'The Coast Road Inn' public house

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large, 2½ storey terrace public house, which may have began life pre 1832 as two separate dwellings, assuming much of its present form as a single property some time prior to 1859, with gabled half-dormers, added c.1900 and the large rear return c.1950s+. The property is set on the W side of Toberwine Street.

The front elevation faces E and is asymmetrical. To the right of centre is a doorway with panelled timber door and rectangular fanlight. Either side of the doorway are simple pilasters. To the right of the doorway is a large fixed light picture (pub) window, framed with similar pilasters. The doorway and window have a timber signboard over with decorative end brackets. To the left of the doorway is a small-ish window with plain sash frame and simple plain render surround. To the far left is a large segmental headed vehicle entrance with timber sheeted double door having a wicket gate.

To the first floor there are four sash windows, as ground floor left. The window to far left is set at a slightly higher level. Modern projecting pub signage (and pub flagpoles) between windows. To centre and right are two gabled half-dormers with semicircular-headed windows with plain sash frames. The half-dormers have an overhanging eaves with plain barges and finials.

The front façade is finished in rusticated render at ground floor level with lined render to the upper levels. The render is painted.

The rear elevation is difficult to observe in its entirety. The elevation is dominated by a very large two storey gabled return which appears to be largely of mid to later 20th century construction. To the W the return is abutted by a large group of two storey (mainly) limestone built outbuildings, arranged around a yard. The outbuildings are largely disused and in poor condition with window frames and part of the roof missing. However they were the original "warehouse" buildings backing on to the quay on the west where the river is tidal. Of the large return itself, the writers were only able to see the S face in its entirety. This has two plain sash windows to the first floor, a partly glazed door to the ground floor and is finished in painted render. The N face has a boarded up window to left on the first floor, but little else could be seen of this side. The exposed portion of the rear façade of the main building to the right of the return has the rear of the vehicle entrance to its ground floor, whilst above is a squat window with modern frame with the façade itself finished in unpainted lined render. The exposed portion to left of the return is finished in similar fashion and has a window with modern frame to its first floor level, but, due to the proximity of a neighbouring wall, the ground floor level could not be seen.

The main gabled roof is slated as is that to the return. There are two Velux windows to the W side of the main roof. Three unevenly spaced rendered chimneystacks to main roof. Mainly cast iron rw goods.

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.3
There is a building /buildings shown on this site on John O’Hara’s map of 1779 and all others thereafter. In the first valuation of 1833 two old (possibly mid to late 18th century) dwellings are recorded, whose combined dimensions are same as main section of the present property, the dwelling to the south side were occupied by a William McCloy, with that to the north the home of a James Craig. By 1859 these two formerly separate dwellings had been superseded by a single property a dwelling and licensed ‘shop’ (i.e. spirit grocers), all belonging to William McCloy but occupied by an Alexander Galbraith. The same valuation tells us that the building contained ‘2½’ floors with the shop and three other small rooms to the ground floor, six rooms to the first floor and ‘2 garrets’. The vehicle entrance was present along with much of the outbuilding complex to the rear, however there was only a small single storey return, situated slightly to the north of the present one.

It is possible that the two 1833 dwellings were largely demolished to make way for the single property, but the 1859 valuation states that the building was ‘old’ (grade C+), suggesting that much of the 1833 structure remained.

The gabled half-dormers to the front are typically late Victorian /Edwardian, and were probably added c.1900. The present return appears to be wholly mid to later 20th century.

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

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Large, 2½ storey terrace public house, which may have began life pre 1832 as two separate dwellings, assuming much of its present form as a single property some time prior to 1859, with gabled half-dormers added c.1900 , the large rear return c.1950s+.and the upper floors as a modern apartment more recently. It also has historical interest in the survival of the limestone rubble buildings to the rear which were the original quayside structure connected with maritime traffic from the late 18th.C.