SPAR FOODMARKET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey three-bay painted rendered mid-terrace shop. Rectangular plan-form with a slated pitched roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the SE and NW sides. Built between 1834 and 1857; the name of the architect is unknown. Located within the village of Bushmills, on Main Street, which is aligned parallel to the Bush River. Set within a terrace row on the West side of the street, due South of Market Square.

Natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles. Walling is of painted rendered finish to front elevation; shop front on ground floor level is concealed behind photographs printed on to vinyl-faced boards; windows on first floor are timber sliding sashes with one-over-one lights on a continuous sill course spanning the full width of the elevation; toothed quoins at first floor level only on both sides are painted in contrasting colour; half-round painted cast-iron guttering to front elevation.

Principal elevation faces North-east accessed directly off paved footpath on the Main Street; three bays wide on first floor having segmental arched headed with moulded stucco architrave surrounds; ground floor shop front concealed behind photographs printed on to vinyl-faced boards; however, exposed cills suggest that the symmetrical arrangement of a central door flanked by large windows is accurate; painted timber vertical boarding runs full length of frontage in place of shop signage. Louvered vent grilles within painted plinth band to base either side of door.

South-east and North-west sides are abutted by adjoining properties No's 115 & 107 [HB05/08/036&038]; where roof line rises above adjoining property side elevation walling is of unpainted rendered finish topped by a large unpainted rendered chimney stack, with corbelled detail below cap, to both sides; no chimney pots remain.

South-west elevation to the rear - where seen, main elevation is of two-storeys, walling is of unpainted rendered finish. Small conservation rooflight mid-span to roof. Small single-storey abutment with a lean-to metal corrugated roof, set at ninety degrees to the right and a taller lean-to the left with corrugated asbestos sheet cladding to roof and walls.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: cast-iron (NE)
Walling: Render, painted
Windows: Timber sliding sash (NE)

Setting:
Set in a terraced row of similar scaled buildings on the West side of Main Street within the Bushmills Conservation Area, between No.115 Main St (HB05/08/036) to the left and No.107 Main Street (HB05/08/038) to the right. The remains of a gabled stone outbuilding is set parallel with the main building at the rear, with a red-brick and concrete block lean-to abutting the southwest gable.

Historical information

Nos 109-113 Main Street, a two-storey three-bay building with shopfront located on the west side of Main Street in Bushmills, was originally constructed between c. 1834 and 1857. The Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834) depicted a building on the current site in the early-19th century, however this was an earlier structure as the contemporary Townland Valuations (1835) described it as an old and dilapidated dwelling. 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). Nos 109-113 Main Street was constructed prior to 1857 as it was first depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of that year and was recorded in the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation of 1859.

Griffith’s Valuation set the total rateable value of Nos 109-113 Main Street at £7 and noted that the building was initially leased by Hugh Lecky, a prominent local landowner, to Henderson Wilcock who operated a lodging house from the premises. In c. 1874 the site was occupied by James McCallum, a local shopkeeper who also purchased nos 109-119 Main Street outright at the same time. McCallum continued to reside at nos 109-113 Main Street until his death in 1894 at which time the property was occupied by Florence Hale, a local draper who operated a drapers shop from the premises (PRONI Wills). The 1901 Census of Ireland described the property as a 1st class dwelling and shop that consisted of nine rooms and possessed a store as its sole out office. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Bushmills (1902) depicted the property along its current layout and recorded a single outbuilding to rear. The value of nos 109-113 Main Street was increased to £20 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which noted that the house and shop was leased to Hugh Clarke by a Mr. James Kennedy. Clarke became the owner of the site in c. 1952 and leased the property out to John Thompson (occupant of the adjoining No. 107 Main Street) who utilised the building as a shop and stores. Both occupant and owner remained unchanged by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the total rateable value of nos 109-113 Main Street stood at £56.

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). Nos 109-113 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 First Survey Record and the NIEA HB Records note that nos 109-113 Main Street was utilised as a Spar supermarket between the 1970s and c. 2000 when the building fell vacant (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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (30 Jun 1894)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB05/08/037
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/037

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.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two-storey, three-bay rendered mid-terrace former shop, set within a terraced row along Main Street, located on the southern side of Bushmills village centre with the Bush River to the west. It is a prominent building in its row, rising above No 107 Main Street (HB05/08/038) on its north side and No 115 (HB05/08/036) on its south. Built between 1834 and 1857, the building has had a varied history, operating originally as a lodging house, then a draper’s shop, and finally as a shop and stores from the early 1950s until 2000. Timber sliding sash windows and toothed quoins are retained at first floor level on the front elevation, and while the shop front is hidden behind coloured hoarding, the building retains symmetrical proportions to the front facade and therefore special architectural and historical interest within its village centre setting.