23 MILL STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced four-bay three-storey stucco-fronted former pair of buildings, built c.1840. Rectangular on plan facing southeast with the north section having a traditional pub shopfront and the south section having an integrated carriage arch.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, that to the north section being lower than that to the south. Steel skylights to the front pitch and three rendered profiled chimneystacks with clay and terracotta pots. Cast-iron guttering on iron drive through brackets and cast-iron downpipes. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with painted rusticated quoins to the north end only. Square-headed window openings with stucco architrave surrounds, painted masonry sills and replacement multi-pane sliding timber sash windows with angled horns (unless otherwise stated).

Four-bay three-storey front elevation, stepped to the centre with pub shopfront to the north section and integrated elliptical carriage arch to the south section with replacement hardwood doors. The south section has original 6/6 timber sash windows to ground floor with slender ogee horns and partially exposed sash boxes. The pub shopfront comprises two square-headed door openings and two square-headed shop display windows with fixed six-pane display windows. The entrance to the pub has a replacement double-leaf flat-panelled timber door and an original four-panelled timber door to the left with bolection mouldings. The shopfront is surmounted by a painted rendered fascia with applied ceramic lettering; 'J. McCollam', with hood cornice over.

Southwest side is abutted by adjoining building No.25 (HB05/02/009).

Stepped rear elevation largely obscured by two-storey timber-framed glazed structure. Painted rough-cast rendered walling (possibly lime) with square-headed window openings having 3/6 and 6/6 sliding timber sash windows with exposed sash boxes.

Northeast side is abutted by adjoining terraced building No.21 (HB05/02/007).

Materials
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace of similarly scaled buildings lining the northwest side of Mill Street in the centre of the village and within the Cushendall Conservation Area. Single-storey outbuildings to left (E) side of rear surrounding internal courtyard with modern glazed lantern over. Outbuildings have natural slate roofs, with roughcast rendered walling, painted white, sheeted timber doors and some sliding sash windows, painted black. Now converted to stores, WCs and a rear lounge, the footprint matches that of outbuildings on 2nd and 3rd edition OS maps. Beyond outbuildings, entire yard enclosed by a timber-framed glazed structure.

Historical information

No. 23 Mill Street, a three-storey four-bay early-Victorian building (possessing a coach arch and divided roof level) located along the north side of Mill Street, was constructed prior to 1857. 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).

No. 23 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 Townland Valuations note that in 1834 a Mr. John Barry, the first recorded occupant of No. 23 Mill Street, resided in a 1B class dwelling (that is a slated building of medium age that was slightly decayed but still in good repair) which was valued at £3 and 16 shillings. It is unclear whether this entry refers to No. 23 Mill Street or a different house in the village. No. 23 Mill Street was first recorded with certainty on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) and Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which noted that the building was valued at £18 and 5 shillings and was leased by the McDonnell family of Kilmore House (HB05/01/012) to John Barry.

Described in his Will as an Innkeeper, Barry continued to reside at the site until his death in 1866 when the property passed to his widow Margaret (PRONI Wills). Brett states that Margaret Barry remarried a Mr. John McAllister who took over the operation of the Inn by at least 1876. The property passed to a Mr. Joseph McCollum of Armoy in c. 1879 following his marriage to McAlister’s niece Nancy. In his Buildings of County Antrim (1996) Brett included the following biographic sketch: ‘’Nancy Joe, as she was known to her customers, was of formidable proportions, and is reputed to have been at least 18 stone. She was respected for her ability to remove the most obstreperous customer by the scruff of the neck, yet she was also renowned as a general lady … Nancy’s daughters, Mary Ann and Grace, helped their mother run a very busy boarding house and restaurant, catering for large parties of residents as well as a passing trade’ (Brett, p. 258).

The McCollum family have continued to operate a public house and restaurant at No. 23 Mill Street. The 1911 Census described the property as a 1st class public house that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, turf house and potato house amongst its rear outbuildings. Ownership of the building reverted to John Turnly by the turn of the 20th century and remained in the Turnly estate until the 1960s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the public house was operated by a Mr. John McCollum and had been increased in value to £27. The McCollum family purchased No. 23 Mill Street outright from the Turnly Estate in 1967 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the building stood at £44.

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’ and noted that McCollum’s pub (incorporating a coach-arch and some nice squiggly applique lettering) [has] Georgian glazing.’ 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. 23 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent an exterior renovation in 2003-04 which included the restoration of its roof, the reconstruction of one chimney stack and the installation of a number of windows. During the Second Survey No. 23 Mill Street continued to be utilised as a public house operated by the McCollum family (who have continuously run the pub since the 1870s). The building retains its original Victorian character with remarkably little modernisation having been made to its interior. The Cushendall Conservation Area Guide noted that No. 23 Mill Street possessed one of the finest traditional shopfronts in the village stating that ‘the retention of these fronts, with their raised lettering or hand painted signs, does much to maintain the charm that is characteristic of the Irish town at its best’ (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 (23 Nov 1866)
14. First Survey Record – HB05/02/008 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/008

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/McCollams-Cushendall-P17066; accessed 20/06/2016

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Terraced four-bay three-storey stucco-fronted public house with carriage arch, built c.1840 and located on Mill St, within the Cushendall Conservation Area. Built as two separate dwellings and now interconnected on all floors, this building represents one of the most architecturally intact on the street; it retains three tall chimneys and most of the structural supporting walls inside. The decorative stucco detailing, authentic shopfront and overall proportions with Georgian-style fenestration make this one of the most visually striking buildings in the village. Despite alterations, the rear retains its character, including single storey slated outbuildings and some historic detailing survives to the interior, in particular to the ground floor bar. Owned by Mc Collam family since 1879; the traditional signboard features the name and is especially noteworthy as a rare example of raised ceramic lettering.