8 MAIN STREET AND WALLING

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay white painted rendered house, rectangular plan-form with a pitched slate roof. Set within a row of three houses similar in design, situated 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 6 & 10 Main Street [HB05.03.015/17] and built 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. 8 is situated between No's 6& 10 Main Street and is of smaller scale. The houses directly overlook the North Sea with panoramic views of the coastline. At the time of the survey the building was solely occupied as a private dwelling.

White painted 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 white painted rendered chimney-stacks at mid-ridge having circular terracotta clay pots and stepped cornices; stepped 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. 8 Main Street is situated between No's 6 & 10 and perpendicular to 'The Square'. The fenestration pattern is irregular with a rough-cast rendered entrance porch to the left side of the elevation and two 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to the right not aligned with similar windows 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.

South-east side elevation is of white painted smooth-rendered finish topped by a rendered chimney stack, there is a two-storey rear return containing a small casement window at the half landing level. SE elevation facing onto neighbouring property No.6, accessed from rendered gateway to the South-East corner of the building;

South-west elevation to the rear overlooks a modest concrete and grassed yard enclosed to the SE side a high timber fence and to the NW side by elevation of neighbouring property No.10. Rear elevation is abutted by two-storey rear return; the fenestration pattern is irregular consisting of two casement windows to the left of a vertically sheeted timber door on ground floor and a large casement window centred on elevation of first floor level.

North-west elevation walling is of white painted smooth-rendered finish, main elevation has two casement windows to the right side, one on ground floor and a smaller window on first floor level; rear return elevation is blank.

Setting:
Set at the end of a row of three white painted rendered houses of similar design and type, situated adjacent to a planned square of seven white painted rendered two-storey houses, all within the heart of the Village of Cushendun, to the north of the Glendun River with panoramic costal views to the North-east. 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. 8 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay house located in the village of Cushendun, was constructed along with the neighbouring nos 6-10 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. 8 Main Street was originally valued at £2 and 5 shilling and was leased by Richard Dobbs (of Glendun Lodge – see HB05/03/021) to a Mr. Hugh Gribben. The Annual Revisions Plan of Cushendun (c. 1909 - c. 1935) depicted the building along its current layout and noted that the projecting entrance porch was an original feature (the porches on nos 6 and 10 Main Street were added in the late-20th century). The occupants of No. 8 Main Street changed with great frequency over the following four decades. In 1911 the Census of Ireland recorded that the house was occupied by Archibald O’Drain, a local shoemaker, who resided at the address with his wife Annie. The census building return described No. 8 Main Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of three rooms and possessed a dairy as its sole outbuilding. O’Drain’s family continued to reside at the address until c. 1940 when the house passed to a Ms. Mary A. Cottingham. Ownership of nos 6-10 Main Street passed to the National Trust in 1954 and under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 8 Main Street was increased to £4. Cottingham continued to reside at the address by the end of the Second General Revaluation at which time the total rateable value of the building stood at £7 and 15 shillings.

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.’ During the Second Survey No. 8 Main Street continued to be utilised 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 – HB05/03/016 (1971)
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/03/016

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

Evaluation

A modest two-storey two-bay white painted rendered house, built c. 1832-57 (Architect unknown) at the same time as its neighbouring properties No's 6 & 10 Main Street [HB05.03.15/17]. Rectangular plan-form facing North-east with panoramic coastal views. No. 8 exhibits much character externally, including well designed proportions and style and a gabled entrance porch. It retains its internal plan-form and some original internal fittings. 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.