18 High Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-storey four-bay late-Georgian style house. Built c.1857. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation faces North, built on the South side of High Street. Set within its own grounds behind lime washed stone wall with sandstone capping and original decorative wrought iron gates and gate posts.

Pitched natural slate roof to High Street/front elevation with clay ridge tiles and two rendered chimney stacks with circular black pots; half-round replacement pvc guttering fixed to painted timber fascia terminating to circular pvc downpipes to front elevation.

Principal elevation is smooth block lined render painted finish with stepped plain quoins to each end of main house; slight step back to end bay to right side; all window openings are square-headed on painted masonry sills with painted plaster band to reveals; bays on ground floor are aligned with window bays on floors above; windows are 6/6 exposed box timber sliding sash and 3/6 above all with original painted timber shutters to the inside; square headed door opening with timber lattice wind break porch with pitched slate roof; raised-and-fielded six panel painted timber door, door opens onto threshold one concrete step up from the ground level. Painted sheeted timber door to right side recessed bay.

East elevation abuts adjacent property boundary with single square headed window opening on painted masonry sill containing 2/4 exposed box timber sliding sash window to right side at first floor level. Painted timber fascia with simple tail detail and painted timber soffit. Large smooth render painted chimney stack to ridge with stepped cornice.

South elevation to rear not visible at time of survey.

West elevation of single storey height (first floor level) due to change in ground levels, with small rear return with pitched slate roof and chimney stack at mid ridge. Walling of smooth block lined render painted finish with square headed window opening to right side on painted masonry sill with 9/9 exposed box timber sliding sash and original painted timber shutters to the inside. Rear return with replacement timber casement georgian-style window, painted timber fascia and soffit.

Roof Natural Slate to front/fibre cement tiles to rear
RWG uPVC
Walling Render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Setting:
Detached house, set within its own grounds defined by a lime washed stone wall with original iron gates, forming part of a group of historic houses lining the South side of High Street. Set within the Cushendall Conservation Area. In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described High Street thus: "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 as well as the value of the group as a whole; the roofs, gables, doors and windows rise in an irregular staircase up the hillside."

Note: At time of final pre-listing visit both chimneys and pots had been renewed.

Historical information

No. 18 High Street, a two-storey four-bay mid-19th century house located on the south side of High Street, was 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. 18 High Street may date from as early as 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. 18 High Street was valued at £6 and was leased to a Mr. James McDonnell by the Turnly family. The Annual Revisions note that McDonnell had vacated the site by 1869 when the house was utilised as a lodging house. The house had reverted to use as a private dwelling in 1880 when it was occupied by a Mr. William McQuillan who remained at the address until 1893 when Henry Wilcock, a constable with the Royal Irish Constabulary, took possession. No. 18 High Street was depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903) along its current layout possessing a rear return. The occupants of the property continued to change with frequency and by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) No. 18 High Street had been increased in value to £9 and was occupied by a Ms. Margaret Cochrane. In 1969 the house was purchased outright by a Mr. Edward O’Loan who remained at the site until the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the building’s value stood at £12 and 10 shillings.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide 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 No. 18 High Street as a ‘nice two-storey Georgian-glazed cottage perched on the slope at an angle to the road’ (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 (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)

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
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

Detached two-storey four-bay house. Built c.1857. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation facing North, built on the South side of High Street. Set within its own grounds behind lime washed stone wall with sandstone capping and original decorative wrought iron gates and gate posts. The exterior retains most of its distinctive features, character and style with much original detailing remaining. Combined with its neighbours, No 18 contributes positively to its setting and to the Cushendall Conservation Area,