33 Toberwine Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Plain, low two storey terrace house of pre 1832 construction, but once two divided into two properties.

The front façade is almost symmetrical. To the centre of the ground floor is a plain timber sheeted timber door; the opening is quite low and the door is the modern ‘stable’ variety. To the left is a sash window with Georgian panes to upper sash (6/1). To the right is a similar window. To the first floor there are three (almost) evenly spaced sash windows, all as before. The front façade is finished in dry dash. First floor window sills are incorporated into a smooth render string course with smooth render surrounds to all front openings,(the door surround has been damaged by the insertion of a new lintel). There is a plain painted eaves course and the edges of the façade have smooth render vertical bands- both are in plain painted render, as before.

To the right of centre of the rear façade is a partly glazed door. To the right and to the left are recently added French windows. To the first floor there are three unevenly spaced plain sash windows; that to the right is narrower. The rear is finished in unpainted rough cast. To the ground floor much of the rough cast has broken off, (with the insertion of French windows etc.), revealing rubble construction.

The gabled roof is slated. Render chimneystack to S, shared brick chimneystack to N. Cast iron rw pipes and PVC gutters. The roof rises slightly above its neighbour No. 31 and is finished with a slight overhanging verge and a plain bargeboard.

To the rear W side of the back yard is a two storey gabled outbuilding. This is constructed in random rubble (mainly white) limestone and has a corrugated iron roof.

Historical information

TOBERWINE STREET
Toberwine Street (‘Street of the ‘sweet well’) may represent the original area of settlement within the village of Glenarm, its narrowness betraying something of its antiquity. The original 13th century castle of Glenarm, around which the village developed, is believed to have stood at the south west corner of the street, on the site now occupied by the former court house. The castle itself was deliberately ‘broken’ by Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1597 and, seemingly, not repaired- Sorley’s descendant, Sir Randal McDonnell, building a new residence on the other side of the river. Some historians state that the old castle was occupied by tenants (and therefore presumably repaired in some fashion), in the later 17th century, but Richard Dobbs makes no reference to it in his 1683 description of the village.

The first mention of ‘Toberwine’ within the Antrim Papers appears to be in a lease of November 1672, which refers to a house within the area, with ‘Toberwine Street’ mentioned in a lease of August 1709. On John O’Hara’s 1779 map of Glenarm (the earliest extant plan of the village) the street is shown fully developed on both sides, with the market / court house to the south west end. There is no verifiable indication of any remains of the old castle shown on the map, but the remark made in the 1835 OS Memoirs concerning ‘the foundations of a very extensive old castle which stood at the centre of the town until a few years ago’ indicates that ruins of some kind may have lingered into the early 19th century.

Evidence provided by the valuation of 1833 suggests that most of the buildings we now see on the west side of the street were present (in some form) at that date and that many were probably 18th century. The east side of the street witnessed a much greater degree of development after 1833 however, with nos.4-12 all c.1840, and nos.20-34 and 62 post c.1860- some of the latter replacing modest single storey dwellings. There is evidence to suggest that large three storey former Antrim Arms Hotel (and possibly its neighbour no.56) may have been standing in the early 1830s, but this is not certain.

No.33
This site is shown occupied John O’Hara’s map of 1779 and all others thereafter. The first valuation of 1833 tells us that at that stage the property was split into two dwelling houses, that to the south smaller (14ft x 22½ x 17) and occupied by one John Keanes, with that to the north (21 x 22½ x 17) occupied by a Charlotte Loughran. By 1859 these dwellings had been amalgamated in some form, as only one occupier is noted and one combined set of dimensions are given (35 x 22½ x 17). It appears, however, that for some years after this the second doorway (to the former dwelling to the south) remained- it is shown on a late 19th century photograph of Toberwine Street. The present owners uncovered evidence of the one time presence of this doorway during recent renovations.

The deeds for the property recite earlier deeds dating back to 1796. It is possible that the present structure is substantially that of this date for both the above valuations state that the property was ‘old’ (grade ‘C’ on both occasions); however we must be careful of quoting deeds as evidence for the age of any building, as they are primarily concerned with land, not the structures upon it.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977/3A/4/65/2, 30, 34A, 36, 37A-B, 43-45, 70A-B etc. Antrim Papers Leases relating to property in ‘Toberwine’ / Toberwine Street, 1672, 1709, 1736/7, 1753 etc.
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 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

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Plain, low two storey terrace house of pre 1832 construction, but once divided into two properties. The front façade is finished in dry dash and French windows have recent been inserted to the rear. Not of architectural interest.