15 Altmore Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial, relatively plain, two storey end of terrace building of probable pre 1832 construction, whose formerly asymmetrical (almost vernacular) front façade was altered in c.2000 to present a greater degree of formality. The property was originally slightly longer, taking in the now separate small dwelling to the south, and may possibly have originally faced in the opposite direction, the present rear elevation appearing much more formal than the front (even in its present altered form). The property is set at the north end of a short stretch of terrace on the west side of Altmore Street.

The front elevation faces E and is asymmetrical. Slightly to the left of centre is a (recent) panelled timber door with plain fanlight. To the left is a single double glazed sash window with ‘glazing bars’ sandwiched between two panes to give the effect of Georgian panes. To the right of the doorway are two similar windows, with five more, unevenly spaced, to the first floor The front façade is rendered with in-out bevelled quoins. The openings all have smooth cement surrounds.

Previous to the recent alterations there was a window at stair landing level to the right of the door, with four windows to the first floor instead of five, and two to the ground floor, as opposed to three.

The N gable is blank and finished as front. To the ground floor at the rear there is a right of centre doorway with recent panelled and glazed door and plain rectangular fanlight. To the left of the door are two (timber) sash windows. To the right is a single window with PVC frame. To the first floor are four evenly spaced windows, as ground floor right. The façade is finished in unpainted rough cast. As stated above, this façade has a much more regular appearance than that to E, and its windows are larger. The doorway now leads onto a raised paved area, under which there is now a garage. This whole paved area is of recent construction, the sloping ground to the rear of the property having been excavated to allow for the garage.

The gabled roof is slated and has [?rendered] parapets and two rendered chimneystacks. There is a small skylight to E. Cast iron and PVC rw goods.

Historical information

ALTMORE STREET
Altmore Street takes its name from the Altmore River, a narrow brook which flows from the high ground to the south-east to the Glenarm River to the west. The earliest reference to building plots within its vicinity occurs in a lease of August 1673 which mentions a ‘housestead, garden of tenement…extending back to Altmore Brook’, with others of December 1678 referring to ‘tenements’ on the ‘south side of Altmore‘. The presence of a ‘street’ is also mentioned in some 1678 leases.

Many of the earliest houses within the street may have been built on the western side, for prior to the walling in of estate grounds in the immediate vicinity of Glenarm Castle in the 1750s, the village fronted on to both sides of the Glenarm River. Some buildings on this side of the street may even originally faced the river: the present no.15, for instance, appears to have originally had an almost symmetrical ‘rear’ elevation -facing the river- and a markedly asymmetrical ‘front’ elevation; whilst no.29 has a 1739 date stone on its river facing side, as opposed to its street facing ‘front’.

The earliest extant map of Glenarm, drawn up by John O’Hara in 1779, shows the street fully developed on both sides, the terrace to the west stretching further to the south than today, beyond the line of the present ‘Town Gate’ to the Glenarm Castle estate.

The construction of the Town Gate some time between 1832 and 1857 appears to have lead to radical changes to the layout the street, with the line of much of the terrace to the eastern side pushed further eastwards allowing for a broader, and slightly grander, approach to the estate itself. The writer has found no mention of this widening of the street in any account of the development of Glenarm, however, the discrepancy between the orientation of the line of much of the eastern terrace on the 1832 OS map and that of 1857 suggests it was indeed the case. The theory is also supported by an 1830 illustration of the town (primary source no.6), which shows the two sections of terrace on the eastern side out of line, and the fact that many of the buildings recorded in the 1833 valuation of this side of the street seem to bear no relation to those recorded in the valuation of 1859 (as if all had been demolished).

The age / condition grading of properties employed in the latter valuation indicates that most of these rebuilt dwellings were at least twenty years old or slightly more in 1859, which would date much of the redevelopment to the mid to later 1830s. This ties in with a remark made in the OS Memoirs of 1835 that ‘some two storey houses of a tolerable description have been recently built in Glenarm…intended for the accommodation of lodgers during the bathing season…’.

The western side of Altmore Street may have remained largely untouched by the changes of the mid 1800s, with some of the buildings we see today possibly pre 1830s, however, some properties to the very southern end were cleared away with the construction of the Town Gate, and the land incorporated within the estate itself.

