South courtyard

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A U-shaped range of buildings which, together with the adjoining houses at 4, 5 and 6 Castle Demesne (HB06/02/001D), forms a small courtyard to the south of the adjoining main courtyard complex (HB06/02/001B) at Glenarm Castle. Courtyard paved with concrete and enclosed on all sides by rendered and slated buildings. Main entrance into courtyard faces west.

West elevation of entrance block is single storey with dormered attics. A semi-elliptical arched entrance to the yard is flanked on the right by a rectangular doorway followed by a large window, and flanked on the left by a small window with a Gothic style entrance bay to the left of that. Walling is smooth cement rendered around the archway and to its right; smooth rendered and partially whitened around the smaller window to the left; and rendered, lined and blocked at the Gothic style doorway between slightly projecting Tuscan pilasters. There is a projecting rendered eaves course across the entire entrance front.

Roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with terracotta ridge tiles, continuous at north with roof of west side of larger courtyard; contained to south by gable upstand. Pitch of roof changes at the single chimney, steeper to north end, with slightly higher ridge line. Chimney smooth cement rendered with plain projecting cornice; two earthenware pots.
Dormers gabled; roofs slated as previous; cheeks slated; window in front face of each dormer, rectangular timber, vertically hung, sliding sash, 2 over 2, with horns; gables clad with tongued and grooved sheeting. Cast iron gutter with two cast iron downpipes.

Main entrance archway into courtyard contains double doors, segmental headed, timber ledged; plain rendered reveals.
Doorway to right, leading to offices, contains a pair of rectangular double doors, timber ledged, with plain rectangular fanlight; modern brass handle and letterbox; painted plain rendered reveals.
Large window of offices to right-hand extremity comprises modern replacement rectangular timber coupled sashes, each window 4 over 4, without horns; exposed sash boxes; projecting stone cill.
Smaller window to left of archway was a rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, set in exposed sash boxes, but sashes now replaced by 4 over 4 wooden panels, unglazed; projecting stone cill.
Gothic style entrance bay to left-hand end, leading to workshop, has angled heads to doorway and to flanking sidelights; doorway contains a Gothic arched ledged timber door with pseudo-medieval timber fretwork ‘hinges’ applied, set in a recessed Gothic arched frame; sidelights each contain a Gothic arched fixed window, with thin wooden glazing bars, comprising two narrow panes surmounted by a small Gothic headed tracery light and surrounded by margin lights; projecting stone cills.

Exterior elevation to the south comprises the blank south gable of the entrance block with a lower range of walling extending to the east. Gable is smooth cement rendered with a shaped sandstone kneeler to the left-hand side; sandstone copings; and a sandstone block to the apex, presumably a finial-base now missing its finial; some crude repair work to the render at right-hand side where plane of wall changes.
To the right of the gable is a short screen wall, cement rendered, with broken cast iron soil pipe attached.
To the right of the screen wall is a smooth cement rendered wall of a gabled yard building, formerly a dairy: roof of Bangor blue slates, apparently of regular courses but in poor condition, and incorporating a long roof ventilator below three swept courses of slates. Some render missing to right-hand side, revealing walling of basalt field stones and white limestone rubble to lower portion, with some brickwork to upper area. One window, rectangular timber, coupled casements, each window 4-pane, in very poor condition; projecting concrete cill; plain rendered reveals.
To the right of gabled building is a length of wall, of a store house, smooth cement rendered, containing a rectangular window opening, crudely filled by horizontal wooden boarding below a top-hung, 3-light window.
To the right of that is a short screen wall to the yard, smooth cement rendered, with a rendered coping, linking with the houses at 4, 5, and 6 Castle Demesne.

ELEVATIONS WITHIN COURTYARD:
The entrance archway leads into a passageway to the courtyard; plastered and painted ceiling to passageway; walls smooth cement rendered; floor of concrete; leads through to a segmental or semi-elliptical inner archway to the court.

Courtyard (or east-facing) elevation of main entrance block has roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; two small flush iron rooflights, original; walls of smooth cement render with a projecting eaves course of rendered brickwork; render is lined and blocked, and whitened, to the portion north of the archway which has a slightly higher ridge line and eaves line; cast iron gutters with two cast iron downpipes.
This portion of the building, to the right of the archway, has one rectangular window, an 8-pane fixed light.
The portion of building to the left of the archway, now comprising offices, has one doorway flanked by two windows: doorway contains a rectangular ledged timber door recessed in a wooden frame, all woodwork modern; windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 3 over 3, without horns, with exposed sash boxes, and projecting concrete cills; PVC waste pipe below one window.

