3 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey three-bay white painted rough-cast rendered house with basement; rectangular plan-form with a pitched slate roof. Adjoined to neighbouring property No.1 Main Street, similar in design, situated immediately facing the Main Street. Built c. 1820's (Architect unknown), much earlier than the cottages within 'The Square' adjacent. No. 3 was utilised as a post office between 1970 - 1980 and possessed a pair of shop front on ground floor level. At the time of the survey the building was solely occupied as a private dwelling.

White painted rough-cast rendered walling, set on a plinth painted in contrasting colour; small-pane Georgian timber sliding sash windows with horns and exposed box frames painted in contrasting colour incorporating a 'cottage' style expressed within the design of the facade; pitched slate roof has black ridge tiles and a single white painted rendered chimney-stack to either end at mid-ridge having stepped cornices (one chimney has a single clay pot); stepped eaves with out-and-up iron brackets supporting a half round cast-iron guttering discharging to a circular section downpipes.

Principal elevation faces South-west onto the Main Street and Bay Road, accessed via a tarmac footpath leading to the front entrance porch, centred on elevation containing a small hipped slate roof over a curved white smooth-rendered wall to either side of a vertically sheeted painted timber door with painted metal door furniture. The fenestration pattern is regular and almost symmetrical, there is a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to the left and right of the central entrance porch, all aligned with first floor bays above; first floor contains 3 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with horns and exposed box frames.

North-west side elevation is of white painted smooth-rendered finish topped by a rendered chimney stack, elevation is blank.

North-east elevation to the rear overlooks a modest rear yard and garden beyond enclosed to the SE side by a high stone wall, the NW side by a high concrete block wall with white painted finish, and to the NE side by a stone wall and a white rendered outbuilding having a corrugated metal roof. Rear elevation is abutted by two-storey rear porch containing a set of concrete steps leading down to rear yard. The fenestration pattern is irregular, consisting a mixture of 2/2, 6/6 and 8/8 timber sliding sash windows; there is a single small-pane casement window on ground floor level of rear porch above a recessed doorway leading to the basement; first floor bays on main elevation to the left side are not aligned with lower bays on ground and basement level; there is an rendered boiler house outshot containing to the left side and adjoined to the rear porch and steps.

South-east side is adjoined to neighbouring property No. 1 Main Street (HB05/03/012).

Setting:
Situated to the North of the River Dun within the heart of the Village of Cushendun. No. 3 is adjoined to neighbouring property No.1; both properties immediately face out onto the Main Street and within close proximity to 'The Square'. The rear of No.3 directly overlooks the North Sea with panoramic views of the coastline. Located within a Conservation Area and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: Cast-iron painted
Walling: White rendered
Windows: Timber sliding sash and small-pane Georgian-style casements.

Historical information

No. 3 Main Street, a two-storey three-bay early-19th century dwelling located in the village of Cushendun, was constructed prior to 1832. The village of Cushendun, located along the River Dun, was developed from the early-19th century when travel across mainland Europe was cut off by the Napoleonic wars. Ireland became a popular destination for British tourists during this period, necessitating the development of new routes and hotels between Belfast and the picturesque sites along the Antrim Coast such as Dunluce Castle and the Giants Causeway. The previously isolated Glens of Antrim at once became accessible with the development of the Coastal Road between 1832 and 1842. Villages along the coast such as Cushendall and Cushendun were transformed from minor settlements into popular seaside resorts that soon became thronged with seasonal visitors. A number of summer houses (or ‘Bathing Lodges’) were constructed along the coast by city-based professionals and merchants, including the impressive residences of Glenmona Lodge and Glendun Lodge at Cushendun. No.3 Main Street was constructed pre-1832 and is contemporary with the laying out of the coastal road and the initial development of Cushendun (Lewis; Bassett, p. 137; Cushendun Conservation Area Guides).

No. 3 Main Street was first depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832) as a rectangular-shaped building. The contemporary Townland Valuations (1834) record that the building was initially owned by a Mr. Neal McNeill and was valued at £5 and 11 shillings. The valuer described the structure as a 1B class dwelling (that is a slated building of medium age that was slightly decayed but still in good repair) that possessed as cellar and measured 36.6ft in length by 24ft in breadth and stood 13.3ft in height. Neal McNeill leased the site to a Mr. Daniel McKillop under Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which increased the value of the building to £6 and 15 shillings. McKillop continued to reside at No. 3 Main Street until 1869 when the house passed to Archibald McDonnell, a local farmer and publican who converted the building into a public house by at least the 1880s (the site was first recorded as a public house by the Annual Revisions in c. 1881).

McDonnell remained at No. 3 Main Street until his death in 1907 at which time the address passed to Sarah McVeigh who did not maintain the public house but occupied the site as a private dwelling (PRONI Wills). In 1911 the Census of Ireland described the house as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of seven rooms and possessed a piggery and fowl house as its sole outbuildings. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) No. 3 Main Street had been converted into a dwelling and shop (known as the ‘Hiker’s Rest’) which was increased in value to £15. The valuer notes that the lodging house was occupied by the Leavey family who remained at the address until at least the 1970s. Ownership of No. 3 Main Street passed from the McNeill family to the National Trust in 1954 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the building stood at £27.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described nos 1-3 Main Street as ‘a rather nice group of traditional white-washed two-storey houses’ (UAHS Guide, p. 42). No. 3 Main Street was listed in 1980. In that year the building was included in the Cushendun Conservation Area which was designated as a means of ‘protecting and enhancing the special qualities of the village.’ The NIEA HB Records note that No. 3 Main Street was utilised as a post office between the 1970s and 1980s and possessed a pair of shopfronts to its ground floor. The building underwent an extensive renovation in 1988 which resulted in the replacement of the shopfronts with new sliding sash windows. The renovation also included the reconstruction of a chimney stack, the reslating of its roof in second hand slates and the installation of new entrance doors. In c. 2011 the roof of the building underwent a further restoration with the replacement of some slates (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 VAL/1/A/1/15 – Townland Valuations Map (c. 1830)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/133 – Townland Valuations (1834)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/27B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/8A-D – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/15D – Annual Revisions (1909-30)
10. PRONI VAL/12/E/25/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1909-c. 1935)
11. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/5 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
12. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/11 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
13. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
15. Bassett’s County Antrim: A guide and directory (1888)
16. PRONI Wills Catalogue (19 Jan 1907)
17. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
18. First Survey Record – HB05/03/013 (1971)
19. NIEA HB Record – HB05/03/013

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. ‘Cushendun Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1980.
3. ‘Cushendun Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1996 – includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1922.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A modest two-storey three-bay white painted rough-cast rendered house with basement level; built c. 1820's (Architect unknown) adjoining No.1 Main Street (HB05/03/012). Rectangular plan-form with exposed box frame 'Georgian' pane windows and pitched natural slate roof, No.3 exhibits much character externally, despite the loss of some internal fabric. Together with its neighbouring property No.1, it has substantial group value with many other buildings of similar style within the village of Cushendun. Utilised both as a public house and a post office in previous centuries it is currently used as a dwelling house. Prominently situated within the heart of the Village, within close proximity to both 'The Square' and the River Dun and with panoramic views of the coastline, the building is of special architectural and historic interest.