27 Toberwine Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial two storey terrace house of probable pre 1832 construction, with simple decorative stucco work to front applied during the 1920s, and a two storey return and (recent looking) single storey lean-to to rear. To the north side is a slightly lower two storey portion, (which may originally have been a dwelling), with a large vehicle entrance. The property, which was a hotel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is set on the west side of Toberwine Street.

The front (E) façade of the house is symmetrical. To the centre of the ground floor is a panelled door and a plain rectangular fanlight. The door is framed with fluted pilasters with decorative ‘leaf capital’, plain frieze and a projecting moulded cornice. To either side of the doorway is a single sash window (horizontal glazing bars-2/2). Both windows have simple decorative moulded surrounds. To the first floor there are three similar evenly spaced windows with similar surrounds to those on ground floor. The ground floor is finished in a channelled render (similar to rustication) with dry dash to the upper floor. The first floor windows rest on a projecting cill course. Chamfered plinth. The present finish to the front façade, including the mouldings, was applied in c.1925.

To right (N) of the house façade is the front façade of the lower section. To the ground floor of this is a large flat arch vehicle entrance with large timber sheeted double doors whilst to the first floor are two widow openings without frames. Between ground and first floor levels are five small rectangular holes. The façade of this section is finished in painted lined render.

To the right (S) side of the rear elevation is a flat roofed two-storey return. To the ground floor of the W face of this is a window with modern frame. To the upper floor of the N face of this return is a double sash window. To the left (N) of the elevation is a single storey lean-to extension; this merges with the two storey return and extends across the rear of the lower ‘vehicle entrance’ section. To the far left on the lean-to is a semicircular headed door opening (which leads into the ‘vehicle entrance’ area). To right of this is a modern glazed door with a large modern window to its immediate right. To right again is a window with modern frame, then a doorway with modern door, then another window with modern frame. To the small exposed section of the rear façade of the main house, (to first floor immediate left of the two storey return), there is a plain sash window. To the first floor of the rear façade of the lower section to N there are two window openings with single light frames but no actual glazing. The rear elevation (including return etc.) is finished in rough cast.

To the S side of the rear elevation there extends a long part two and part single storey ‘outbuilding return’ with slated gabled roof. The eastern section of this (which is single storey) appears to contain a utility room(s) and has two plain sash windows to left on its N face, with a French window to right of these, with another sash window to right again. This section of the ‘outbuilding’ is finished in rough cast. The two storey section to W is in limestone rubble and has at least three window openings to the first floor of its W face, with a doorway to far left on the ground floor (actually within a small lean-to projection). The rest of the face was obscured by greenery.

The main gabled roof is slated as is the roof of the lean-to and the gabled roof of the ‘outbuilding’. To the main roof there are two brick chimneystacks.

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.27
This site is shown occupied on John O’Hara’s map of 1779 and all others thereafter. Like much of the rest of this side of Toberwine Street this property may be substantially pre 1832 with today’s house probably the two storey dwelling belonging to George Halloran*, noted in the first valuation (though the records are somewhat confused), and later, in 1859, to Jane McNeill. The valuations appear to indicate that the lower portion to the north was a separate dwelling in 1832, (although under the same ownership as the larger house), but contained a gateway by the latter date- indicating that it may have been rebuilt or at least significantly altered, in the interim.

In the 1890s the property was converted to a hotel (‘The Seaview Hotel’) managed firstly by the McNeill and then the McMullan families. Plans of the hotel dating from perhaps c.1895 (within the Antrim Papers at PRONI- D.2977/37/3/2/5) show that at that stage the large living room to the north contained a bar to front and a kitchen to the rear, the present sitting room was a dining room (with small kitchen to rear); the lower section to north had a much narrower vehicle entrance with two rooms to south of the entrance, a kitchen and a smaller room integrated with the aforementioned bar, with a staircase beween sited between both rooms. To the immediate south of the vehicle entrance itself was a pedestrian door. The return to to the S (which now appears to be used as a utility room) contained a large dining hall, with a further, now removed, return to north (to the rear of the lower section) which contained another large dining room to its first floor.

In the mid 1900s the building functioned mainly as a public house, run by a Mr McAllister, but by 1970 had reverted to private dwelling house once again.

*George Stewart Halloran crops up frequently in the Antrim Papers held at PRONI, in a series of documents dating from 1822 to 1846. In a lease of 1822 [D.2977/3A/4/65/3C] he is referred to as ‘revenue officer of Glenarm’. He is mentioned in Slater’s ‘Directory’ of 1846 as a ‘lime merchant’ exporting local limestone to England ‘as well as western Scotland’, whilst a Richard Halloran [?George’s son] was manager of the harbour, quarries and lime works at Carnlough during the 1860s [D.2977/29/3/3].

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. See also D.2977/37/3/2/5
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

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Substantial two storey terrace house of probable pre 1832 construction, with simple decorative stucco work to front applied during the 1920s, and a two storey return and single storey lean-to to rear. To the north side is a slightly lower two storey portion, (which may originally have been a dwelling), with a large vehicle entrance. The property was used as a hotel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
There is sufficient period detail surviving which along with group value justifies the building being retained on the list.