5 HIGH ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay two-storey rendered house, built c.1830. Rectangular on plan facing southwest forming part of a terrace of six buildings lining the northeast side of High Street on a steep gradient.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack to the southeast party wall. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted rendered walling. Square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills and replacement single-pane timber sliding sash windows with convex horns and exposed sash boxes.

Two-bay two-storey front elevation with a central square-headed door opening incorporating replacement small bipartite timber-frame shop display window and replacement timber glazed panelled door. Further square-headed door opening to the left with replacement glazed panelled door providing access to the upper floor.

Northwest side abutted by adjoining building No.7 High Street (HB05/02/034B).

Rear elevation comprises gabled-ended two-storey rendered return having a single door opening to the first floor and a further gabled extension. Replacement timber glazed panelled door opens onto steel steps.

Southeast side abutted by adjoining house No.3 High Street (HB05/02/033B).

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of six houses built on a steep gradient on the northeast side of High Street.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted cement render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 5 High Street, a two-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. 5 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. 5 High Street was initially valued at £6 and 10 shillings and was leased by a Mr. John Hamilton, although the building was unoccupied at that time. Between the 1860s and 1870s the house was inhabited by a Mr. Neil McCurdy, passing to a Margaret McAuley in 1879. No. 5 High Street continued to be occupied by McAuley under the 1911 Census which described the house as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of only three inhabited rooms and possessed a piggery, fowl house and shed as its rear outbuildings. The McAuley family continued to reside at the address until at least the 1970s and operated a shop from the ground floor of the premises. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the house was occupied by Michael McAuley and was valued at £13. The McAuley’s had purchased the house outright by at least 1956 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the house stood at £19.

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 are described as ‘plain rendered houses’ (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. 5 High Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

NIEA HB Records note No. 5 High Street was renovated c. 1996, works including the conversion of the upper floor into a self-contained apartment, whilst the ground floor remained in use as shop premises (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 – HB05/02/034 (1971)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/034A

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
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, built c.1830 located on the north side of High Street between No.3 High Street (HB05/02/033B) and No.7 (HB05/02/034B) directly opposite the Curfew Tower (HB05/02/001) at the central crossroads in Cushendall village. Despite the replacement of the original windows and doors, 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.