14 MILL STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace three-bay two-storey with attic-storey rendered house, built c.1887. Rectangular on plan facing northwest and terminating a terrace lining the southeast side of Mill Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and two steel rooflights to front and rear pitches. Rendered profiled chimneystack with black pots rising from the southwest gable with cement coping to the gable. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with painted rusticated quoins to the front elevation, smooth rendered to the side gable and rough-cast rendered to the rear elevation. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacment horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with angled horns and exposed sash boxes.

Three-bay two-storey front elevation with central square-headed door opening with replacement timber panelled door. First floor windows have moulded architrave surrounds, bracketed sills and steel sill guards.

Gabled northwest side elevation fronting onto public lane with two diminutive window openings to attic level having replacement top-hung timber casement windows.

Three-bay two-storey rear elevation has a central door opening with replacement sheeted hardwood door and a paired window opening to the right with 2/2 timber sliding sash windows having a central sash box.

Southeast side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.16 (HB05/02/017).

Setting:
Terminating a terrace of houses lining the southeast side of Mill Street with a public access lane running along the northwest gable providing access from Mill Street to a public car park on the banks of the River Dall. Concrete paved rear yard enclosed by tall rubblestone wall and vehicular steel gates.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined render / rough-cast render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 14 Mill Street, a two-storey three-bay building located along the east side of Mill Street, was constructed c. 1887 as Cushendall’s Constabulary Barracks. The majority of the two and three-storey buildings along the street were erected in the first half of the century by the 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 Annual Revisions note that No. 14 Mill Street was constructed c. 1887 as a constabulary barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary. The building is one of a number of structures in Cushendall that were utilised as police barracks. The local police force had previously been located at Kilnadore House (HB05/02/026), No. 20 High Street (HB05/02/032) and, prior to the construction of No. 14 Mill Street, the R.I.C. had been stationed at the adjoining nos 10-12 Mill Street (HB05/02/019). The valuer set the total rateable value of the new Constabulary Barracks at No. 14 Mill Street at £10 and 10 shillings upon its completion in c. 1887. The Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903) records that the building originally possessed a rear return but this was demolished in the late-20th century. The building continued to be utilised as a barracks until c. 1909 when it was converted into a private dwelling and was occupied by a Rosetta Wallis. The building was not included in the Census of Ireland of 1901 or 1911 but the valuation sources record that a shop operated from the premises. A Kathleen Duffy occupied No. 14 Mill Street under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which raised the value of the structure to £14. Kathleen Duffy remained at the address until 1963 when a Mr. Michael McCarthy purchased the site outright. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 14 Mill Street stood at £16 and 10 Shillings.

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim described Mill Street in the following 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.’ The guide specifically described No. 14 Mill Street as a ‘pleasant stucco quoined house with architraves and Regency glazing’ (UAHS Guide, pp 34-36). The buildings along Mill Street were subsequently 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. 14 Mill was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent a general renovation c. 1983 although no specific details were noted (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide). No.14 Mill Street was operating as a Bed & Breakfast at the time of survey.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
5. PRONI OS/8/84/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/148 – Townland Valuations (1834)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/1/40B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/7A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/12A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
10. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. First Survey Record – HB05/02/018 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/018

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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

End of terrace three-bay two-storey with attic rendered house located along the east side of Mill Street adjacent to No.16 Mill Street (HB05/02/017), constructed in c. 1887 as a constabulary barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary in Cushendall. The local police force had previously been located at Kilnadore House (HB05/02/026), No. 20 High Street (HB05/02/032) and, prior to the construction of No. 14 Mill Street, at the adjoining nos 10-12 Mill Street (HB05/02/019). The former barracks retains its original proportions and displays much external historic character and detailing, with moulded architrave surrounds to the windows and painted rusticated quoins to the corners. Its history as a former barracks for the R.I.C. adds to its special historic interest and it continues to make a significant contribution to the historic setting of Mill Street at the centre of Cushendall village.