61 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-and-a-half storey three-bay smooth-rendered end of terrace former house. Rectangular plan-form with a large two-storey return to SW side; shop front on ground floor level; chimney stacks to the SE and NW sides of a replacement natural slated pitched roof. Built in 1835. Architect unknown. Located on the west side of Main Street on a corner site at Market Square with gable-end facing out onto Dunluce Road, at the northern end of Bushmills village centre with the Bush River to the west.

Walling is of smooth-rendered painted finish; ground floor contains a shop front spanning the full width of the elevation, accessed directly from the footpath on Market Square; first floor has three openings on painted sills; dormers on right and left sides of attic level, aligning with bays on first floor below; all windows are timber sliding sashes with horns; cast-iron rainwater goods to front elevation.

Principal elevation faces North-east accessed directly off paved footpath on Market Square; left side of ground floor contains an entrance doorway with a pair of timber and glazed doors with two large timber frame single paned windows on painted sills to either side set within a painted timber framed surround to shop front. Right side of ground floor consists of a smaller opening, flanked by painted timber pilasters containing two large paned windows. Painted rendered stall-risers and painted signage to dentilled fascia above with a traditional-style awning; main elevation has painted quoins to either side; Three equally spaced window openings to first floor, and two openings under modern dormers to attic level on right and left sides, aligned with bays below. Natural slate pitched roof has a stone chimney stack rising from the SE side having four decorative octagonal shaped buff coloured clay pots; all set on a painted rendered plinth half-round cast-iron guttering discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipe.

South-east gable elevation faces onto Dunluce Road leading into Market Square; walling is of painted rendered finish topped by a basalt stone chimney stack at apex of gable with squared stones and strap pointing; ground floor has a large fixed pane double timber frame window to right side; there are two window bays on first floor level at extreme right and left sides, not aligned with two window bays on attic level above; two-storey rear return is of three-bays wide with a modern timber entrance doorway with plain overlight (leading to residential accommodation above) to the right of two window bays on ground floor level; bays on first floor above are aligned with ground floor bays; all windows are timber sliding sashes; there are painted corner quoins to the left side only; all set on a painted rendered plinth.

South-west elevation to the rear is set within a large enclosed yard; irregular fenestration pattern to main elevation, all windows to rear are timber sliding sashes; wall head dormer to rear elevation has a PVC door (leading to residential accommodation) accessed via a set of external metal steps from within the rear yard; a single modern rooflight to right side of dormer, and three to left side. Main elevation is abutted to the right side by a two-storey smooth-rendered return with a slated pitched roof over; rear return gable wall is blind with painted corner quoins to either side; rendered chimney stack at apex of gable has two octagonal shaped buff clay pots. NW face of rear return has a single window opening at first floor level. Catslide roof to two storey extension to left side of main return with a single window opening on the NW side, and abutted on that same side at ground floor level by a timber shed structure with pitched roof, which in turn is further abutted by a timber shed with pitched roof. Single storey lean-to extension abuts NW face of main rear return. Its NW face has a doorway to the left of a coupled timber sliding sash window. Large metal flue between two window openings on first floor; all set on a painted rendered plinth. Cast-iron rainwater goods to rear elevation and rear extension.

North west elevation is adjoined to neighbouring property No. 57 Main Street [HB05/08/57].

Setting:
Located on the west side of Main Street on a corner site at Market Square with gable-end facing out onto Dunluce Road, at the northern end of Bushmills village centre with the Bush River to the west.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: Cast iron
Walling: Painted render
Windows: Timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 61 Main Street, a two-and-a-half-storey three-bay early-19th century building located in Bushmill’s Market Square, was constructed in 1835 as part of the reconstruction of the village 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). The Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834) and contemporary Townland Valuations (1835) record that No. 61 Main Street originally comprised two separate dwellings (the northernmost single-bay comprised one property, with the other dwelling occupied the southern two-bays of the current building). The valuer noted that both buildings were the property of a Mr. Archibald McKinley and were under construction during the valuation survey of 1835.

The two properties that originally comprised No. 61 Main Street were first recorded in detail by Griffith’s Valuation (1859). The valuer noted that the single bay dwelling was valued at £8 and was initially leased by the MacNaghten estate to a Mr. James McKeown. The adjoining two-bay dwelling was valued at £14 and was occupied by Douglas McMullen, a local haberdasher who leased the site from the firm of Messers Brown, Reid & Co., a wholesale textile manufacturer based in Belfast (Ulster Town Directories). The Annual Revisions noted that Douglas McMullen occupied both properties on the site from the 1880s, however at the turn of the 20th century the dwellings were once again occupied by separate tenants.

The 1911 Census of Ireland notes that the single-bay dwelling was inhabited by Daniel McLaughlin, a local saddler, whilst the adjoining two-bay house was occupied by William McConnell, a photographer and chemist. The census building return described the northernmost dwelling as a 2nd class saddler’s shop which consisted of six rooms and described the southern two bays as a 2nd class chemist’s shop and dwelling which possessed nine rooms. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902) depicted No. 61 Main Street as two distinct dwellings and recorded that each house possessed a large outbuilding to rear (now demolished). The site continued to be occupied by separate tenants under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which set the combined value of the buildings at £39 and 10 shillings. The valuer noted that the MacNaghten estate leased the single-bay northern dwelling to a Mrs. Mary McMullen whilst the southernmost two-bay dwelling was leased to Samuel Kennedy, a local merchant. The three buildings that comprised nos 57-61 Main Street were each purchased outright by a Mr. Albert Henderson between 1959 and 1961. Henderson resided at No. 57 Main Street and operated shops from his adjoining properties; by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 61 Main Street stood at £57 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. 61 Main Street was listed as a single three-bay 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. The NIEA HB Records note that the upper floors of Nos 57-61 Main Street were converted into a number of self-contained flats in c. 1994 whilst the ground floors of each building continued to be utilised as retail units (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 OS/6/1/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
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 – HB05/08/056
15. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/056

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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Two-and-a-half storey three-bay end of terrace former house, now a shop with accommodation above, constructed in 1835 as part of the reconstruction of the village of Bushmills in the early-19th century. Located on the west side of Main Street on a corner site at Market Square with gable-end facing out onto Dunluce Road, at the northern end of Bushmills village centre with the Bush River to the west. No. 61 Main Street originally comprised two separate dwellings (the northernmost single-bay comprised one property, with the other dwelling occupied the southern two-bays of the current building) and it remained as so until at least the 1970s. Much exterior and interior historic fabric and detailing has been altered over the years; the original roof was removed and an attic level added, there is a large metal fire escape stair to the rear and historic detailing to the interior has been lost, however, No 61 retains historic character and proportions within its terraced, prominent, village centre setting.