16 SHORE ST

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay two-storey rendered house, pre 1859, probably c. 1830. Square on plan facing southeast and lining the northwest side of Shore Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, a single iron skylight to the front pitch and a rendered chimneystack with clay pots to the southwest end. Cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets to rendered eaves course, cast-iron hopper and downpipes. Painted rough-cast 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 a central square-headed door opening having replacement sheeted timber door with glazed panel.

Southwest side abutted by adjoining house No.14 Shore Street (HB05/02/029A).

First floor of rear elevation seen from high level land to rear. Natural slate to rear slope of roof with single iron skylight. Three 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to first floor level. Painted rough-cast rendered walling.

Northeast side abutted by adjoining house No.18 Shore Street.

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace of two-storey houses lining the northwest side of Shore Street.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rough-cast render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 16 Shore Street, a two-storey two-bay building located on the north west side of Shore Street, constructed prior to 1859 (probably c.1830). The majority of the buildings located along Shore Street were erected in the first half of the 19th 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. 16 Shore Street is likely to date from the early-19th century as a row of buildings were depicted along the northern half of the street on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832). The buildings along this row may have been included in the contemporary Townland Valuations (1834), however it is difficult to identify specific buildings in that source due to the loss of the Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834). No. 16 Shore Street was first recorded with certainty in Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which set the total rateable value of the building at £5 and 10 shillings. The valuer noted that the house was leased by the Turnly family to a Mr. William Martin. The occupants of the building changed with frequency until c. 1877 when John McAlister took possession of the site. In 1911 the Census of Ireland recorded that McAlister was a local farm labourer and noted that No. 16 Shore Street was a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of two inhabited rooms and possessed a piggery, a fowl house and a shed as its sole outbuildings. The McAlister family continued to reside at No. 16 Shore Street until the 1950s. The value of the house was increased to £7 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded a Mary McAlister as occupant. A Marian Murphy occupied the house in 1961 and purchased the site outright in 1967. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 16 Shore Street stood at £17.

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim described the north side of Shore Street as ‘a miscellany of two and three-storey houses, stuccoed, rendered and pebble dashed’ with nos 14-16 specifically described as ‘exceptionally well-painted white roughcast and blue, with all glazing complete’ (UAHS p. 33). The buildings along Shore 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. 16 Shore Street was 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/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 – HB05/02/029
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/029B

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Terraced two-bay two-storey rendered house, constructed prior to 1859 (probably c. 1830). Located on the northwest side of Shore Street, close to the village centre of Cushendall, adjacent to No.14 Shore Street (HB05/02/029). One of a row of buildings erected by the Turnly family. Good example of urban vernacular, retaining simple proportions, plain aesthetic and significant historic fabric and detailing. Original elevations to front and rear. An unusually unaltered example. External roughcast finish, decoration and fenestration are of particular interest. An integral component of the terrace, having group value with No.14 and is of local interest in the historic village centre.