Former primary school

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small, single storey L-shaped, late Medieval style former school house (now two dwellings) of 1825 possibly by William Vitruvius Morrison, with rubble façade, sandstone dressed openings, steeply pitched slated roof and tall stone chimneystacks. The property is located on the south side of Castle Street, close to the matching late Medieval style Barbican bridge entrance to Glenarm Castle demesne.

The asymmetrical front façade faces N, into Castle Street. To the left side the elevation is dominated by a large (full height) gabled bay. To the right this bay merges with a small lean-to porch. The porch sits slightly awkwardly in that its roof has a shallower pitch to that of the gable, almost as if the porch itself was added later as an afterthought. To the front (N) face of the porch there is a Tudor arch doorway opening with sandstone dressings and moulded drip stone with stops. The left hand edge of this moulding is ‘cut through’ by the edge of the main gabled bay; again, like the pitch of the roof this gives the porch a slightly ill-fitting appearance and suggests that it is not original. The doorway itself has a timber sheeted door with boarded ‘fanlight’. To the W face of the porch is a small pointed arch window with three light metal frame. To the left hand edge of this face there extends a low rubble wall.

To the gabled bay there is a pair of tall, narrow pointed arch windows with metal lattice panes. To the right of the porch is a casement window with panes as previous and the remains of a moulded drip stone. To right again is a buttress and then a large double casement window, in the same style as previous. All of these windows, like the doorway, have in-out sandstone dressings.

The shorter E elevation has two casement windows either side of a pair of tall narrow pointed arch windows, (as front gabled bay but with drip stone), which rise above eaves line into a gable.

The W facing gable is as the front gabled bay but with drip stone mouldings to the windows.

To left on the rear elevation is a small lean-to porch projection with timber sheeted door. To left of this there projects a (relatively tall) rubble wall (to the W side of which there is a timber lean-to shed). To right of the porch is a casement window, much as previous casements but without dressings or moulding. To right of this is a large gabled bay, roughly similar in size as that to front. This gable is uneven in that, to the left, the roof continues below eaves level to form small porch (similar to the entrance porch but fully integrated with the gable- i.e. it looks original whereas that to front does not). To the S face of the porch section is a timber sheeted door with irregular grey dressings possibly of sandstone. Some sections of this have been replaced in relatively recent years. To the short W face of the porch section there is a tiny flat arch window (which does not appear to be original). To the large gable there is a large pointed arch window with Y-tracery. To the lower half of each of the two major lights there are lattice panes as have most of the remaining windows. To the immediate left of this window a digital TV satellite dish has been attached.

The entire façade is in (roughly) squared fieldstone with pink-ish sandstone quoins to front elevation and W gable. The steeply pitched gabled roof is slated and has sandstone parapets with pillar-like finials. Three Velux windows to rear. There is a centrally located pair of tall, square, ridge chimneystacks in sandstone (set in ‘diamond’ formation on regularly orientated square bases). Metal rw goods.

To rear there is a large tarmac-covered yard, with a large garden to W (next to the Barbican bridge)

Historical information

This former school house was built in 1825 by the then Countess of Antrim. According to the OS Memoirs of 1835 the building cost £500 with cut stone brought from Scotland ‘at considerable expense’; it may have been designed by William Vitruvius Morrison, the noted Dublin architect responsible for the remodelling of Glenarm Castle and the building of the (similarly styled) near by barbican gate.

Originally the school was under the patronage of the Kildare Street Society, but by 1830 this patronage had been ‘neglected and much fallen off’. In 1838 it came under the National System and was partitioned into boys and girls classes, with another smaller building erected to the south as an infant school. The building served as a school house until c.1965. In 1967 it became youth club but fell vacant again in 1978. In 1985 it was acquired by Hearth Housing Association, restored and converted to two dwellings.

The property stands on the site of the original (established) parish church. This church was built some time prior to 1683 and from the Tickmacrevan Vestry Minute Book we know that in the 1720s and 30s, (at least), it had a slated roof, roughcast façade, three windows, two doors and a whitewashed interior. It has also been suggested that the building may also have had a spire, for a late 18th century painting of Glenarm indicates a spire in the Castle Street vicinity [see secondary source no.2], however, this does not appear on any other illustrations of the town. With the building of St Patrick’s (in the 1760s), the old church was vacated, however it was not immediately abandoned, for vestry minutes refer to various repairs to the building in as late as 1806. With the construction of the school in 1825 the old church itself and the headstones in the surrounding graveyard were cleared away, but one headstone, (that of the Cooch family), remained in place to the rear of the present building until 1985.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977/36/3/1A Antrim Papers Map, showing the Town of Glenarm, plus Glenarm Castle and demesne, by John O'Hara, 1779. [Includes a list of the tenants in Glenarm town.]
2 Ulster Museum A view of Glenarm Castle (painting dating from some time between 1768 and 1812)
3 View of Glenarm ?c.1780 (painting in possession of Lord Dunluce)
4 Thomas Milton ‘The seats and demesnes of the nobility and gentry in Ireland’ (1783)
5 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.13 [c.1830-35] ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.127
6 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33
7 PRONI VAL/1B/149 First valuation, Tickmacrevan parish, 1833
8 Samuel Lewis, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland’ vol.1 (London 1837), p.658
9 William Makepeace Thackery, ‘Irish sketchbook’ (1843), p.238 [Thackery describes the schoolhouse as ‘in the early English [taste]’.]
10 Mrs and Mrs S.C. Hall, ‘Ireland: Its scenery, character etc., vol.III (London 1843), p.130
11 PRONI VAL/2D/1/11 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1859 [with later annotations- ?c.1900]
12 PRONI VAL/2B/1/41B Second valuation [notebook], village of Glenarm, 1861
13 D.2977/5/3 Antrim schools correspondence, 1863-1903
14 PRONI OS/8/103/1 OS town plan of Glenarm, 1903
15 PRONI VAL/12E/31/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1907-[1935]
16 PRONI VAL/3G/20/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm. 1936-57

Secondary
1 C.E.B. Brett, ‘Historic buildings…Glens of Antrim’ (Belfast 1971), p.17
2 Eileen Black, “A view of Glenarm Castle” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.7 (1979), pp.29-30 [This article refers to a late 18th century painting in possession of the Ulster Museum which shows a view of Glenarm from roughly half a mile along the Glen itself. In the painting three spires are indicated- one belonging to St Patrick’s church, with another to the court house (removed in 1812). The article suggests that the remaining spire belongs to the old parish church, however no other contemporary illustration indicates a spire in this vicinity and there is no written evidence (from the vestry minute books) for such a spire’s existence. Thomas Milton’s c.1783 engraving of Glenarm Castle does show a spire in the graveyard to the north side of St Patrick’s which one assumes may have belonged to a mausoleum of some sort- could this be the third spire shown in painting?]
3 Jimmie Irvine, “A map of Glenarm- 1779” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.9 (1981), pp.52-61
4 Hon. Hector McDonnell, “The building of the parish church at Glenarm” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.10 (1982), pp.31-36
5 Felix McKillop, ‘Glenarm- A local history’ (Glenarm 1987), p.27
6 ‘Hearth- A review of projects 1999’ (Belfast 1999), p.13

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Small, single storey L-shaped, late Medieval style former school house (now two dwellings) of 1825 possibly by William Vitruvius Morrison, with rubble façade, sandstone dressed openings, steeply pitched slated roof and tall stone chimneystacks. The property is located on the south side of Castle Street, close to the matching late Medieval style Barbican bridge entrance to Glenarm Castle demesne.

The building stands on the site of the original parish church, built some time prior to 1683.