8 MILL ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay two-storey with attic rendered shop, built c.1830 with two-storey rear return. Irregular on plan facing northwest with single-storey rear extension.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, two steel skylights to the front pitch and a shared rendered chimneystack with terracotta pots to the southwest party wall. Cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement 6/6 sliding timber sash windows with ogee horns and exposed sash boxes.

Two-bay two-storey front elevation with central square-headed shop display window having concrete sill and timber fixed-pane display window with coloured glazed margin lights. Square-headed door opening to either side, that to the left providing access to the upper floor, that to the right providing access to the retail unit. Flat panelled timber door and glazed fanlight to the left with glazed timber door and and leaded glazed side light and fanlight to the right. Entire ground floor surmounted by replacement timber fascia and dentilated lead-lined cornice framed by shaped brackets having gilt lettering stating; 'NUMARK PHARMACISTS PUTTING YOUR HEALTH FIRST'.

Northeast side abutted by adjoining building No.6 Mill Street (HB05/02/020).

Gabled two-storey rendered rear elevation with large single-storey rear extension. A single square-headed window opening visible with bipartite timber sliding sash window.

Southwest side abutted by adjoining building No.10 Mill Street (HB05/02/019B).

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace lining the south east side of Mill Street.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined cement render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 8 Mill Street, a two-storey two-bay building possessing a shopfront to its ground floor, was constructed prior to 1832 (possibly late 18th/early 19th century) and is one of the earliest domestic buildings in Cushendall. 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).

Nos 8-12 Mill Street are amongst the earliest buildings on Mill Street and were first depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832). The buildings were likely included in the contemporary Townland Valuations (1834), however due to the loss of the accompanying Townland Valuation Town Plan (1834) it is difficult to identify specific buildings in that source. No. 8 Mill Street was first recorded with certainty in Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which valued the building at £7 and noted that it was leased by the Turnly family to a Mr. Norton Alexander. The occupants of the house changed with great frequency over the following two decades until 1882 when Hugh Reid, a local labourer, took possession of the property. Reid continued to reside at the building until c. 1908 when the site passed to Robert Mort, a local farmer. The 1911 Census Building Return described No. 8 Mill Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of three inhabited rooms and possessed a number of rear outbuildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, dairy and a potato house. No. 8 Mill Street was increased in value to £20 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded a Mr. Robert McFetridge as occupant and also noted that a local garage operated from the ground floor of the building. McFetridge purchased the site outright from the Turnly estate in 1967 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 8 Mill Street stood at £38.

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 nos 8-12 Mill Street as ‘probably 18th century and the oldest buildings in the street … Georgian glazed’ (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. 8 Mill was subsequently listed in 1976.

The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent a renovation in c. 1999 which included the reconstruction of its ground floor shopfront, the addition of a modern rear extension (to be used as stores), and the replacement of all windows and entrance doors (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

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 – HB05/02/019 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/019A

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
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 two-bay two-storey with attic rendered shop, built prior to 1832 located along the south east side of Mill Street situated between No.6 (HB05/02/020) and Nos 10-12 Mill Street (HB05/02/019B). Nos 8-12 Mill Street are amongst the earliest buildings on Mill Street (possibly late 18th/early 19th century) Despite modern alteration internally, external historic proportions and character remain to the front facade. No.8 has group value with its neighbours along Mill Street, contributing to the historic setting of Mill Street at the centre of Cushendall village.