7 Castle Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively large but plain two storey rendered terrace house, of possible pre 1832 construction. The property is situated on the N side of Castle Street.

The front elevation faces S and is asymmetrical. To the left on the ground floor is a plain sheeted timber door with a shallow plain rectangular fanlight over; to the right are two 6/6 sash windows. Directly above the ground floor windows are a further three sash windows– similar to above but shorter.

The N rear elevation faces into an enclosed yard with high walls. It was not possible to gain any vantage point to view this façade.

The front façade (at least) is finished in rough cast. The gabled roof is slated. Rendered chimney stack to the W side of the ridge. Cast iron rw goods to S.

Historical information

CASTLE STREET / LOWER CASTLE STREET
Castle Street is the shortest of Glenarm’s four main original streets, leading westwards from the intersection of Toberwine and Altmore Streets to the bridge over the Glenarm River, with Lower Castle Street branching off southwards to the west end. The street was once part of the main road from Larne, a route of possible medieval origin which wound its way from the present Springhill in the south, north-westwards through The Vennel to Castle Street itself, and over the bridge before curving northwards to what is now the Straidkilly Road.

The earliest leases within the Antrim Papers relating to plots and buildings along the Street date from 1711, however at least one building, the old parish church, was standing on the south-west end of the street (where the former school house is now) as early as 1683 and the old 13th century Bisset castle (probably a tower house type structure) is reputed to have stood at the north-east end; the still extant former courthouse (which itself is believed to have been standing at least since the 1750s) believed to incorporate part of its ruins. The bridge at the west end of the street was erected in 1682 (prior to this travellers forded the river), but had to be largely rebuilt in 1713 after flood damage. For obvious reasons the street was originally known as ‘Bridge Street’, a name which appears to have lingered on until the mid 1800s.

On John O’Hara’s map of 1779 (the earliest extant plan of Glenarm) the street is shown fully developed on both sides, with rows of properties to the same extent as today present on the OS map of 1832. Given the evidence provided by the 1859 valuation, it is probable that most of the buildings indicated in 1832 are those we see today, with the short terrace in Lower Castle Street appearing c.1835-40.

O’Hara’s map clearly shows the pre-eminence of Castle Street as part of the main route northwards form Larne, the road skirting the grounds of Glenarm Castle on the west side of the river. In the early 19th century this arrangement was radically altered with the old road superseded by the new Coast Road and new Glenarm Bridge (built 1813), to the north end of the village, and the grounds around the castle enclosed. This process, which was complete by the mid 1820s appears to have lead to a gradual diminution of the street’s status, and it is perhaps no surprise that whilst a notable such as Lord Antrim’s agent could be found living in Castle Street in the late 1700s, by the mid 1830s the agent was residing at the south end of newly widened, (and as a consequence, much grander), Altmore Street.

No.7 Castle Street
This house is undoubtedly that of the same dimensions recorded in the 1859 valuation as the relatively old (possibly pre 1832) dwelling in the possession of a Michael Branagan. At this stage there was another two storey dwelling situated to the rear [?now presumably an outbuilding].

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977/3A/4/65/32, 35a. Antrim Papers Leases etc. relating to property in ‘Bridge Street’ [i.e. Castle Street], 1711, 1736.
2 PRONI D.2977/3A/4/65/49a-b, 57 Antrim Papers Leases etc. relating to property in Castle Street, 1743
3 PRONI D.2977/1/5/1A, 1C, 1E-F, 1H, 6J, 6K, 18A, 18E, 18Q Antrim Papers Leases etc. relating to ‘Bridge Street’ / Castle Street, 1743-1871
2 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.]
3 Ulster Museum A view of Glenarm Castle (painting dating from some time between 1768 and 1812) [This painting also shows the town itself.]
4 View of Glenarm c.1769-c.1812 (painting in possession of Lord Dunluce)
5 “The town and castle of Glenarm, Co. Antrim” [1830] by T.M. Baynes in ‘Ireland illustrated’ (London 1831)
6 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.13 [c.1830-35] ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.127
7 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33
8 PRONI VAL/1B/149 First valuation, Tickmacrevan parish, 1833 [The map to accompany this valuation is now lost making it extremely difficult, (and in most cases impossible), to tell which properties the valuation book is actually referring to. In some cases (most notably the west side of Toberwine Street) the writer has been able to successfully correlate the information contained within the second valuation notebook for 1859 with that of the first valuation, in order to decipher some of the details contained within the latter, but for most properties within Glenarm (including Castle Street), this has not been possible.]
9 Samuel Lewis, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland’ vol.1 (London 1837), p.658
10 William Makepeace Thackery, ‘Irish sketchbook’ (1843), p.238
11 Mrs and Mrs S.C. Hall, ‘Ireland: Its scenery, character etc., vol.III (London 1843), p.130
12 PRONI VAL/2D/1/11 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1859 [with later annotations- ?c.1900]
13 PRONI VAL/2B/1/41B Second valuation [notebook], village of Glenarm, 1859 [In the light of the problems concerning the first valuation this notebook and its accompanying map are both invaluable. For many areas the details of the second valuation only survive in the final printed form, with the names of householders and leaseholders and the rateable value for each property supplied only. For some areas, Glenarm among them, the working notebooks compiled by the valuers have survived, providing information such as dimensions of buildings, their use, the number of rooms they contain, notes on age and condition, and, (occasionally), comments regarding the overall appearance of properties. In many respect these notebooks closely resemble those of the first valuation, but frequently contain more detail.]
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 sources
1 C.E.B. Brett, ‘Historic buildings…Glens of Antrim’ (Belfast 1971), p.16
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
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)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Relatively large but plain two storey rendered terrace house of possible pre 1832 construction. Sufficient period detail survives which along with group value means that it is appropriate for the building to remain listed.