'The Bridge End Tavern' public house

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively large three storey end of terrace public house of possible pre 1832 origin, but which appears to have been split into two properties in the mid to later 19th century. The property is set on the W side of Toberwine Street.

The front elevation faces E and is symmetrical. To the centre of the ground floor is a panelled door set within a shallow recess with boarded over ‘fanlight’. To the left of this is a large picture window with recent multi-pane frame. To the right is a similar window. Above the doorway and windows is a painted timber signboard. To the first floor there are three evenly spaced windows (of regular Georgian proportion), with recent frames much as before. To the second floor are three much squatter windows, also with recent frames. The front façade is finished in rusticated render to ground floor level, and plain render above this. There are in-out bevelled quoins and the whole façade is painted. Recent projecting plastic pub sign at first floor level.

The N gable is finished in the same manner as the front and has two windows to centre and left on the first floor, as first floor front. To attic level there is a much smaller centrally placed window, with recent frame. Recent pub sign above first floor level, much as that to front.

To the far right on the ground floor of the rear façade there is a plain sheeted door with small fixed light single pane window to its left. To the left of this there projects a tall rendered yard wall. To left of this, and set at a high level, is a squat window with recent frame. To first floor left there is a window as first floor front. To the right of this there is a taller window (originally a stair landing window) with recent fixed light frame. To far right is a window similar in size to that to far left, but with part of its (recent) frame now boarded up. The rear façade is finished in plain render.

The gabled roof is covered in pan tiles, with a small Velux window to front and a larger one to the rear. Small brick chimneystack to N, larger rendered stack to S. The rw goods appear to be mainly cast iron.

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.1
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 a relatively old (possibly late 18th century) dwelling house of similar dimensions as the present building, is recorded, with a Jane Moorehead in residence. By 1859 the building was in the hands of a John Kirkpatrick, with a John McKay as resident, and contained a ‘shop and kitchen below. 4 rooms over and a garret storey’ The accompanying 1859 valuation plan suggests that the building was split into two properties by this stage, but as only one resident is mentioned we must assume that the plan is merely indicating the ‘shop’ area. To the rear there was a smaller dwelling and a forge.

Later valuation plans show that the bar appears to have taken over the whole of the ground floor area some time between 1907 and 1935 and that the forge to the rear remained until some time after 1935.

According to local historian Felix McKillop, a cholera epidemic which spread through Glenarm in 1854 began with the death of a woman lodging in this building, the fact that the building was an inn at this point (the ‘shop’ mentioned in 1859) helping to spread the disease.

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), p.54

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Relatively large three storey end of terrace public house of possible pre 1832 origin, but which appears to have been split into two properties in the mid to later 19th century. The building now has modern window frames throughout and pan tiles. Not of architectural interest.