century (pre 1857). Rectangular on plan facing south east and forming part of a continuous terrace lining the north west side of Mill Street. Currently divided into two units.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks with clay pots to either end. Modern rooflights to the front pitch with two wall-head dormers to the rear pitch. Cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets with cast-iron downpipes, plastic rainwater goods to rear. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with painted rusticated render quoins in contrasting colour to front, pebbledash rendered to rear. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement timber sliding sash windows with ogee horns and exposed sash boxes, uPVC windows to rear.

Symmetrical three-bay three-storey front elevation with a central square-headed door opening having replacement timber panelled door. Simple wrought-iron sill guards to the first floor only.

South west side is abutted by adjoining building No.23 (HB05/02/008).

Three-bay three-storey rear elevation with two wall-head dormers and uPVC conservatory wing to the ground floor.

North east side is abutted by adjoining building No.19 (HB05/02/006).

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace of houses and former houses sharing a common roofline lining the northwest side of Mill Street, within the Cushendall Conservation Area. Small concrete paved rear yard enclosed by tall roughcast rendered walling, painted white and a single storey outbuilding to the northeast boundary to No.19 Mill St, also having roughcast rendered walling, duo-pitched natural slate roof and sheeted timber door, all painted.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron (SE) / uPVC (NW)
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined render (SE) / pebbledash render (NW)
Windows Replacement sliding timber sash (SE) / uPVC (NW)

Historical information

No. 21 Mill Street, a three-storey three-bay early-Victorian dwelling located along the north west side of Mill Street, was constructed prior to 1857. The majority of the two and three-storey buildings located along the north west 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).

The valuation sources record that No. 21 Mill Street was originally subdivided into two separate dwellings and possessed a ground floor shopfront at the northernmost bay of the building (removed in c. 1993 - seen in First Survey image); the building continued to be subdivided until at least the 1970s. The building 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 set the total rateable value of No. 21 Mill Street at £11 and 15 shillings and noted that the two dwellings were initially leased by the McDonnell family of Kilmore House (HB05/01/012) to Margaret Kenny and a Mr. James Campbell. Ownership of No. 21 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 the building outright.
The occupants of No. 21 Mill Street changed with great frequency between the 1860s and the turn of the 20th century. The Census of Ireland records that Archibald McCambridge occupied part of the building in both 1901 and 1911 and operated a grocers shop from the ground floor shop unit; the remainder of the house was occupied by Elizabeth Harvey who operated a lodging house from the premises. In 1911 the census building return described No. 21 Mill Street as a pair of second class dwellings which consisted of six inhabited rooms and possessed a fowl house and shed as its sole outbuildings. Ownership of No. 21 Mill Street passed to a Ms. Grace McAuley by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) at which time the total rateable value of the building was increased to £13 and 5 shillings. The occupants of the building continued to change with frequently between the 1930s and 1970s. William Blaney, a retired gardener, was recorded as owner of No. 21 Mill Street under the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) which greatly increased the value of the building to £40 and 10 shillings. The valuer noted that No. 21 Mill Street continued to be subdivided into two dwellings and the ground floor shop unit by the 1970s.

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. 21 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 21 Mill Street underwent an extensive renovation in c. 1993 which included the reslating of its roof in Bangor Blue slates, the installation of new cast iron rainwater goods, the conversion of the interior into living accommodation and the alteration of the building’s façade with the removal of its original shopfront (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide). During the Second Survey No. 21 Mill Street was subdivided into two units.

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 (30 Mar 1954)
14. First Survey Record – HB05/02/007 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/007

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Mid 19th century, symmetrical terraced three-bay three-storey rendered townhouse, originally comprising two dwellings, one with a ground floor shop. Despite the loss of the original shopfront and alterations to the rear that are not in keeping with its19th century style, the building remains well proportioned with an orderly fenestration, large rectangular chimneys and rusticated quoins to both ends. Replacement sliding sashes windows have two-over-two panes, horizontally split, that largely determine its character. Internal plan form is retained. Constituting one of the more substantial houses on Mill Street in the centre of the village, this building forms an important component part of the intact terrace and greatly contributes to the overall historic appearance of the Cushendall Conservation Area.