No.15
As stated above, it is possible that many of the buildings on the west side of Altmore Street are pre 1832, with some possibly even 18th century. This property may be one of the oldest in the street, for the arrangement of its east and west facades and the original position of its stairwell all suggest that it may have originally faced in the opposite direction, which –as discussed above- may be indicative of pre c.1760 construction. Its site appears to have been occupied from at least 1779, John O’Hara’s map of that year showing a building, which the accompanying list of tenants tells us was then in the hands of a Roger Gribben. A large two storey building is shown in this vicinity on a painting of Glenarm dating from some time between 1769 and 1812 (primary source no.5).

The present house is undoubtedly that of the same dimensions recorded in the 1859 valuation, a dwelling at least twenty years old, (grade B/B-), with four rooms to the ground floor, four to the first and a garret. At that date the property was in the hands of a Stewart Dunne and occupied by a Miss Elizabeth Dunne. According to an article by local historian, Jimmie Irvine, an Andrew ‘Dunn’ (1744-1809), owned a distillery ‘situated near the river, south of the bridge’ (i.e. to the rear of the terrace on the W side of Altmore Street). A complex of outbuildings is shown close to the river bank directly to the rear of this house on the 1832 OS map, which include a round structure. It is tempting to think that this ‘Dunn’ was an ancestor / relation of the 1859 ‘Dunnes’ and that the outbuildings shown on the 1832 map made up his distillery (with the round structure a vat). It is also tempting to think that the house may have been built in conjunction with the distillery- but there is no clear documentary evidence to support any of this and the best we can say of the house is that it was probably standing in the early 1830s.

Annotations to the 1859 valuation town plan suggest that the property was subdivided shortly before that time, creating a small separate dwelling to the south- the present no.17. In 2000-01 the house underwent major renovations, with the front façade arrangement given a greater degree of formality and a large garage constructed at basement level to the rear.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977/3A/4/1/24 Antrim Papers Lease from Alexander MacDonnell of Glenarm to John White of Glenarm, 12th August 1673 [See also D.2977/3A/4/65/8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28- all late 17th century leases concerning the vicinity of Altmore Brook in Glenarm]
2 PRONI D.2977/4/65/33 Antrim Papers Lease from Alexander, Earl of Antrim, to John Richy of Glenarm, of a tenement in Altmore Street, 1 March 1736 [See also D.2977/3A/4/65/40, 41, 42, 48, 52, 55, 56, 59, 61, 72, 73, 74, 81, 94, 95, 99A, 99B, 101, 102A, 104- mainly 18th century leases relating to Altmore Street.]
3 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.]
4 Ulster Museum A view of Glenarm Castle (painting dating from some time between 1768 and 1812) [This painting also shows the town itself.]
5 View of Glenarm c.1769-c.1812 (painting in possession of Lord Dunluce)
6 “The town and castle of Glenarm, Co. Antrim” [1830] by T.M. Baynes in ‘Ireland illustrated’ (London 1831)
7 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.13 [c.1830-35] ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.127
8 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33
9 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 this has not been possible. As stated above, with regards to Altmore Street, the mere fact that very little regarding the eastern side of the street contained within the first valuation book appears to relate with the later valuation is, paradoxically, revealing, for it indicates much rebuilding in the years after 1833. The fact also that the first valuation map is missing may also be revealing- could the post 1833 changes carried out in Altmore Street have rendered it obsolete within a few years of being drawn up?]
10 Samuel Lewis, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland’ vol.1 (London 1837), p.658
11 William Makepeace Thackery, ‘Irish sketchbook’ (1843), p.238
12 Mrs and Mrs S.C. Hall, ‘Ireland: Its scenery, character etc., vol.III (London 1843), p.130
13 PRONI VAL/2D/1/11 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1859 [with later annotations- ?c.1900]
14 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.]
15 PRONI OS/8/103/1 OS town plan of Glenarm, 1903
16 PRONI VAL/12E/31/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1907-[1935]
17 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) [Though detailed, this book, (nor any other publication the writers have consulted), appears to make any reference to the widening of Altmore Street.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Substantial, relatively plain, two storey end of terrace of possible pre 1832 construction, whose formerly asymmetrical (almost vernacular) front façade was altered in c.2000 to present a greater degree of formality. The property was originally slightly longer, taking in the now separate small dwelling to the south, and may possibly have originally faced in the opposite direction, the present rear elevation appearing much more formal than the front (even in its present altered form). The building is now a new structure in a period idiom and is cannot be regarded as of special architectural or historic interest.