107 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay painted rendered mid-terrace house. Rectangular plan-form with a slated pitched roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack with a single circular terracotta clay pot, to the NW side. 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 tile. Walling is of painted rendered finish to front elevation; all openings to the front are concealed behind photographs printed on vinyl-faced boarding; painted masonry sills; toothed quoins to the right side only are painted in contrasting colour; all set on a painted plinth; half-round painted cast-iron guttering discharges to cast iron circular downpipe at left side of front elevation.

Principal elevation faces North-east with entrance door to left side accessed directly off paved footpath on the Main Street; two windows each to ground and first floor, all boarded up as described above.

South-east and North-west sides are adjoining to neighbouring properties No's 109-113 & 105 [HB05/08/037&039].

South-west elevation to the rear - where seen, the main elevation is of two-storeys abutted to the right side by a two-storey rough-cast rendered rear return added c.1982; SW elevation of rear return has a large opening on ground and first floor level, ground floor opening is concealed with chip-board, first floor opening contains a timber casement window with two top-hung night vents.

Setting:
The terrace row is situated on the West side of the Main Street with views North to towards the Market Square. Located to the South of the Village of Bushmills.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: uPVC & cast-iron (NE)
Walling: Render
Windows: Concealed (NE), Timber casement (SW - return).

Setting:
Set in a terraced row of similar scaled buildings on the West side of Main Street within the Bushmills Conservation Area, between No.109-113 Main St (HB05/08/037) to the left and No.105 Main Street (HB05/08/039) to the right.

Historical information

No. 107 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay early-Victorian dwelling 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 of No. 107 Main Street, 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). No. 107 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 No. 107 Main Street at £4 and noted that the building was initially leased by Hugh Lecky, a prominent local landowner, to a Mr. James L. Moore. The occupants of the house changed with frequency over the following four decades and by the turn of the 20th century No. 107 Main Street was inhabited by John McMichael, a local flesher who established a shop at the premises. The 1901 Census of Ireland described the house as a 2nd class shop and dwelling that consisted of four rooms and possessed a stable, cowhouse and a piggery as its sole out offices. 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 No. 107 Main Street was increased to £8 and 5 shillings under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded that the building was leased to a Ms. Margaret McAllister by Messers Joseph and William Cameron (occupants of the adjoining No. 105). McAllister vacated No. 107 Main Street in c. 1947 when a Mr. John Thompson took possession of the site. Thompson purchased the house outright in c. 1961 and continued to reside at the address until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the total rateable value of No. 107 Main Street stood at £15.

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). No. 107 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 No. 107 Main Street underwent a renovation in c. 1982 which included the renewing of its roof and the installation of new windows throughout. The current rear return was also added to the building at this time (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. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
14. First Survey Record – HB05/08/038
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/038

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
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 mid-terrace house built between 1834–1857 and situated on the west side of Main Street, located on the southern side of Bushmills village centre with the Bush River to the west. The building sits between a similarly proportioned building on its north side (No 105 Main St – HB05/08/039), and a larger proportioned former shop to its south (No 109-113 – HB05/08/037). Despite alterations to the original openings to the front elevation and the addition of a two storey extension to the rear, the dwelling retains its modest proportions, retaining special architectural and historical interest within its village centre setting.