93 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey four-bay unpainted rendered mid-terrace house with a single-storey modern outbuilding to the rear. Rectangular plan-form with a pitched fibre cement roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the SE and NW sides; set within a terrace row along Main Street Bushmills. Built prior to 1834 to designs by unknown architect. No. 93 Main Street was originally constructed as a pair of two-bay houses, however the building was converted into its current layout as a single four-bay property c. 1930. 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 building appeared to be occupied as a single private dwelling.

Walling is of unpainted rendered finish to front elevation; four bays wide with a single entrance doorway on ground floor level; all windows are timber sliding sashes on painted sills (aligned with ground floor bays); pitched slate roof has black clay ridge tiles and an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the SE and NW sides; half-round uPVC guttering to front elevation discharges to a uPVC circular downpipe; painted uPVC rainwater goods to rear elevation.

Principal elevation faces North-east accessed via a paved footpath just off the Main Street; four bays wide; ground floor level contains a single entrance doorway with a flush timber door having metal door furniture; there are window bays to the left and a single to the right of enatrnce doorway having 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with horns and exposed sash boxes; first floor windows are 1/1 timber sliding sashes with horns all set on painted sills.

South-east and North-west sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.95 & 89-91 Main Street [HB05/08/043 & 45].

South-west elevation to the rear (where visible) has two small timber sliding sash windows on first floor level; walling is textured rendered unpainted finish. Access to rear was limited.

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

Materials:
Roof: Fibre cement
RWGs: Upvc
Walling: Unpainted rendered
Windows: Timber sliding sash.

Historical information

No. 93 Main Street, a two-storey four-bay terraced building 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. 93 Main Street was originally constructed as a pair of two-bay houses, however the building was converted into its current layout as a single four-bay property by the 1930s. The Townland Valuations Town Plan (c. 1834) depicted the pair of two-bay dwelling and also noted that each possessed a small outbuilding to rear. The contemporary Townland Valuations (1835) set the total rateable value of the northernmost dwelling at £3 and recorded a Mr. Joseph Craig as occupant. The southern dwelling was valued at £2 and 18 shillings and was initially inhabited by a Mr. William Weir. The valuer described both houses as 1A class dwellings (that is a new or nearly new building) which possessed combined measurements of 29.6ft by 21.6ft and stood 13ft in height.

There had been little alteration made to the layout of the two dwellings by the mid-19th century and the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1859) notes that both houses were valued at £2 and 10 shillings and both were leased to tenants by a Mr. Robert Taylor; the northernmost house was occupied by Thomas McQuade whilst the southern house was inhabited by a Mr. George Taylor in the 1850s. The occupants of the two houses changed frequently throughout the 19th century. During the 1911 Census of Ireland the two houses on the site were occupied by Elizabeth Carnegie and Elizabeth McCallion. The census records that McCallion operated a lodging house from her property whilst the accompanying census building return described both structures as 2nd class dwellings each of which consisted of four rooms and possessed turf houses as their sole out offices. The pair of two-bay dwellings had been converted into its current layout by at least the 1930s when it was recorded as a single building by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which revalued No. 93 Main Street at £10. The house was occupied by a Mr. Adam Bustard who purchased the site outright in c. 1964. The Bustard family remained at No. 93 Main Street until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the value of the building stood at £14 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. 93 Main Street was listed as a single property 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 – HB05/08/044
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/044

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, four-bay, unpainted rendered, mid-terrace house built prior to 1834 as part of the reconstruction of the village of Bushmills in the early-19th century. Located on the south side of Bushmills village centre, situated on the west side of Main Street with the Bush River located to the west. No. 93 Main Street was originally constructed as a pair of two-bay houses, however the building was converted into its current layout as a single dwelling c. 1930. Despite alterations to the front facade such as the replacement flush front door and the recovering of the roof in fibre cement tiles, the building retains the original domestic proportions and historic character within its village setting.