83-85 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey three-bay painted rendered end-of-terrace house with a traditional-style shop front facing onto the Main Street and a large two-storey rear return stepping down to a single storey extension to the rear. Rectangular plan-form with a natural slated pitched roof having a painted rendered chimney stack to the NW side; set at the end of a terrace row along Main Street Bushmills. Built prior to 1834 to designs by unknown architect. No's 83-85 Main Street underwent a renovation in 1989 which converted the upper floor of the building into self-contained apartments and also included the reslating of its roof in natural slate. In c. 2004 the building underwent a subsequent renovation when the current rear return and a new shop front were added. 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 was occupied as a commercial premises.

Walling is of painted rendered finish with painted stepped corner quoins to the right side of the front elevation and a traditional-style shop front on ground floor level with three bays on first floor above; pitched slate roof has black clay ridge tiles and a painted rendered chimney stack to the NW side; painted half-round cast-iron guttering to front elevation discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipe on the NW side elevation; cast-iron rainwater goods to rear elevations.

Principal elevation faces North-east accessed off footpath to Main Street with Market Square to the North side; ground floor consists of a traditional-style painted rendered shop-front having a large glazed timber framed window to either side of a single entrance doorway containing a timber and glazed panelled door with signage to frieze above spanning the width of the shop-front; bays on first floor above have 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with horns and exposed sash boxes; cast-iron rainwater goods to front elevation.

South-east elevation is adjoined to neighbouring property No. 87 Main Street [HB05/08/046].

South-west elevation to the rear is abutted by a painted rendered two-storey pitched roof (natural slate) rear return stepping down to a single-storey pitched roof extension (fibre cement); two-storey rear return gable-end has a single doorway at first floor level accessed via a set of external metal steps; gable-end is topped by a large painted rendered chimney stack having two terracotta clay pots; single-storey gable-end is blank; cast-iron rainwater goods.

North-west side elevation (gable) onto access road leading to car park at rear, consists of two-storey rear return stepping down to single storey extension to the rear of the building; the fenestration pattern is irregular having a mixture of two shop-front style windows on ground floor level and timber sliding sashes and timber casement windows on first floor level above; there is a single door opening to the right side of the single-storey extension containing a flush painted timber door set with a plain painted architrave surround.

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: Natural Slate / Fibre Cement (to extension)
RWGs: Cast-iron
Walling: Rendered
Windows: Timber sliding sash & Timber casements.

Historical information

Nos 83-85 Main Street, a two-storey three-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). Nos 83-85 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 nos 83-85 Main Street at £5 and 3 shillings and noted that the building was initially occupied by a Mr. James Adams. The valuer described the house as a 1A class dwelling and shop (that is a new or nearly new building) that measured 25ft by 23ft and stood 16.6ft in height.

There was little alteration made to the layout of nos 83-85 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 increased in value to £6 and was leased to a Mr. Michael McCallion by the MacNaghten estate. McCallion continued to reside at nos 83-85 Main Street until c. 1901 when the property was occupied by Samuel Hatty, a local cycle manufacturer. The Census of Ireland recorded a Mr. John Rainey as occupant of the site in 1911. The building continued to be utilised as a cycle shop and the census building return described the structure as a 2nd class shop that consisted of four rooms and possessed a workshop as its sole out office. Nos 83-85 Main Street continued to be depicted as a simple rectangular-shaped building possessing a single outbuilding on the contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902). An early-20th century photograph of nos 83-85 Main Street’s façade shows that the building originally possessed a ground floor shopfront taking up the northernmost two-bays whilst an entrance door in the remaining bay led to the upper rooms. The property was occupied by a Mr. David Weir, a local mechanic, during the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which increased the value of the site (which included a garage to rear) to £30 and 10 shillings. The Weir family vacated the site in c. 1958 when nos 83-85 Main Street was purchased outright by a Mr. Samuel McKinney. The McKinney family maintained the garage and continued to reside at the site until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the total rateable value of nos 83-85 Main Street stood at £36 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). Nos 83-85 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 nos 83-85 Main Street underwent a renovation in 1989 which converted the upper floor of the building into a self-contained apartment and also included the reslating of its roof in natural slate, the addition of cast iron rainwater goods and the installation of new sliding sash window frames throughout. In c. 2004 the building underwent a subsequent renovation when the current rear return and a new shopfront were added (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 – HB05/08/47
14. NIEA HB Records – HB05/08/047

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, three-bay, painted rendered end-of-terrace house with a traditional-style shop front 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 installation of a modern metal staircase to the rear and a first floor PVC door, the building still operates as a shop with accommodation above, as it did in 1835. Although the shopfront and windows are replacement, they are appropriate for the building and its setting, retaining the historic character within its village setting.