1-3 The Vennel

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Pair of plain, two storey stuccoed ‘urban vernacular’ terrace houses of part c.1835-40, part post 1859 construction, recently converted to a single property. The building is set on the S side of The Vennel at the junction with Altmore Street, with the front elevation in two ‘facets’, following the curve of the road.

The front elevation faces roughly north and is asymmetrical. To the centre there are two doors, that to the E is now secured closed and the other is the entrance. Each door is of the modern panelled half glazed variety. To either side there is a 6/6 sash window. To the first floor there are three similar windows.

The elevation is gabled and has one 6/6 sash window each to the left of the ground and the first floors.

Because of the ‘L’ shaped nature of the terrace the rear elevation (which is in the crux of the ‘L’) is very short. To the left of the ground floor there is a modern door. To the first floor there is a modern window. The yard is enclosed by a high stone wall.

To the right W side of the ridge is a plain rendered chimney stack; natural slate roof covering to the pitched roof; cast iron rw goods to the front and PVC rw goods to the rear; roughcast rendered finish to front and the elevations; the N front rests on a smooth recessed cement rendered plinth.

Historical information

VENNEL STREET
Prior to the building of the Coast Road in the 1830s, Vennel Street or ‘The Vennel’ was the main road to Glenarm from Larne and the south. As the name, ‘Vennel’ (archaic Scots- ‘a narrow winding lane’), and its sloping topography suggest, it was the least attractive of the village’s four main streets. This is reflected in the fact that the earliest leases concerning the area (which date from 1743 onwards) refer to it as the ‘Stinking Vennel’ or ‘Stinking Vennel Street’ and repeatedly mention ‘waste tenements’.

John O’Hara’s map of 1779 shows many small densely packed dwellings along both sides of much of its length. During much of the next century and a half, however, most of this housing was replaced- the 1832 OS map showing a very large gap on the south side, the annotations to the second valuation records showing much post 1859 rebuilding on the north side, and the 1900s OS plans and photographic evidence showing that most of the present south side appears to be early 20th century.

No.1-3
This site is shown vacant on the OS map of 1832. The western portion of the present property (formerly no.1) is undoubtedly the house of the same dimensions, (‘in wretched order’), recorded in the valuation of 1859 as belonging to Patrick and Charles Reavey. No.3 was built on the site of a yard belonging to no.1, some time after 1859, possibly in the mid to later 1860s. The houses appear to have remained separate properties until relatively recently [?c.mid 1990s]

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977/1/5/1A, 1C, D.29773A/4/65/64A-B, 74A, 100, 103 etc. Antrim Papers Leases relating to property in ‘The Stinking Vennel’ / ‘Stinking Vennel Street’, 1743, 1754, 1784, 1788, 1831 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 D.2977/37/3/1 Antrim Papers Plans and elevations of three proposed kitchen houses at Vennel Street, ?c.1920s-30s
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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Pair of plain, two storey rendered ‘urban vernacular’ terrace houses of part c.1835-40, part post 1859 construction, recently converted to a single property. The front elevation is in two ‘facets’, following the curve of the road. The building with its period frontage has an important prescence in the streetscape where the Vennel turns the corner into Altmore St. This and its group value justifies its remaining on the list.