95 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay painted rendered mid-terrace house with a single-storey outbuilding to the rear. Rectangular plan-form with a pitched slate roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the NW side; Built prior to 1834 to designs by unknown architect. Situated within a terrace row on the west side of Main Street, located on the southern side of the village centre with the Bush River to the west. At the time of the survey the building appeared to be occupied as a single private dwelling.

Walling is of painted rendered finish to front elevation; a single entrance doorway to the left of a large timber casement window on ground floor level; single window bay on first floor above (not aligned with ground floor bays); all set on a rendered plinth painted in contrasting colour; pitched slate roof has black clay ridge tiles and an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the NW side; half-round uPVC guttering to front elevation discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipe; painted uPVC rainwater guttering to rear elevation.

Principal elevation faces North-east accessed directly via paved footpath of the Main Street; two bays wide on ground floor containing a single entrance doorway with a replacement timber door having a plain glazed transom light over, to the left of a large timber casement window; single window bay on first floor above contains a 1/1 timber sliding sash; all set on a rendered plinth and rendered quoins to the right side of the front elevation, painted in contrasting colour.

South-east and North-west sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.97 & 93 Main Street [HB05/08/042&44].

South-west elevation to the rear is abutted by a painted rendered single-storey extension with a lean-to roof; walling is of smooth rendered painted finish. Main elevation has two timber casement windows on first floor level.

Setting:
Situated on the west side of Main Street, Bushmills, located on the southern side of the village centre with the Bush River to the west with a single-storey outbuilding to the rear. Outbuilding is of painted pebble dash with tin roof.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: uPVC & cast-iron (front); uPVC (rear)
Walling: Smooth rendered
Windows: Timber sliding sash & timber casement (front); Timber casement (rear).

Historical information

No. 95 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay terraced house located on the west side of Main Street in Bushmills, was constructed prior to 1834 as part of the reconstruction of the village of Bushmills in the early-19th century. 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. 95 Main Street was first depicted on the Townland Valuations Town Plan (c. 1834) as a simple rectangular-shaped building that possessed a long return and outbuilding to rear. The contemporary Townland Valuations (1835) set the value of the building at £2 and 13 shillings and noted that it was occupied by a Mr. Patrick McIninch. The valuer described the house as a 1B- class dwelling (that is a slated building of medium age that had deteriorated and was not in perfect repair) which measured 13.6ft by 22.6ft, stood 12ft in height and which possessed a byre and a store as its outbuildings to rear.

Little change had been made to the layout of No. 95 Main Street by the mid-19th century and the second edition Ordnance Survey (1857). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1859) records that the building was decreased in value to £2 and 10 shillings and was leased by Hugh McNaul, a prominent local landowner, to a Ms. Rose Johnston. The occupants of the house changed with frequency over the following four decades and by the turn of the 20th century No. 95 Main Street was leased by the MacNaghten estate to a Mary Jane Twaddle, who operated a grocer’s shop from the site. The 1901 Census of Ireland described the house as a 2nd class dwelling and shop that consisted of five rooms and possessed a store as its only outbuilding (now demolished). The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902) continued to depict No. 95 Main Street along its original layout as a simple terraced structure. Ownership of the building had passed to the Misses Sarah and Jane Alexander by the 1930s. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936 57) raised the value of the house to £6 and 10 shillings and recorded that the dwelling was occupied by a Ms. Margaret Esdale. The Esdale family continued to lease No. 95 Main Street from the Alexanders until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which point the total rateable value of the house stood at £7 and 10 shillings.

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. 95 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. 95 Main Street underwent a renovation in c. 2013 which involved the internal alteration of the building (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 – HB05/08/043
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/043

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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Two-storey two-bay mid-terrace house built prior to 1834 and located on the southern side of the village centre with the Bush River to the west. The dwelling operated as a grocer’s shop around the turn of the twentieth century which may explain the large window opening to ground floor level. The replacement casement window on the front elevation does not respect the historic character of the dwelling, however, the dwelling retains special architectural and historical interest within a group of similarly proportioned terraced houses, Nos 97, 99 & 101-103 Main Street (HB05/08/040-042).