Former Antrim Arms Hotel

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large, relatively plain, three storey terraced former hotel of c.1830-40, now divided into five apartments. The property is situated on the E side of Toberwine Street.

The front façade faces W and is asymmetrical. To the left of centre is the (original) main entrance which consists of a four panel timber door and plain rectangular fanlight, all encased with panelled pilasters with large consul brackets supporting a cornice hood. This doorway now gives access to no.54a. To the left of the entrance are two windows with sash frames (horizontal glazing bars 2/2- all front windows have similar frames. To the right of the doorway are two further windows. To far right is a large, flat arch carriage entrance with timber sheeted double door with wicket gate (this door appears to be largely left open). To the first floor there are six windows as first floor, the first five (from left) are evenly spaced. To the second floor are six similar, but smaller windows (2/1), set in line with those to first floor. The ground floor level is finished in painted rusticated render with simulate ‘quoins’ to arch. The rest of the front façade is in painted lined render with in-out quoins.

With the carriage archway there are two timber sheeted doors (to the N) wall- that to the left leads to no.54b, whilst that to the right leads into a stairwell giving access to nos.54c and 54e

To the right of centre of the rear elevation is a relatively large three storey gabled return. To the ground floor left of this are two sash windows (Georgian panes 6/6- all rear windows have similar frames), with the rear of the carriage arch to far left. To ground floor left are two further windows. To ground floor of the return itself there is an open archway which gives access to a timber sheeted door (with plain rectangular fanlight) leading to no.54D. To the first floor left of the return are three windows as before (but with that to far left slightly narrower). To first floor right of the return are two similar windows. To second floor left of the return are three windows corresponding to those on the first floor. To right of the return is a single window, much as first floor. To the N and S faces of the return itself there is a single window to both sides at first and second floor level, all as previous. The ground floor level of the E face of the return there abuts the W end of a long single storey row containing five small dwellings (see below).

The N gable is only exposed at second floor level, where there is a window, as previous, to left. To the centre of the gable is a projecting chimney breast. The gable and the rear elevation are finished in painted lined render. The gabled roof is slated and has three unevenly spaced rendered chimney stacks to the ridge. Cast iron rw goods.

The long row to the rear contains five small gabled dwellings of simple appearance with timber sheeted doors, plain sash windows (to front), slated roofs, rendered chimneys etc. Formerly, this row appears to have contained a long stable building. It may be that the present dwellings contain some of the original fabric.

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.54- The former ‘Antrim Arms Hotel’
This site is shown occupied on John O’Hara’s map of 1779 and all others thereafter. The present building is undoubtedly that of the same dimensions recorded in the valuation notebook and map of 1859, then in the hands of a Charles McCay, who leased it from a John Dunne. The notebook grades the property as ‘A’, that is, a ‘new’ building built in the previous twenty years- or, in a few cases, a building completely renovated (and perhaps heightened or extended) in the previous twenty years, so as to make it ‘new’ in fact. Given its overall appearance, with consul bracketed door case, regularity of the façade and large carriage arch it is probable that property is c.1840, but the long rear outbuilding is shown in exactly the same form on both the abovementioned 1859 map and the 1832 OS map, suggesting an earlier date. This is also suggested by the phrase ‘Established over half a century’ in an 1888 advert for the hotel (in Bassett’s ‘Directory’). It is possible therefore that the building could be c.1830 rather than c.1840.

By the 1950s the hotel had been extended to take in the property to the immediate south (no.56- formerly the local police station). It continued in business until 1973, when following a gradual decline in visitors and the planting of a terrorist bomb at the rear of the building the owners decide to close the hotel altogether. It remained largely vacant until 1984 when it was acquired by Hearth and restored and converted to flats. To the rear the line of outbuildings were demolished and a row of small single storey dwellings built in their place.

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 George Henry Bassett ‘County Antrim guide and directory…’ (Dublin 1888), p.158
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)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Large, relatively plain, three storey terraced former hotel of c.1830-40, now divided into five apartments. The exterior, front and rear has been conserved which means that the building meets criteria for listing sufficiently to remain on the list at the B2 grade..