105 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay painted rendered end-of-terrace former house. Rectangular plan-form with artificial slate to pitched roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the SE and NW sides and a two-storey rough-cast rendered rear return to the SW 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 at the end of a terrace row on the West side of the street, due South of Market Square.

Wall finish is lined and ruled smooth render (painted) to front elevation; all windows to front are square-headed and boarded up with graphic images on vinyl sheeting to first floor and metal sheeting to ground floor; painted masonry sills; toothed quoins to the right corner painted in contrasting colour; all set on a painted plinth; half-round uPVC guttering discharges to a uPVC circular downpipe to front elevation.

Principal elevation faces North-east with vertically sheeted replacement timber entrance door to left side accessed directly off paved footpath on the Main Street; two bays wide on ground and first floor levels; ground floor doorway is not centred with window above on first floor; windows are as described above.

South-east side is adjoining to neighbouring property No's 107 [HB05.08.038].

South-west elevation to the rear is abutted by a rough-cast rendered two-storey return having a slated pitched roof to the left side and a flat roof on the right side; SW elevation of rear return has a large window opening (concealed with plywood sheeting) to the right side on ground level with a single entrance doorway to the left containing a flush timber door; there is a single timber casement window above on first floor level (not aligned with bays on ground floor below); uPVC rainwater goods and cast-iron SVP to rear return. Beyond flat-roofed return to right side, SW elevation to main building contains a window opening at each ground and first floors. Ground floor opening is boarded up with plywood sheeting; first floor opening contains a timber casement window with textured (broken) glass, also boarded up from the inside of the property.

North-west elevation has lined and ruled smooth render (unpainted) wall finish with clipped eaves and central corbelled chimney to apex, with an irregular fenestration pattern. Main gable-end has a single timber casement window (with metal grilles) on ground floor; two window openings to first floor above, both boarded up with plywood sheeting. Rear return contains a single window (also boarded up) at ground floor level and a change in render texture suggests that a door has been in-filled to this return.

Materials:
Roof: Fibre Cement
RWGs: uPVC
Walling: Render, lined and ruled to NE (painted) & NW (unpainted); roughcast to SW
Windows: Concealed (NE), Timber casement (SW - return).

Setting:
Set at the end of a terraced row of similar scaled buildings on the West side of Main Street within the Bushmills Conservation Area, adjacent to No.107 Main Street (HB05.08.038) to the left.

Historical information

No. 105 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. 105 Main Street, however this was almost certainly 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. 105 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. 105 Main Street at £4 and 10 shillings and noted that the building was initially leased by James L. Moore to a Mr. Isaac Taylor. The occupants of the house changed with frequency over the following four decades and by the turn of the 20th century No. 105 Main Street was occupied by John McKay, a local nailor 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 six rooms and possessed a cow house and piggery as its sole outbuildings to rear. The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Bushmills (1902) depicted No. 105 Main Street along its current layout (possessing rear return) suggesting that few major changes have been made to the site in over a century. The value of No. 105 Main Street was increased to £19 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which recorded that the property was leased by Hugh Lecky, a prominent local landowner, to Joseph and William Cameron who maintained a shop at the site. In 1950 the Cameron’s leased No. 105 Main Street to a Mr. James Blair who remained at the address until c. 1968. The total rateable value of the shop stood at £40 by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the building lay vacant.

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. 105 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 (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 – HB05/08/039
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/039

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

Two-storey two-bay painted rendered end-of-terrace house, set along Main Street in the Bushmills Conservation Area and built between 1834 and 1857; the name of the architect is unknown. Rectangular plan-form with artificial slates to pitched roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the SE and NW sides and a two-storey rough-cast rendered rear return. The exterior front elevation retains little evidence of original detailing; window proportions and toothed quions to the corner have been retained, however, loss of historic fabric inside coupled with the later return, which obscures much of the rear, detract significantly. Although the simple two-storeyed gabled form contributes character to the overall setting, the cumulative effect of all of the changes means that the building is of insufficient architectural or historic interest to be considered special.