6 MILL STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced three-bay three-storey rendered commercial building, originally pre 1859, possibly reconstructed c.1870, with full-span shopfront and two-storey extension to rear, built c.2005. Rectangular on plan facing northwest as part of a terrace lining the south east side of Mill Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and two steel skylights to the rear pitch. Replacement red brick chimneystack to the left (NE) and rendered chimneystack to the right (SW). Cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets and cast-iron downpipes. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with rusticated render soldier quoins. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sliding sash windows (slender ogee horns to first floor, convex horns to second floor).

Three-bay three-storey front elevation with full-span painted stucco shopfront incorporating tripartite timber frame doorcase to the right providing access to the upper floors with timber panelled and glazed door. Replacement timber frame shop display window and timber panelled and glazed door all framed by painted stucco fluted pilasters on stepped plinth blocks surmounted by replacement timber fascia framed by scrolled and fluted console brackets and full-span cornice.

Northeast side abutted by adjoining building No.4 Mill Street (HB05/02/021).

Rear elevation partially obscured by twin gabled two-storey rendered extension. A single window opening to the second floor has a single-pane timber sliding sash window.

Southwest side abutted by lower adjoining building No.8 (HB05/02/019A).

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace of buildings of varying heights lining the south east side of Mill Street. Small rear yard enclosed by tall rendered wall with steel gate.

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

Historical information

No. 6 Mill Street, a three-storey three-bay building possessing a shopfront to its ground floor, was constructed prior to 1859 but may have been substantially altered or rebuilt in the late-19th century. 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).

No. 6 Mill Street was originally constructed prior to 1859 and may have been included in 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 Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which valued the building at £9 and noted that it was initially leased by the Turnly family to a Ms. Mary Rennie. The Rennie family continued to reside at the dwelling until c. 1864 when the private dwelling was briefly occupied by the Irish Church Missionary Society. The Cushendall Conservation Area Guide records suggests that No. 6 Mill Street was constructed in c. 1870. The Annual Revisions do not record any alteration to the building throughout this period, however the accompanying Annual Revision Town Plan of Cushendall (1906-c. 1935) suggests that No. 6 Mill Street had recently undergone major refurbishment (or reconstruction) at some point in the late-19th century. There is no further ev

The occupants of the building changed with great frequency from the 1860s until c. 1888 when William John McFetridge, a local saddler, took possession of the building. The 1910 Census noted that McFetridge resided at No. 6 Mill Street with his wife and children, operating his saddler’s store from the ground floor shopfront. The census building return described the house as a 2nd class shop premises that consisted of six rooms and possessed extensive outbuildings to rear including two stables, four cow houses, a piggery, a fowl house, turf house, potato house and a store. The McFetridge family continued to reside at No. 6 Mill Street until the 1960s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the house and shop was increased in value to £32. No. 6 Mill Street was occupied by John McFetridge until 1960 when the building passed to a Mr. Charles Hamill who remained at the site until at least the 1970s. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 6 Mill Street stood at £37.

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’ (UAHS Guide, p. 34). 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. 6 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

The NIEA HB Records note that the building was utilised as a bakery during the 1980s but underwent an extensive renovation in 1993 which included the reslating of its roof in natural slate, the installation of cast iron rainwater goods and the addition of new window frames. The renovation also included the provision of a new timber shop front (sympathetic to the design of the original shopfront) and the construction of the modern return to the rear of the building (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/12/E/24/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1906 – c. 1935)
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 – HB05/02/020 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/020

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Terraced three-bay three-storey rendered building, constructed prior to 1859 but which may have been altered or rebuilt in the late-19th century, around 1870. No. 8 Mill Street is located close to the central crossroads of Cushendall between No. 4 (HB05/02/021) & No. 8 (HB05/02/019A). While little interior historic detailing remains, the original stair has been retained and together with the front elevation retaining historic character and proportions, the building is a good example of a late nineteenth-century terraced building which continues to make a significant contribution to the historic setting of Mill Street at the centre of Cushendall village.