66 MAIN STREET

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two-storey two-bay smooth-rendered painted finish end-terrace former house, part of a terrace row along the east side of Main Street, Bushmills. Front elevation with shop-front faces onto Main Street and gable elevation faces onto Woodvale Park, on SE corner of Market Square. Built c. 1834, architect unknown. Natural slate pitched roof.

Principal elevation faces south-west accessed directly off paved footpath on Main Street; smooth painted render, two-bays wide on first floor; ground floor has timber shop front divided by timber fluted pilasters with signage above spanning the full width of the elevation; there is a single entrance doorway to shop front on left side with a timber and glazed door; timber frame windows to shop fronts are divided vertically. First floor level has two openings, each with a 1/1 timber sliding sash window; painted rendered corner quoins to left side only; uPVC rainwater goods to front elevation.

North-west side gable-end faces onto Market Square with a rear return extending the full length of the site to the NE side; gable-end elevation walling is of smooth-render with painted finish with painted corner quoins to the right side only and a painted plinth; there is a single opening on first floor level with a timber sliding sash window. Rear return NW side is blank.

North-east elevation to the rear is abutted by a large two-storey extension with a slated pitched roof (spanning the full length of the site). Two-storey extension NE gable-end has a recessed single entrance doorway on ground floor with a timber timber door. On first floor level there is a metal frame casement window with an extraction duct piercing the upper pane and glazed vent to lower section; uPVC rainwater goods to rear elevation and extension.

South-east side elevation is adjoined to neighbouring property No. 68 [HB05/08/80]

Setting:
Located on the corner of Main Street and Woodvale Park, on the SE corner of Market Square in Bushmills.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: uPVC
Walling: Smooth render painted
Windows: timber sliding sash.

Historical information

No. 66 Main Street, a two-storey two-bay building with a double shopfront to ground floor, was constructed in c. 1834 along with the adjoining No. 68 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). Nos 66-68 Main Street were first recorded on the Townland Valuations Town Plan (c. 1834) which depicted the buildings along their current layout, although the map notes that No. 66 Main Street originally possessed a coach arch on its ground floor. The contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1835) described No. 66 Main Street as a 1A- class structure (that is a new or nearly new slated building) that measured 22ft by 28ft and stood 19ft in height. The valuer noted that the building was initially valued at £5 and was occupied as a dwelling and shop by a Mr. James Wallace.

In the mid-19th century Griffith’s Valuation (1859) increased the value of No. 66 Main Street to £5 and 10 shillings and noted that the building was leased to a Mr. Frances Irwin by John Richmond, a prominent local farmer. The Annual Revisions Town Plan (1909-c. 1935) records that that land to the rear of nos 66-68 Main Street was known as Richmond’s Court and consisted of many minor dwellings. Frances Irwin continued to reside at No. 66 Main Street until c. 1874 when the building was subdivided into two separate dwellings, each of which were valued at £4. The occupants of the two dwellings within No. 66 Main Street continued to change with frequency over the following decades and by the turn of the 20th century the building had been occupied by Robert Kennedy, a local bookmaker who operated a shop from the premises, and a Mrs. Margaret Sherman. No. 66 Main Street was depicted along its current L-shaped layout on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1902) which recorded no outbuildings on the site.

The contemporary 1901 Census of Ireland described Kennedy’s portion of the building as a 2nd class dwelling and shop that consisted of four rooms, whist Sherman inhabited two rooms (presumably on the upper floor). The value of No. 66 Main Street was increased to £16 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which noted that a Mr. Edward Kennedy had purchased the site outright from the MacNaghten estate by at least the 1930s. The house and shop on the site was occupied by a Mr. Robert Kennedy by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) when the total rateable value of No. 66 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. 66 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 (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/E/56/2 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1909-c. 1935)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/8A-D – Annual Revisions (1859-1894)
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 – HB05/08/79
15. NIEA HB Records – HB05/08/079
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 smooth-rendered painted end-of-terrace former house, located on corner of Main Street and Woodvale Park on the SE corner of Market Square in Bushmills. It was built c.1834 along with the adjoining No. 68 as part of the reconstruction of the village of Bushmills in the early 19th century. While both the interior and exterior have been modernised, the building retains external historic character to the street. It contributes to the historic character of the Bushmills Conservation Area.