20 HIGH STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey over concealed basement rendered house, pre 1857 (possibly 1830s) with two-storey rear return. T-shaped on plan facing north on an elevated site and set back slightly on the south side of High Street.

Hipped natural slate roof with rolled lead ridges and two rendered chimneystacks rising from the rear elevation. Plastic rainwater goods throughout on overhanging sheeted eaves. Painted rough-cast rendered walling with smooth rendered plinth course and smooth rendered corner strips. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement timber sliding sash windows with ogee horns (6/3 to first floor, 6/6 to ground floor). UPVC windows to return.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation with a central square-headed door opening. Replacement timber panelled door and replacement rectangular overlight with painted stucco surround comprising ribbed panelled pilasters and corbelled cornice. Door opens onto two stone steps with wrought-iron bootscraper.

Symmetrical two-bay two-storey east side elevation (windows similar to front elevation).

Blind rear elevation with gable-ended two-bay two-storey rear return with uPVC windows and lean-to uPVC conservatory to the east. A single square-headed door opening at basement level is located to the right with steel door accessed via stone steps. Single square-headed door opening to the west elevation of return with replacement timber glazed door.

West side elevation abutted by lean-to single-storey accretion having natural slate roof and a single 6/6 timber sash window to the north (uPVC windows to west side of rear elevation).

Setting:
Set on an elevated landscaped site on the south side of High Street with front gravel area enclosed by rough-cast rendered wall having cement coping. Vehicular opening to the west and a single pedestrian opening with original spear-headed wrought-iron gate hung on cast-iron posts with a short flight of stone steps. One of four detached houses built on a steep gradient on the northeast side of High Street with a small front paved area enclosed by original iron railings with decorative cast-iron heads and set in a low rendered plinth wall with an iron pedestrian gate.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG uPVC
Walling Painted rough-cast render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash (uPVC to rear return).

Historical information

No. 20 High Street, a two-storey three-bay mid-19th Regency-style house located on the south side of High Street, constructed prior to 1857. The majority of the buildings located along High Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the landowning 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. 20 High Street may be shown on 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 the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) and Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which noted that No. 20 High Street was originally valued at £17 and 15 shillings. The valuer noted that the building was leased by the Turnly family to a Ms. Rachel Parr. The Parr family continued to reside at the address until c. 1884 when No. 20 High Street was briefly utilised as the village’s Constabulary Barracks. The Annual Revisions note that the Royal Irish Constabulary had vacated the building within the year and that a Ms. Elizabeth Cooper had taken possession of the site by c. 1885. The building continued to change tenant with frequency until c. 1898 when the house was occupied by a Mr. James McElherron, a Clerk who was employed at Cushendall’s Petty Sessions Court (originally situated on Mill Street but relocated to the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum in the late-20th century).

No. 20 High Street was depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903) along its current layout although the map also shows that the building possessed a number of rear outbuildings (now demolished). In 1911 the Census of Ireland’s census building return described No. 20 High Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of six inhabited rooms and possessed extensive outbuildings including two stables, two cow houses and a barn. The value of the house was increased to £23 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded that the McElherron family continued to reside at No. 20 High Street until c. 1937. A Margaret Corrigan occupied the house between that year and 1966 when the building fell vacant. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 20 High Street stood at £24.

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim referred to High Street as ‘an outstandingly attractive street, of quite exceptional merit and character, climbing very steeply indeed from the crossing of the main street to Court McMartin, almost every building in it of individual merit apart from the value of the group as a whole; the roofs, gables, doors and windows rise in an irregular staircase up the hillside.’ No. 20 High Street is described as a ‘three-bay two-storey house in the Regency manner, with very wide eaves, white painted roughcast, glazing-bars, hipped roof; and a curious simple doorcase incorporating five mutules and guttae’ (UAHS p. 34). The buildings along High 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. 20 High Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

NIEA HB Records note No. 20 High Street underwent extensive works (date unknown) including the reconstruction of a chimney stack, reslating, installation of new window frames and door (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/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/02/032 (1971)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/032

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Detached three-bay two-storey over concealed basement rendered house with two-storey rear return, possibly dating from before the 1830s, but first recorded with certainty on the second edition OS map of 1857. It is located on a prominent, elevated site overlooking Cushendall village centre to the east. During the year 1884-85, the building operated as the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks, reverting to a private dwelling afterwards. Retaining external historic character to the symmetrical front facade with a painted stucco surround with ribbed panelled pilasters and corbelled cornice to the front door and a cast iron bootscraper, the historic integrity of this dwelling is reduced by the uPVC conservatory to the rear. Nevertheless, the house is of special interest and the historic setting of High Street is enhanced by its continuing presence.