KILNADORE HOUSE, GATES AND WALLING

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Italianate style detached three-bay two-storey roughcast dwelling, built c.1850, with front entrance porch. T-shaped on plan facing north and set back slightly behind lime washed stone wall on the south side of the Coast Road.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys and rendered profiled chimneystacks to mid ridge with vented circular clay pots. Replacement upvc rainwater goods and bracketed overhanging eaves. Painted rough-cast render walling with square-headed window openings on painted masonry sills, decorative stucco window surrounds with mixture of original timber sliding sash windows and replacement timber casement windows.

Symmetrical front (N) elevation with square-plan pitched slate roof to central entrance porch. Architrave surounds to window openings with bracketed sills and pediments to ground and first floor windows supported on console brackets. Coupled 1/1 timber sliding sash windows to ground floor with round-headed window to first floor gable with keystone. Round-headed door opening with architrave surround and original round-headed panelled hardwood door. Round-headed plaque above door containing "Kilnadore House".

East side elevation three-bay two storey with central gable matching style of front gable with square headed replacement window to ground floor with decorative stucco motif above, round-headed window to first floor with 1/1 timber sliding sash window. Small lean-to extension to left side with timber sheeted door and square-headed fanlight above. Cast iron half-round gutter, octagonal hopper and circular downpipes.

Rear elevation of one storey due to ground levels (first floor level) containing original gable to left side with central square-headed window opening with 1/1 timber sliding sash window. Modern flat roofed extension to right side of painted rough-cast render with smooth rendered corner bands. Parapet wall with concrete coping concealing roof behind. Square-headed door opening to right side with painted flush timber door leading to garden at first floor level. Small lean-to shed of corrugated metal walls and roof to left side.

West side elevation partly obscured from view to right side with overgrown vegetation at time of survey. Square-headed window openings to left side of modern extension with replacement timber casement windows. Main gable of dwelling containing large square-headed window to ground level with replacement timber casement window, first floor with central round-headed window matching front elevation.

Setting:
Set back slightly on the south side of Coast Road within its own grounds on an elevated site. Bitmac driveway with concrete paved area to west leading to garden all enclosed by lime washed stone wall with capping stones and square stone pillars with diamond capings containing cast-iron gates. Rear garden on a steep gradient abutting the rear of modern flat-roofed extension.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron (east & West) uPVC (north & south)
Walling Rough-cast render
Windows Timber sliding sash/ timber casement

Historical information

No. 1 Coast Road, a two-storey Italianate L-shaped dwelling located in Cushendall to the south side of the River Dall, was constructed in c. 1850. The building, which is also known as ‘Kilnadore House,’ was not recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832) but was first depicted on the second edition map in 1857. Kilnadore House was originally constructed as the village’s police barracks and was built as a result of the village’s development in the 19th and early-20th century as a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling along the Coastal Road. Griffith’s Valuation (1859) notes that the police barracks was valued at £8 and was constructed on land leased by Henry Hugh McNeile, a magistrate and prominent local landowner who resided at Parkmount in Belfast (PRONI Wills; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

Kilnadore House continued to be utilised as the village’s police barracks until c. 1875 when a new barracks was established at nos 10-12 Mill Street. The Annual Revisions note that the house fell vacant for over a decade but remained owned by Henry Hugh McNeile. The next occupant of the dwelling was a Mr. Alexander McAlister who purchased the lease for the site in 1892 but only briefly resided at Kilnadore House until 1899 when the house passed to Joseph Duffy, a schoolteacher who taught at the National School on High Street (HB05/02/031). The 1903 Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Cushendall records that the layout of the dwelling has remained generally unaltered since the turn of the 20th century although a two-storey rear extension was added in the mid-20th century. In c. 1911 the Census of Ireland noted that Kilnadore House had been purchased outright by Daniel Lynn, a local cycle merchant who operated business premises at No. 2 Coast Road opposite (HB05/02/025). The census building return described Kilnadore House as a 1st class dwelling which consisted of eight rooms and possessed a number of farm buildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery and a fowl house.

The Cushendall Conservation Area Guide (1993) records that during the early decades of the 20th century there was ‘an explosion in the popularity of cycling, the formation of cycle touring clubs and the birth of the Youth Hostel movement.’ A cycling merchant such as Lynn would have benefitted from this social development as ‘for the first time, the recreational possibilities of the Glens were brought within reach of almost everyone’ (Cushendall Conservation Area Guide, p. 20). In 1926 Lynn opened a general store and tearooms at No. 2 Coast Road for local residents and tourists who passed through the village. The Lynn family continued to reside at Kilnadore House until at least the 1970s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the house was increased to £30. This was slightly raised to £32 by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time Kilnadore House was occupied by Joseph Lynn (who continued to operate the shop at No. 2 Coast Road).

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim described Kilnadore House in the following terms: ‘a pleasant two-storey cottage of the 1850s, with wide eaves, ornamental eaves-brackets, round-headed windows, finished in roughcast with stucco trim’ (UAHS p. 31). Kilnadore House was 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 chosen as one of Northern Ireland’s four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. Kilnadore House was subsequently listed in 1976 (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/12/B/1/40B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/19A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1913)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/13A– 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 (1861-1918)
13. Census of Ireland (1911)
14. PRONI Wills Catalogue (6 Jul 1904)
15. First Survey Record – HB05/02/026 (1971)
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/026

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. ‘Cushendall Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1975.
3. ‘Cushendall Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1993 – including Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1932.

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

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

Evaluation

Italianate-style detached three-bay two-storey roughcast dwelling, built c.1850. Located on the south side of Coast Road within its own grounds behind lime washed stone walling with iron gates, with the River Dall on the west side. Kilnadore House was originally constructed as the village’s police barracks, built as a result of the village’s development in the 19th and early-20th centuries as a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling along the coastal road. It continued in this use until c. 1875 when a new barracks was established at nos 10-12 Mill Street (HB05/02/019). In c. 1911 the house was purchased by Daniel Lynn, a local cycle merchant who operated a general store and tearooms at No. 2 Coast Road opposite (HB05/02/025). Retaining historic character with its round-headed windows and wide eaves, the modern flat-roofed extension to the rear is not sympathetic and impacts on the authenticity of the whole. Nevertheless, the building is an unusual design for a former police station and would have contributed socially in the local community during much of its history and it is therefore of special interest.