121 - 123 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

First survey description:
A two storey, five bay, rendered building with quoins. Unrecessed windows are plain sashed, paired in second bay from north over each floor. There is a shop-front, pilastered entrance and segmental east entrance on the ground floor. Window openings are arrised (sic). Slated roof, rendered chimneys.

No's. 121-123 Main Street, Bushmills, formerly a two-storey five-bay building (possessing ground floor shop front (located in its southernmost two-bays), a pedimented entrance door (centre bay) and a coach arch (northernmost bay). Situated along the West side of Main Street; built between 1834 and 1857. No's 121-123 Main Street continued to be used as commercial premises until the 1990s when it fell vacant. At the time of the survey the early-Victorian building had been demolished (in c. 2005) in order to make way for the construction of new apartment buildings to its rear The current site has been temporarily redeveloped and converted into a memorial garden consisting of a tarmac and grassed surface with two timber bench seats. The site is surrounded to the SW and NW sides by plywood hoarding.

The South-east consisted of an exposed stone gable-end to adjoining property No 125 Main Street [HB05/08/032].

The vacant site is situated on the West side of the Main Street with views North to the Market Square. Located to the South of the Village of Bushmills with the Main Street aligned parallel with the Bush River to the West side. At the time of the survey the garden was used as an open public space.

Historical information

Nos 121-123 Main Street, a former two-storey five-bay building (possessing ground floor shopfront and coach arch), was originally constructed between 1834 and 1857 but was demolished in c. 2005. The Bushmills Conservation Area Guide records that Bushmills was a significant settlement before the end of the 18th century but from the 1820s the village was extensively rebuilt by the MacNaghten family of Bushmills House (who had acquired the estate in 1787). A building was depicted on the site of nos 121-123 Main Street as early as the 1830s, however this was a dilapidated structure which was torn down and was replaced with a pair of buildings by at least the 1850s when they were first depicted on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) and the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1859).

Griffith’s Valuation records that nos 121-123 Main Street originally comprised two separate buildings. The valuer noted that the northernmost building was valued at £4 and 10 shillings and was leased by a Mr. John McFadden, whilst the adjoining structure was valued at £2 and 15 shillings and was leased by Hugh Lecky, a prominent local landowner. The two buildings on the site were combined into a single structure in 1916. In that year the valuer noted that nos 121-123 Main Street had been revalued at £25 and was leased by Hugh Lecky to Thomas Magee, a retired Royal Irish Constabulary Inspector who had resided in one of the earlier dwellings on the site. The value of nos 121-123 Main Street was raised to £32 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded that the Magee family operated a shop and petrol filling station from the site. The Magee’s continued to lease the site from the Lecky estate until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the total rateable value of the building had been further increased to £51.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for North Antrim described the buildings along Main Street in Bushmills in the following general terms: ‘A well-scaled street. Many good doorways and shopfronts remain, although there is the usual profusion of signs. While no building apart from the former Courthouse is worthy of individual mention, the unity of the street frontages must be maintained’ (UAHS Guide, p. 16). The contemporary First Survey Images (1972; 1978) show that nos 121-123 Main Street possessed a ground floor shopfront (located in its southernmost two-bays), a pedimented entrance door (centre bay) and a coach arch (northernmost bay).

Nos 121-123 Main Street was listed in 1980 and was subsequently included in the Bushmills Conservation Area. The conservation area was designated in 1992 in order to preserve the built heritage of the village which possesses the highest number of listed buildings in the North East of Northern Ireland. The NIEA HB Records note that nos 121-123 Main Street continued to be utilised as commercial premises until the 1990s when it fell vacant. The early-Victorian building was demolished in c. 2005 in order to make way for the construction of new apartment buildings to its rear (Bushmills Conservation Area Guide; NIEA HB Records).

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/7/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1904)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1922)
5. PRONI VAL/1D/1/7 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/132 – Townland Valuations (1835)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/25A – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/8A-D – Annual Revisions (1859-94)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/6A-C – Annual Revisions (1895-1929)
10. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/13 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/22 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/08/033
14. First Survey Images – HB05/08/033 (1972; 1978)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/033

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Bushmills Conservation Area Guide’ Belfast: Department of the Environment (N. I.), 1983 – including the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1902.
2. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in North Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Evaluation

No's 121-123 Main Street, Bushmills; originally a pair of two-storey terraced houses situated along the west side of Main Street, built between 1834 and 1857.The early-Victorian buildings were demolished c. 2005 and the site has been temporarily redeveloped and converted into a public amenity consisting of a tarmac and grassed surface with timber seating. The demolition has resulted in total loss of the original building.