3 HIGH ST

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay three-storey rendered house, built c.1830. Rectangular on plan facing southwest with two-storey extension to rear and forming part of a terrace built on a steep gradient lining the northeast side of High Street.

Pitched artificial slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack to either end. Replacement steel rainwater goods. Painted textured cement rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with concrete sills and replacement multi-pane sliding timber sash windows with ogee horns and exposed sash boxes.

Two-bay three-storey front elevation with a square-headed door opening to the right having replacement hardwood glazed door and paired sliding timber sash windows to the left. Pair of 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to FF. Diminished 3/3 windows glazed above to SF with similar details.

Northwest side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.5 High Street (HB05/02/034A).

Rear elevation obscured by two-storey cement rendered extension. Partially visible slate-hung attic dormer window and replacement timber casement windows.

Southeast side abutted by adjoining commercial corner building (shop) No.2 Shore Street (HB05/02/033A).

Setting:
Part of a continuous terrace of houses lining the northeast side of High Street built on a steep gradient at the main crossroads at the centre of the village.

Materials:
Roof Artificial slate
RWG Replacement steel
Walling Replacement textured cement render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 3 High Street, a three-storey two-bay early-19th century house located on the north east side of High Street, constructed c. 1830. 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. 3 High Street is depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832), although it is not known whether the building was included in the contemporary Townland Valuations (1834) due to the loss of the Townland Valuation Town Plan for Cushendall. Griffith’s Valuation (1859) records that No. 3 High Street was initially valued at £5 and 10 shillings and was leased by a Mr. John Hamilton. The valuer noted that during the 1850s the house was co-inhabited by Daniel McKillop, William Todd and Francis Brooke. The Annual Revisions record that these individuals remained at the address until c. 1875 when the house passed to a Mr. Daniel McAuley. The occupants of No. 3 High Street continued to change with frequency over the following decades and in 1911 the Census of Ireland records that the house was inhabited by Daniel McMullen, a local tailor. In that year the accompanying census building return described No. 3 High Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of three inhabited rooms and possessed a stable, a piggery, a fowl house and a workshop amongst its outbuildings. The McMullen family continued to occupy the house until at least the 1970s and operated a shop from at the ground floor of the site throughout this period. No. 3 High Street was increased in value to £10 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which continued to record Daniel McMullen as occupant. The McMullen family purchased the site outright from the Turnly estate in 1967 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the value of No. 3 High Street stood at £21.

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim described 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.’ Nos 3-5 High Street as called ‘plain rendered houses’ (UAHS Guide, 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. 3 High Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 3 High Street underwent a refurbishment c. 1987 which included the construction of its current rear return (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 – HB05/02/033 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/033B

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

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced two-bay three-storey rendered house, built c.1830 located on the north side of High Street between No.1 High Street (HB05/02/033A) and No.5 High Street (HB05/02/034A) directly opposite the Curfew Tower (HB05/02/001) at the central crossroads in Cushendall village. Despite the replacement of historic elements such as windows and the front door, the dwelling retains its original openings and is an integral component of the terrace which steps up the hill of High Street, having group value with its neighbours. The terrace as a whole adds to the historic village centre setting.