7 HIGH ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced single-bay three-storey rendered house, built c.1830, with full-height rear return. L-shaped on plan facing southwest on the northeast side of High Street with small front area and rear yard.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and cast-iron guttering on drive-through iron brackets to rendered eaves course. Replacement brick chimney stack to southeast gable with terracotta pots. Painted rendered walling with painted rusticated render quoins to the right only. Square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills and replacement horizontally-glazed (2/2) sliding sash timber windows with ogee horns and exposed sash boxes (replacement top-hung timber casement windows to rear).

Single-bay three-storey front elevation with square-headed door opening to the left having replacement sheeted timber door with glazed panel. Door opens onto raised concrete platform and three concrete steps (shared with adjoining house No.9).

Northwest side is abutted by adjoining house No.9 High Street (HB05/02/034C).

Full-height gabled rear return to rear elevation with lean-to two-storey extension to the re-entrant angle having cat-slide roof and flat-roofed porch with hardwood door.

Southeast side abutted by adjoining house No.5 High Street (HB05/02/034A) which is at lower level. Exposed gable above adjacent roof is blank.

Setting:
Forming part of a continuous terrace of houses lining the northeast side of High Street set on a steep gradient with a small paved front area enclosed by rendered wall with rubble coping. Small rear yard enclosed by tall concrete and brick wall.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash (casements to rear).

Historical information

No. 7 High Street, a three-storey single-bay early-19th century house located on the north east side of High Street, constructed c. 1830 along with the adjoining No 9 (HB05/02/034C). 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).

The valuation sources record that nos 7-9 High Street were originally constructed as a single property. This building was erected in c. 1830 and was 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 nos 7-9 High Street was valued at £18 and 5 shillings and was originally utilised as a local hotel for those travelling along the coastal road. The valuer noted that the hotel was leased by Daniel Jamison (a local rate collector who resided at nos 13-15 High Street) to a Ms. Jane Martin. Nos 7-9 High Street continued to be utilised as a hotel until c. 1866 when the building was converted into a private dwelling and occupied by a Mr. John McDonnell. In c. 1884 nos 7-9 High Street passed to a Mr. Alexander McAuley, however in 1886 the building was described as ‘going to ruin’ and was reduced in value to £8 and 10 shillings. The Annual Revisions suggest that only a portion of the house was occupied between the 1880s and 1922 when the building was restored and converted into a bakery by Messers Thomas Crowley and Charles McLernon. Nos 7-9 High Street were subdivided into its current layout as two three-storey single-bay dwellings by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57). The valuer noted that the bakery was located at No. 7 High Street which was valued at £22 and operated by the McLernon family. In 1948 the building ceased to be utilised as a bakery and was occupied by a Ms. Mary McAlister as a private dwelling; McAlister purchased the site outright from the Turnly estate by the 1950s. McAlister leased the site out to other tenants under the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) which set the total rateable value of No. 7 High Street at £14 and 10 shillings.

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.’ In particular, the guide described nos 7-9 High Street as ‘a fine three-storey pair, probably of about 1800’ (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. 7 High Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

The NIEA HB Records note that No. 7 High Street underwent renovation c. 1980 (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 – HB05/02/034B

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
T. Historic Importance
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced single-bay three-storey rendered house, built c.1830, with full-height rear return, located on the north side of High Street between No.5 High Street (HB05/02/034A) and No.9 (HB05/02/034C) directly opposite the Curfew Tower (HB05/02/001) at the central crossroads in Cushendall village. Nos 7-9 High Street was originally constructed as a single property and operated as a local hotel for those travelling along the coastal road and it was 1866 before the building was converted into a private dwelling. It later operated as a bakery and was then subdivided into its current layout as two dwellings during 1936-57. No.7 High Street is an integral component of the terrace which steps up the hill of High Street, having group value with No.9 and it retains much external historic character. The terrace as a whole adds to the historic village centre setting.