2 MAUD COTTAGES,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey white painted Arts and Crafts-style house. Set within a terrace of four Interwar dwellings, built in 1926 to designs by Clough Williams-Ellis, a London-based architect, replacing a former coastguard station. Rectangular plan-form with slate-hung upper storeys, lower storey has recessed arcading and a central bow, windows are Georgian-glazed with outer bays having timber shutters; pitched slate roof has terracotta ridge tiles and three rendered painted tall chimney stacks with clay pots. Situated behind painted railings accessed from Bay Road via a pair of square white-washed stone pillars with iron gates, overlooking an open green and the bay beyond.

Slate clad upper storeys have square headed timber sliding sash windows; lower section walling is of white rendered painted finish having arcaded bays and a single square headed timber sliding sash window to end bay, all set on a plinth painted in contrasting colour; small-pane 'Georgian' style timber sliding sash windows incorporating a 'cottage' style expressed within the design of the terrace row; half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular section cast-iron downpipes. No. 2 underwent general renovations in 2011 which included the reslating of its roof and the restoration of its windows.

Principal elevation faces North-east onto an open green overlooking the bay and North Sea beyond, accessed via a gravel driveway from Bay Road via a pair of square entrance pillars having iron gates. No. 2 is adjoined to No.1 & 3 situated to the north side of the terrace row, perpendicular to Bay Road. A gravel driveway from the main entrance gates leads to a semicircular headed painted panelled timber door with decorative metal door furniture. Ground floor consists of a series of semicircular arched arcaded bays having casement windows to the left side of the door and blind bays to the right. The overall fenestration pattern of the terrace row is irregular, only end-bays on ground floor level align with bays on first floor level, central projecting bow has three semicircular arched bays (with a central blind bay) on ground floor and two square headed bays to slated upper storey.

North-west and South-east sides are adjoined to neighbouring property, No's 1 & 3 [HB05.03.18A/C].

South-west elevation overlooks rear yard with small lean-to stone outbuilding bounded by stone walling and high hedging. Rear yard not accessible at time of survey (where visible) rear elevation consists of a white painted rendered projecting central bay with a slated pitched roof having a pair of square headed window bays to first floor level, there is a single timber shutter to the left and right side of the windows; the left of the projecting bay are two square headed timber sliding sash windows, all overlooking a large open green facing the Main Street.

Setting:
Situated within a terrace row of four white painted rendered Arts and Craft-style two-storey houses, set behind painted metal railings and a gravel driveway overlooking a bounding green and bay beyond. No's 1-4 Maud Cottages are accessed from the northern-most end, immediately off Bay Road via a pair of white-painted stone pillars with iron gates. Located within a Conservation Area in the village of Cushendun, within close proximity to the River Dun, located within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: Cast-iron painted
Walling: White rendered (lower section), Slate-hung (upper storeys)
Windows: Timber sliding sash

Historical information

Nos 1-4 Maud Cottages, a terrace of four two-storey Interwar dwellings possessing a slate-hung upper storey, were constructed in 1926 for Ronald John McNeill, the first (and only) Baron of Cushendun. 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 (Lewis; Bassett, p. 137; Cushendun Conservation Area Guides).

Maud Cottages were constructed in 1926 for Ronald John McNeill (1861-1934), a prominent local landowner and politician who resided at Glenmona Lodge (HB05/03/020) with his wife Elizabeth Maud. Ronald McNeill was an outspoken Ulster Unionist who campaigned vigorously against Home Rule and served as a Unionist Member of Parliament. He held several important political offices including the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1922-25) and Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1925-27) and twice served as the British Representative to the League of Nations (McNeill signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact on behalf of the British Government in August 1928). McNeill’s residence of Glenmona Lodge was burned to the ground in 1922 as a result of his outspoken opposition of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Ronald John McNeill was created the First Baron Cushendun in 1927, however the title became extinct after his death in 1934 (ODNB).

Maud Cottages were named after McNeill’s wife Elizabeth Maud, who had died in 1925. The buildings were constructed in 1926 (according to the Dictionary of Irish Architects and original plans) and replaced a former coastguard station which had been built in the mid-19th century but lay in ruins by the 1920s. The cottages were designed by the office of Sir. (Bertram) Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978), a London-based architect who had previously been contracted by McNeill to design Nos 1-7 The Square (HB05/03/014) in 1912 and to redesign Glenmona Lodge in 1923-24. Williams-Ellis is best known for his Italianate design of Portmeirion, a tourist village in Wales which he designed in stages between 1925 and 1975. In Ireland he was also responsible for the design the First Church of Christ (Scientist) in Belfast (HB26/27/058) which was erected in 1936-37. Rothery suggests that Maud Cottages were not designed by Williams-Ellis but was the responsibility of Frederick McManus (1903-85), a young Irish architect who worked in Williams-Ellis’ London office in 1925-26. The Cushendun Conservation Area Guide (1996) notes that McManus was an assistant in Williams-Ellis’ firm and merely prepared the plans for Maud Cottages. The UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim (1972) described the cottages as Cornish in style (in keeping with the design of The Square), however Rothery deemed them Arts & Crafts whilst the Conservation Area Guide noted that aside from the slate clad walls ‘there is little else that it is Cornish about them’ (DIA; Rothery, p. 40, pp 196-197; UAHS Guide, p. 42; Cushendun Conservation Area Guide, p. 18).

No. 2 Maud Cottages was constructed in 1926 and was initially valued at £3 and 10 shillings by the Annual Revisions; the valuer recorded that the building remained vacant until 1930. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the house had been increased in value to £12 and was occupied by a Mrs. Conlon who remained at the address until at least the 1970s. Ownership of the cottages passed to the National Trust in 1954 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 2 Maud Cottages stood at £16 and 10 shillings.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described Nos 1-4 Maud Cottages in the following terms: ‘A terrace of five [sic] white-painted two-storey houses in the Cornish style, overlooking the green, the upper storey slate-hung; the lower storey with recessed arcading; a central bow; the windows Georgian-glazed, those in the outer bays having shutters’ (UAHS Guide, p. 42). Nos 1-4 Maud Cottages 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 No. 2 Maud Cottages underwent a general renovation in c. 2011 which included the reslating of its roof and the restoration of its windows (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/15/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903-04)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/15/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1922)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/8A-D – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/15D – Annual Revisions (1909-30)
5. PRONI VAL/12/E/25/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1909-c. 1935)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/5 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/11 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
10. Bassett’s County Antrim: A guide and directory (1888)
11. First Survey Record – HB05/03/018 (1971)
12. NIEA HB Record – HB05/03/018B

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. Rothery, S., ‘Ireland and the New Architecture: 1900-1940’ Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1991.
4. ‘Cushendun Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1980.
5. ‘Cushendun Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1996 – includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1922.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http:// www.dia.ie/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship

Evaluation

A modest two-storey white painted Arts and Crafts-style mid-terrace house. Set within a terrace of four Interwar dwellings, built in 1926 to designs by Clough Williams-Ellis, a London-based architect. No. 2 and its neighbouring properties exhibit much character externally, including distinctive wall hung slates to first floor, multipaned windows and tall chimneys. Commissioned by Ronald McNeill , the prominent Unionist Politician, the houses display some Cornish traits particularily, wall-hung slate, inspired by his Cornish-born wife Elizabeth Maud. Built on the former site of the coastguard station and situated in the heart of the Village of Cushendun, the house has significant group value with its neighbouring properties (HB05/03/018A-D), the nearby square (HB05/03/014 A-G) and Glenmona Lodge (HB05/03/020), also designed by Clough Williams-Ellis. It represents part of a significant phase of development in the village during the early 20th century.