12 High Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

ViExterior on 25th Jan 2017

Access to rear of property - groud floor timebr lean-to in poor condition, fibre cement slate to roof. Heavy-duty plastic sheeting covering rear wall and windows at first floor.

Front door has been replaced with PvC modern front door.

Exterior on 6th feb 2015

End-of-terrace, two-storey, single-bay, late-Georgian styled house, built c.1857; the name of the architect is unknown. Rectangular on plan, located on the South side of High Street in the centre of Cushendall, within a terraced row which steps to align with the steep slope. Set back from the pavement with small hard-standing to front enclosed by a lime-washed stone wall and replacement timber sheeted gate.

Duo-pitched natural slate roof with terracotta clay ridge tiles and single rendered chimney stack with circular clay pots to right side; half-round replacement pvc guttering fixed to painted timber fascia discharging to circular pvc downpipe to left side of front elevation; a few rise-n-fall brackets remain to right side.

Principal elevation faces north. Smooth render painted finish (white); slight step back to right side; all window openings are square-headed on painted masonry sills with black painted plaster band to reveals; openings on ground floor are not aligned with window on floor above. Windows are multi-paned timber sliding sash with exposed boxes; that to ground floor having 6/6 lights and a pair to first floor each having 3/6 lights. Square headed door is vertically sheeted timber, painted black with square glazed aperture to top; plaster band surround matches window reveals. Door opens onto threshold set level with external ground.

East elevation abuts adjacent property No.10 High Street with gable projecting above No.10 roofline of unpainted smooth render.

South elevation to rear not accessed.

West elevation consists of single storey height gable (first floor level), due to slope of street, which rises up towards the former Layd Primary School (HB05.02.031) that is adjacent; largely obscured by vegetation growth.

Roof Natural Slate
RWG uPVC
Walling Render, painted
Windows Timber multi-paned sliding sash with exposed box frames

Setting:
End-of-terrace modest Georgian-style dwelling, part of a group of similar houses lining the South side of High Street within the Cushendall Conservation Area.

Historical information

No. 12 High Street, a two-storey single-bay dwelling 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. 12 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. 12 High Street was valued at £2 and 10 shillings and was leased to by the Turnly family to a Mr. Archibald McKeegan. The occupants of the house changed with frequency during the late-19th century. In 1901 the Census of Ireland noted that the house was occupied by James Speers, a local mariner, whilst the accompanying census building return described No. 12 High Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of three rooms. The house was depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903) along its current layout suggesting that few changes have been made to the site since the turn of the 20th century. A Mr. Thomas Swan had occupied No. 12 High Street under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) by which time the value of the property had been increased to £4 and 15 shillings. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the house was occupied by a Mr. E. McGaughey and was valued at £6.

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 nos 6-12 High Street as ‘a pleasant jumbly group of small houses clambering uphill’ (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
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

End-of-terrace, two-storey, single-bay house, built c.1857; the name of the architect is unknown. Rectangular on plan, the exterior retains most of its historic features; including duo-pitched natural slate roof, white rendered walls and multi-paned sliding sash windows with exposed box frames. It is a well proportioned, simple yet distinctive building within a row of similarly scaled houses sandwiched between No.4 High Street (HB05.02.050) and the former Layd Primary School (HB05.02.031). In conjunction with its neighbours No.6-10 High Street (inclusive), it forms a stepped terrace on a hill, which is amongst the most interesting buildings within the Cushendall Conservation Area.