19 Vennel Street (The Vennel)

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small, plain, two storey rendered terrace house of perhaps c.1910-15. The property is situated within the stepped terrace on the S side of Vennel Street.

The front (roughly N) elevation is asymmetrical. To the right on the ground floor is a panelled and glazed door with a plain rectangular fanlight. To the left is a sash window with horizontal astragals (2/2). To the first floor are two evenly spaced windows, as before only smaller. The upper windows are set close to the eaves. The front façade is finished in painted rough cast with simple moulded surrounds to openings.

The E gable is blank and also finished in rough cast.

To the right side of the rear is a recent partly glazed door. To the left is a large-ish window, with recent frame. There are two windows to the first floor, also with recent frames. The rear façade is finished in painted rough cast.

The gabled roof is slated. PVC rw goods. Rendered chimneystack to the east gable.

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 which 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 discrepancies between the 1900s OS maps and photographic evidence of c.1910 showing that most of the present south side appears to be early 20th century.

No.19
On the valuation map of 1859 a group of eight small dwellings are shown in place of the present terrace of five houses- nos.11-19; on the OS plan of 1903 six properties are marked, and photographs dating from c.1910 show ruined single storey dwellings on this particular site. Judging by its design this property and no.17 (which it matches) were probably built shortly after this date and may be c.1910-15.

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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Small, plain, two storey rendered terrace house of perhaps c.1910-15. Of townscape importance.