10 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 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 & 8 Main Street [HB05.03.015/16] 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 gates leading to each of the rear yards. No. 10 is situated to the north and at the end of the row. 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 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 terracotta ridge tiles and a single white painted rendered chimney-stack at mid-ridge having circular black clay pots and stepped cornice; 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. The fenestration pattern is irregular with a rough-cast rendered entrance porch to the right side of the elevation and a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to the left, aligned with the left hand side first floor 6/6 window above lone of a pair to 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 rough-cast rendered finish topped by a rendered chimney stack, elevation is blank.

South-west elevation to the rear overlooks a modest concrete and grassed yard enclosed to the NW side by a rough-cast rendered wall with a low timber fence above and to the SE sides by a high timber fence. Rear elevation is abutted by single-storey rear return; the fenestration pattern is irregular consisting of a paired timber sliding sash window to the right of the rear return, with a single timber sliding sash window on first floor above, not aligned with ground floor bays. Rear return contains vertically sheeted timber door opening out onto rear yard.

North-west elevation walling is of white painted rough-cast rendered finish to main elevation, entrance porch and rear return. Each 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. 10 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay house located in the village of Cushendun, was constructed along with the neighbouring nos 6-8 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. 10 Main Street was originally valued at £2 and 5 shillings and was leased by Edmund McNeill of Cushendun House (now demolished) to a Mr. Patrick O’Hara. The Annual Revisions Plan of Cushendun (c. 1909 - c. 1935) depicted No. 10 Main Street along its current layout but shows that the current gabled entrance porch is not an original feature; the porch was not added until c. 1987. The O’Hara family continued to reside at No. 10 Main Street until 1895 when the house was occupied by the McKernan family who remained there until the 1940s. The house was occupied by Mrs Sarah McKernan during the 1911 Census of Ireland which described No. 10 Main Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of three inhabited rooms and possessed a fowl house as its sole outbuilding. The house was increased in value to £3 and 10 shillings under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which records that the property was occupied by the Darragh family in 1940; ownership of nos 6-10 Main Street passed from the McNeill’s to the National Trust in 1954. By the end of the Second General revaluation (1956-72) No. 10 Main Street was occupied by a Mr. R. J. McBride and had been further increased in value to £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.’ The NIEA HB Records note that the current gabled entrance porch was added to No. 10 Main Street in emulation of the pre-existing examples at nos 6-8 (NIEA HB Records). During the Second Survey No. 10 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 – HB05/03/017 (1971)
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/03/017

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

U. Historic Associations
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 & 8 Main Street [HB05.03.15/16]. Rectangular plan-form facing North-east with panoramic coastal views. No.10 has substantial group value with many other buildings of similar style within its immediate setting. The house exhibits much character externally, including well designed proportions and style and the later addition of the gabled entrance porch added in the late-20th Century contributes positively to the overall facade. 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.