87 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay painted rendered mid-terrace house with a traditional-style shop front onto the Main Street and a large modern two-storey extension to the rear. Rectangular plan-form with a slated pitched roof having an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the SE side; set within a terrace row along Main Street Bushmills. Built prior to 1834 to designs by unknown architect. No. 87 Main Street underwent a renovation in c. 1988 which included the construction of the building’s two-storey rear return and the installation of its current shopfront. Further remedial work carried out at this time included the reslating of the roof in natural slate, the addition of cast iron rainwater goods and the installation of new sliding sash window frames throughout. 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 retail premises.

Walling is of painted rendered finish to front elevation having a timber shop front on ground floor and two bays wide on first floor above; pitched slate roof has black clay ridge tiles and an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the NW side; half-round cast-iron guttering to front elevation discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipe; moulded uPVC rainwater goods to rear elevations.

Principal elevation faces North-east accessed via a paved footpath just off the Main Street; ground floor consists of a traditional-style timber shop-front having a single entrance doorway and timber panelled stall risers to either side; bays on first floor above have 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with horns; cast-iron rainwater goods to front elevation.

South-east and North-west elevations are adjoined to neighbouring properties No. 83-85 & 89 Main Street [HB05/08/047 & 045A].

South-west elevation to the rear is abutted by a modern pebble dashed two-storey pitched roof rear return stepping down to a single-storey pebble dashed extension; uPVC windows throughout rear return; access to rear yard is via a modern vertically sheeted timber door to the North wall of single storey extension. Slated pitched roof to both rear return and single storey extension.

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 (front) Fibre cement (rear)
RWGs: Cast-iron (front); uPVC (rear)
Walling: Rendered
Windows: Timber sliding sash (front); uPVC (rear).

Historical information

No. 87 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay building (with ground floor shopfront) located on the west side of Main Street, was constructed prior to 1834 as part of the general rebuilding 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. 87 Main Street was first recorded on the Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834) which depicted the building as a terraced structure which possessed a single outbuilding to rear. The contemporary Townland Valuations (1835) set the value of No. 87 Main Street at £3 and 16 shillings and noted that the building was initially occupied by a Mr. Alexander Hartford. The valuer described the house as a 1A class dwelling (that is a new or nearly new building).

There was little alteration made to the layout of No. 87 Main Street by the mid-19th century and the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1855).The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1859) noted that the house had been decreased in value to £5 and was leased to a Mr. William McMullan by the MacNaghten estate. McMullan continued to reside at No. 87 Main Street until his death in c. 1897. The Census of Ireland records that in 1911 the site was occupied by a Ms. Elizabeth Simpson who operated a drapers shop from the premises. The accompanying census building return described No. 87 Main Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of four rooms. The drapers shop continued to be depicted as a simple rectangular-shaped building possessing a single outbuilding on the contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902). No. 87 Main Street was occupied by a Ms. Sarah Simpson under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) at which time the shop and dwelling was valued at £9 and 10 shillings. The building was utilised as a dry cleaning shop in the 1960s and was purchased outright from the MacNaghten estate in c. 1968 by a Mr. Daniel Cochrane. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 87 Main Street stood at £18 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. 87 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. 87 Main Street underwent a renovation in c. 1988 which included the construction of the building’s two-storey rear return and the installation of its current shopfront. Further remedial work carried out at this time included the reslating of the roof in natural slate, the addition of cast iron rainwater goods and the installation of new sliding sash window frames throughout (Bushmills Conservation Area Guide; NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/3/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/3/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1855)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/3/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1904)
4. PRONI VAL/1/D/1/7 – Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/132 – Townland Valuations (c. 1835)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/25A – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/8A-D – Annual Revisions (1859-1894)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/6A-C – Annual Revisions (1895-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/13 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/22 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/08/46
14. NIEA HB Records – HB05/08/046

Secondary Sources
1. Girvan, W. D., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings & areas of architectural importance in North Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. ‘Bushmills Conservation Area Guide’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1992 – includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
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 painted rendered mid-terrace building with a traditional-style shop front onto Main Street 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. Despite alterations such as the large pebble-dashed extension to the rear with PVC windows, the building retains the original shop front proportions within its terraced, village centre setting.