SCOTCH HOUSE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey three-bay smooth-rendered former house. Rectangular plan-form with a shop front and former coach archway on ground floor level; chimney stacks to the SE and NW side of a fibre cement pitched roof. Set within a terrace row along Main Street, Bushmills. Built c. 1834. The property underwent extensive renovations c. 1996 which included the replacement of window frames, the installation of a new shop front and the erection of the two-storey rear return to the SW side providing a new kitchen and toilet facilities with living accommodation on first floor level. Situated on the west side of the Main Street. Located to the north of the village of Bushmills with views south towards the Market Square; Main Street is aligned parallel with the Bush River to the west side.

Walling is of smooth-rendered painted finish; ground floor contains a shop front to the right side and a former coach arch to the left side leading to an enclosed rear yard; main elevation is accessed directly from the footpath on the Main Street; first floor is of three bays wide with two wall dormers above (not aligned with bays on first floor), all on painted sills; upper floor windows are of timber sliding sashes; cast-iron rainwater goods to front elevation.

Principal elevation faces north-east accessed directly off paved footpath on the Main Street; ground floor contains a shop front to the right side having a single entrance doorway and two large window bays to either side each containing a timber framed window divided into six individual panes, upper panes have segmental arched heads; doorway contains a four-panel painted timber door with glazed top panels and a glazed transom light over with previous owners' details inscribed. Large coach archway to the left side contains a pair of vertically sheeted timber gates closing the rear yard access off from the street frontage; shop front has a pedimented timber pilaster to either side with plain painted timber frieze above (commercial signage missing from frieze); there are three square headed window bays above and two wall dormers at attic level (not aligned with bays on first floor below); slated pitched roof has two unpainted rendered chimney stacks, one rising from the SE and NW side, centred on ridge; all set on a painted rendered plinth; half-round cast-iron guttering discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipes to front elevation.

South-east and north-west sides of main building are adjoined to neighbouring properties No. 53-55 & 47-49 Main Street [HB05.08.058/60].

South-west elevation is abutted by a two-storey smooth-rendered painted rear return stepping down to a single storey to the SW side. Full access to rear was not possible at time of survey. Main elevation has a small timber casement window on first floor level above coach archway.

To rear, forming western boundary to property, a single storey rubble stone whitewashed outbuilding with slate roof and remnant of original boundary/party wall between no 51 and its immediate neighbour no 53. One of a pair (the other, to the rear of no 53 has a corrugated metal roof). Painted boarded timber doors.

South-east elevation of rear return contains a doorway at first level, accessed via a set of stone steps (shared with adjoining property) from ground floor level; the fenestration pattern of the SE rear return elevations irregular consisting of various sizes and styles of timber casement windows, there is a doorway on ground floor level leading directly into the main bar.

Setting:
The terrace row is situated on the west side of the Main Street with views south towards the Market Square.

Materials:
Roof: Fibre cement
RWGs: Cast-iron
Walling: Render
Windows: Timber sliding sash (NE) timber casements (SW)

Historical information

No. 51 Main Street, a two-storey three-bay late-Georgian dwelling (with coach arch and dormer windows) located on the west side of Main Street in Bushmills, was constructed in c. 1834 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 in the 1820s the village was extensively rebuilt by the MacNaghten family of Bushmills House (who had acquired the estate in 1787). No. 51 Main Street was first depicted on the Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834). The contemporary Townland Valuation (1835) described the structure as a 1A class dwelling and shop (that is a new or nearly new slated building) that measured 22.6ft by 28ft and stood 20ft in height. The house was initially occupied by a Mr. William Mitchell and was valued at £5 and 18 shillings.

There was little change to the layout of No. 51 Main Street by the mid-19th century and the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1855). The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1859) noted that the building was increased in value to £12 and was leased by the MacNaghten estate to Daniel Anderson, a local publican who established a public house at the site and remained at the address until his death in 1875 (PRONI Wills). The next occupant of the public house was a Mr. Robert Gilpin, however the property continued to change occupant over the following decades. The Census of Ireland records that No. 51 Main Street was occupied by a Ms. Jane Campbell in 1911. The accompanying census building return described the building as a 2nd class public house that consisted of eight inhabited rooms and possessed two stables and a fowl house as its sole outbuildings. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902) had depicted the property along its current layout and recorded a rectangular-shaped outbuilding to rear. No. 51 Main Street had been purchased outright from the MacNaghten estate by a Mr. Catherine McCollum by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland which increased the value of the public house to £22. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the public house (which was known as the Scotch House) was occupied by a Mr. John Cochrane and had been further raised in value to £51.

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. 51 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. 51 Main Street underwent an extensive renovation in c. 1996 which included the replacement of defective window frames and the installation of a new shopfront. The refurbishment also included the erection of the site’s two-storey return which was added to the rear of the building in order to provide the public house with new kitchen and toilet facilities whilst providing additional living accommodation on the first floor (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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (3 Jul 1875)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB05/08/059
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/08/059

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
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Two-storey three-bay smooth-rendered former house, with outbuilding to rear. Built c. 1830. Rectangular plan-form with shop front and former coach archway on ground floor level; chimney stacks to the SE and NW side of a fibre cement pitched roof. Set within a terrace row on the west side of Main Street, Bushmills, with views south towards the Market Square.