6 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay white painted rough-cast rendered house, rectangular plan-form with a pitched slate roof. Set immediately adjacent to a square of seven two-storey cottage-style houses positioned around three sides of an enclosed green. Built c. 1832-57 (Architect unknown), constructed at the same time of its neighbours 8 & 10 Main Street [HB05.03.016/17] earlier than the cottages within 'The Square' adjacent. No's 6, 8, & 10 Main Street are linked at each gable end by a white painted rendered low wall having a vertically sheeted timber gate leading to each of the rear yards. No. 6 is situated at the corner of Main Street leading to Bay Road and directly overlooking the coast to the North-east. Formerly utilised as a local Post Office until the 1970s, 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-style' 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 terracotta ridge tiles and two slated (slated on three sides) chimney-stacks at mid-ridge having black painted clay pots and stepped cornices; timber fascia to eaves with half round cast-iron guttering discharging to a circular section downpipes.

Principal elevation faces North-east onto the junction of the Main Road and Bay Road, accessed via a tarmac footpath from the SE side of the front entrance porch containing a vertically sheeted timber door with metal door furniture. No. 6 Main Street is situated perpendicular to 'The Square' and adjoined to No. 7 (The Square) to the SE side with the roof of No. 7 overhanging and protruding into the facade of the NE elevation of No.6. The fenestration pattern is irregular with a rough-cast rendered entrance porch to the right side of the elevation and a small tripartite sliding sash window to the left not aligned with bays on first floor above; front entrance porch contains a narrow multi-pane Georgian-style window to the NE elevation with a pitched slated roof over. First floor has two larger 8/8 timber sliding sash windows with horns on painted sills.

South-east elevation is adjoined to No.7 The Square [HB05/03/014G]; upper section of elevation rises above the roof line of No. 7 and is of white painted rough-cast render finish topped by a chimney stack.

South-west side elevation overlooks yard, access from rendered gateway to the North-west corner of the building; modest concrete and grassed yard is enclosed to the SE side by elevation of neighbouring property No.7 and to the NW side by a high timber boarded fence. Rear elevation is abutted by a rear return built at half landing height topped by a rendered chimney stack; right side of rear elevation consists of two 6/6 timber sliding sash windows, one on ground and first floor level. SE elevation of rear return consists of a single doorway having a painted timber panelled door with translucent glazed top panes.

North-west elevation walling is of white painted rough-cast rendered finish, main elevation is blank; rear return consists of two multi-pane casement windows on ground floor and a single small casement window at half landing height.

Setting:
Situated adjacent to a planned square of seven white painted rendered two-storey houses. No. 6 Main Street is adjoined to No. 7 The Square to the SE side and is situated to the north of the Glendun River just off the Main Road, located within the Village of Cushendun all set 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. 6 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay house located in the village of Cushendun, was constructed along with the neighbouring nos 8-10 Main Street prior to 1857. The buildings were not recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 but were first depicted on the second edition map in 1857. 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. Nos 6-10 Main Street were constructed between 1832 and 1857 and are contemporary with the laying out of the coastal road and the initial development of Cushendun (Lewis; Bassett, p. 137; Cushendun Conservation Area Guides).

Griffith’s Valuation (1859) records that No. 6 Main Street was originally valued at £4 and 10 shillings and was leased to tenants by Edmund McNeill of Cushendun House (now demolished). The Annual Revisions Plan of Cushendun (c. 1909 - c. 1935) depicted the building along its current layout but noted that the current projecting entrance porch was not added until the late-20th century. The occupants of No. 6 Main Street changed with great frequency over the following four decades. In 1911 the Census of Ireland recorded that the house was utilised as the village’s post office and was occupied by Neal O’Neill, a local farmer. The census building return described the building as a 2nd class dwelling and sub-post office which consisted of four rooms and possessed a fowl house as its sole outbuilding. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the house had been increased in value to £5 and 5 shillings and was occupied by a Mr. Arthur Hamilton. Ownership of nos 6-10 Main Street passed to the National Trust in 1954. The Hamilton’s remained at the address until 1967 when the house was occupied by a Mr. Daniel C. Kinney; by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the value of No. 6 Main Street stood at £11.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described nos 6-10 Main Street as ‘three older small two-storey white-washed houses of character’ (UAHS Guide, p. 42). Nos 6-10 Main Street were listed in 1980. In that year the buildings were 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 the gabled entrance porch was added to the building by at least 1987 (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide). No. 6 Main Street continued to be utilised as a Post Office until the 1970s (when the post office moved to No. 3 Main Street) but by the Second Survey the building was solely occupied as a private dwelling.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/15/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/15/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/15/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903-04)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/15/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1922)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/27B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/8A-D – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/15D – Annual Revisions (1909-30)
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/25/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1909-c. 1935)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/5 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/11 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
13. Bassett’s County Antrim: A guide and directory (1888)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB05/03/015 (1971)
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/03/015

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A modest two-storey two-bay rough-cast render white painted house, built c. 1832-57 (Architect unknown) at the same time as its neighbouring properties No's 8 & 10 Main Street [HB05.03.16/17]. Rectangular plan-form facing North-east. No.6 has substantial group value with its adjacent buildings and many other buildings of similar style within its immediate setting. The house and its neighbouring properties exhibit much character externally, including well designed proportions and style with the later addition of the gabled entrance porch constructed in 1987. Situated in the heart of the Village in close proximity to The Square (HB05/03/014A-G) and Maud Cottages(HB05/03/018A-D) the building is of local historic and social importance.