South side of courtyard, from right to left: a smooth cement rendered screen wall, built of brickwork, linking entrance blocks with a range of gabled buildings.
Taller gabled building, to west end, formerly a dairy: single storey; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, incorporating a shallow ventilator with slates swept over it; one flush rooflight, original iron; terracotta ridge tiles; cast iron gutter; cast iron downpipe, incorporating a PVC section. Walls smooth cement rendered; one window, rectangular timber, sliding sash, vertically hung, 6 over 6, without horns; exposed sash boxes; plain reveals; projecting stone cill. West gable is smooth cement rendered, partly spalling to left-hand upper corner; flush verges; one door, essentially rectangular timber, ledged, but settled into a skewed formation.
Lower gabled building to eastern end, comprising stores: single storey; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; gutter partly asbestos and partly cast iron; one cast iron downpipe at left-hand end. Wall of smooth cement render; three doorways, all rectangular with plain reveals; all ledged timber with later ventilation grille opened in the one to the extreme left.
Eastern gable of stores is plain smooth cement rendered, with flush verges; projecting from it is a lower lean-to outside toilet, against yard wall: smooth rendered walling, with asbestos slated roof, and rectangular ledged timber door.

East side of courtyard is closed by the rear elevations of nos. 4, 5 and 6 Castle Demesne (HB06/02/001D) displaying rendered walls, slated roofs, and sashed windows.
Across the courtyard face of these houses there is a basement or gully passage bounded on the higher level of the courtyard by large moulded copings; steps down from courtyard to gully passage.

North side of courtyard occupied mainly by a tall single-storey workshop with a small lower block set back to its east linking with the main block of the houses (HB06/02/001D) on the east side of the courtyard, apparently a rear return of those houses. The workshop has five large windows to the right of a slightly projecting porch. Roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses, swept down over porch to left, and incorporating a shallow ventilator at the east end with five courses of slates swept over it; dark toned ridge tiles. One chimney, smooth cement rendered, with plain projecting cornice; no pots visible. Metal gutters with what looks like some PVC sections; cast iron downpipe to left-hand end, with shaped head; cast iron gutter to right-hand extremity but incomplete.
Walls of smooth cement render, lined and blocked to porch, with projecting eaves course to main wall. Porch has a doorway, Tudor-arched with plain reveals; wooden doorframe with Tudor arched fanlight but door missing.
Windows rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 3 over 6, with horns; projecting painted stone cills; lightweight greenhouse of aluminium framing and corrugated perspex erected against second window from west.

East gable of workshop: smooth cement rendered wall; timber fascia boards; overhanging verges; rectangular doorway containing a 4-panel door; sandstone doorstep. Projecting from the gable is a lower single storey rear return of the houses at nos. 4, 5, and 6 Castle Demesne, with slated roof, terracotta ridge tiles, cast iron rainwater goods, smooth cement rendered wall, and large rectangular timber window, sashed 3 over 6 as previous.

SETTING:
The courtyard stands to the south of the main courtyard complex at Glenarm Castle, with its entrance front facing a driveway leading from the main entrance gateway to the rear of the Glenarm Castle itself. The courtyard complex is surrounded on three sides by demesne farmland, with trees and shrubs in the immediate vicinity.

Historical information

Precise details for the main blocks of the south courtyard are not known but the following approximate datings may be surmised from a comparison of available maps.

The entrance block may be presumed to have been built, in essence, by 1832 when a large trapezoidal configuration of outbuildings, of which this smaller courtyard forms the southern part, appears on the first OS map.

The workshop block on the north side appears to have been built sometime between 1857 and 1903. A cross-range dividing the 1832 configuration into two separate courtyards appears on the 1857 OS map but on a different alignment from the present south range of the main courtyard or the workshop block of the south courtyard.

The dairy block on the south side is of uncertain date but may be a later 19th century replacement for that shown on the 1832 OS map.

The northern part of the 1832 configuration no longer stands as it was subsequently rebuilt in 1875, forming the present main courtyard, while none of the current buildings of the south courtyard appear to be among the informally arranged outbuildings shown on a map of 1779.

The buildings lie within the area of a scheduled monument, no. ANT29: 6.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1832-3, Co Antrim 29.
2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 29.
3. OS Map 1903, Co Antrim 29.

Secondary Sources
1. J. Irvine, A Map of Glenarm – 1779, The Glynns (Journal of the Glens of Antrim Historical Society), Vol 9, 1981, pp 52-61 (illustrates a map of Glenarm surveyed in 1779, including part of the castle demesne).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a group of buildings of generally plain architectural character, with the exception of a Gothic style entrance bay and a Tudor-arched porch, but it enjoys a pleasant conspicuous setting along one of the main approaches to Glenarm Castle within its demesne. It is of some historic interest as part of the 19th century development connected with the main house and forms an integral element in the overall courtyard complex of its outbuildings and thus forms part of an interesting and significant group.