40 Port Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single storey thatched cottage.

Main entrance faces south. South facade 3 bay, with doorway between two windows. Walls of rubble stone harled and whitened. Roof thatched with flax between cement half-copings on gables, held down by steel wire running from end to end, and secured with wire loops. Two chimneys, one to each gable, square plan with brick blocking courses, all whitened. Front door timber sheeted, painted red, with rectangular glazed panel to top and enclosed by an outer half-door, all in rectangular surround with timber lintel painted. Concrete front step; ground sloping from west to east. Windows to front rectangular set in plain reveals without cill projection; timber fixed lights of 8 rectangular panes, replacements of c 1990.

The roof timberwork is original.

West gable blank, with ground outside higher than floor level: reached by 3 stone steps, supplemented by 2 lower steps on concrete.

North facade walls and roof similar to entrance front, but poorer condition. Projecting flat roofed extension in centre between two windows: window to left, timber vertically hung sliding sash, 6 over 3, with horns, original; window to right, timber fixed light with horizontal glazing bar. Extension roofed in corrugated iron and corrugated plastic; walls mainly timber studding rendered, Tyrolean finish, and painted white, but also partly of whitened corrugated iron; PVC gutter and down-pipe; two timber windows, one a top-hung single light, one a single casement.

East gable similar walling to west; two windows, upper one a small timber fixed light with top-hung vent, the lower one timber sliding sash vertically hung, with horns, 1 over 2, with a vertical glazing bar to lower pane, poor condition. Attached to gable, a single storey corrugated iron shed with modern flush timber door and timber fixed light window.

SETTING: the building stands in a rural coastal location on slightly sloping ground overlooking the sea, well downhill from the road and reached only on foot. Viewed from the roadway above it forms a very picturesque and evocative element in the landscape.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1831 / 32, however it is not included in the contemporary valuation. It is recorded in the second valuation of 1860, however, the occupant listed as Jane McKay, Col. Charles P. Leslie the immediate lessor, and the rateable value calculated at 12/-. According to C.E.B. Brett, (who appears to have consulted the post 1864 valuation revisions), the property was occupied by a Joseph Hay for much of the 1870s and a Mrs Annie McGowan from 1897 to 1919.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/1A/1/47 OS map, County Antrim sheet 47, with valuation
references (1831 / 32-c.38)
2 PRONI VAL/2A/1/47A OS map, County Antrim sheet 47, with valuation references (1857-c.60)
3 PRONI VAL/2B/1/34A Second valuation, Islandmagee (1860)
4 PRONI VAL/12B/7/12A-E Annual valuation revision books, Islandmagee etc., c.1864-c.1929

Secondary sources
1 Corcoran, D. ‘A Tour of East Antrim’ (Belfast, 1990), p.43 [A reproduction of a photograph from the Green Collection]
2 Brett, C.E.B., ‘Buildings of County Antrim’ (Belfast, 1996), pp.220-21

Appears on the OS map of 1831. Roof now thatched with flax from Green Mill, Ballyclare, Co Antrim. (Information from present owner).
C.E.B. Brett, Buildings of County Antrim (Belfast, 1996), pp 220 and 221.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

B. Proportion
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A good example of a vernacular type which is now rare, very picturesquely sited in this case.