10 High Street, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial three-storey terrace townhouse now converted to three shop units, the relatively plain late Victorian / Edwardian frontage disguises a building which evidence suggests is of late medieval origin but which seems to have assumed much of its present extent in the 17th century. The property is set on the northwest side of Main Street in Carrickfergus town centre, next to Dobbin’s Hotel (6-8 High St - see HB22.08.007), a building which itself has evolved from a late medieval tower house.

The building consists of a main three-storey block, rhomboid in plan with a double-pitch roof. Set to southwest of centre at the rear is a full-height return with similar roof, with the southwest portion of this extending slightly further back and its wall to this side set at an angle. Attached to the rear of this is a long, lower single-storey annex, with a (corrugated-iron) double-pitch roof; to the northwest this merges with a lower flat-roofed section which covers the rest of the plot to this side. Both of the last two these sections were added in the 1950s and would appear to have been adapted since then (and as such are of little interest.)

The southeast-facing frontage is asymmetrical. The ground floor is taken up by three shopfronts of differing sizes, all of recent design. That to the right is the smallest and was a vehicle entrance until c.1960s-70s. The rest of the façade over the shopfronts (and to the far left hand end) is rendered. To each of the upper floors there is a double-light window to far left, then a single-light, another double-light with another single to far right, all with moulded surrounds. This arrangement of the fenestration dates from sometime between 1884 and c.1900, when a pair of full-height canted bays (which were themselves probably mid-19th century additions) were removed. There is what appears to be a moulded stringcourse between the first and second floors.

The rear elevation is dominated by the large c.1950s extensions to this side. The older section of the building which is still visible finished in roughcast and appears to be devoid of openings (internal evidence shows that several windows did exist to this side but have been blocked up.) There is a single window, with PVC frame, to the second floor of the southwest side of the return.

The main roof and that of the return are covered in artifical slate with a single rendered chimneystack to the northeast end of the ridge. There were originally four stacks altogether. PVC rw goods.

Historical information

On a pictorial map of c.1560 what seems to have been a single or one and half-storey building, part of a long and seemingly uniform stone-built terrace, is shown abutting the northeast side of the tower house that now forms the neighbouring Dobbin’s Hotel (nos.6-8 High Street.) On Robert Lythe’s map of c.1567 a different arrangement is shown, with ‘Stephen Dobin’s’ tower depicted as freestanding, and a small, seemingly detached building to the northwest side with nothing of the ‘terraces’. Lythe may have chosen to omit the latter for artistic reasons, wanting simply to highlight the larger residences of the most prominent townspeople; that said, he did include all of the more haphazardly-sited vernacular dwellings that populated the backlands of the town at this time, so it is difficult to dismiss his work as being deliberately inaccurate. A map of 1596 clearly shows lower structure directly against Dobbins, as well as the rest of the similarly low-profile rows of houses. Therefore, on the balance of evidence, it is likely that this site had been developed by the end of the 16th century, and possibly (at least in part) as early as the 1560s, an argument supported by the archaeological findings which have revealed the stonework on the lower parts of no.10’s walling to be similar to that of Dobbin’s itself.

Thomas Philips’s map of 1685 shows the street layout much as present, but tells us little of the extent or nature of any of Carrickfergus’s buildings at this time; however, the map of the town published in the 'British Magazine' in May 1760 and that by James O’Kane of 1821, show High Street fully developed. Given the presence of 17th century brickwork and a mid to later 17th century staircase within the projection to the rear of the building, (as well as other similarly early brickwork to this side), it would appear that the structure assumed a two and a half-storey (ie two storeys plus garret) form in the mid to later 1600s, with dendrochronological evidence suggesting c.1670s-80s.

Subsequent alterations were carried out to the the wall head and roof at some point towards the end of the 17th or early 18th century, in line with the changing fashion away from dormered attics, resulting in the creation of the full second storey and the basic outline of the main block as we see it today. Certainly by at least the 1830s the frontage must have been thoroughly ‘Georgianised’, for the OS memoirs of 1832 only make a point of singling out neighbouring Dobbins as ‘one of the original houses…still in perfect preservation’, whilst referring to the appearance of the rest of the buildings in High Street as ‘modern and respectable and that of the street spacious and uniform’, with a further entry of 1839 describing the majority of houses in the thoroughfare as ‘neat and 3-storeys high’.

Unfortunately the 1830s valuation book for Carrickfergus, unlike most of its counterparts for other areas, does not contain building dimensions or any other details. Map evidence shows, however, that sometime between 1832 and 1857 the stairwell return was enlarged to the southwestern side. It is possible that the central chimneys were added during this period also, although they could be earlier.

Ownership of no.10 seems to have resided with the Dobbin family itself until 1792 when the property was acquired from William and Catherine Dobbin by Sir William Kirk (d.1819), a prominent citizen who served several terms as Lord Mayor of Carrickfergus from the early 1780s until the 1810s. It is possible that Sir William may have resided here for several years himself before constructing his new mansion at ‘Thornfield’ to the north of the town sometime around 1797, but it is more likely that it was leased to a series of tenants, as it was to remain for almost all of the next century and a half.

By 1860 the house was occupied by John W.S. Cole, followed by R.K. Bowman in 1863, a Miss[?] Smith in 1878 and Rev. William Graham in 1882. In or around 1892 it was leased to Dr. Samuel Killen (d.1914) ‘physician and surgeon’, who in the 1901 and 1911 censuses is recorded as living there with his wife, Mary, their four children and a housekeeper. No.10 remained the Killen family home until 1949, and may also have acted as a surgery for much of this time, for one of Samuel’s sons, who was also a doctor, was residing here in the 1940s. During the Killen family's tenure a pair of full-height gabled bays, which appear to have been added to the front sometime before 1884, (possibly before 1861), were removed and the present window arrangement to this side put in place. Photographic evidence suggests this work was carried out c.1900, although it is not referenced in the valuations.

In 1951 the property was sold by Sir William Kirk’s descendant, Mrs. Eileen Beatrice Grove, to Thomas McVea of Rocklands, Carrickfergus. Mr. McVea converted the ground floor to a hardware shop, adding a large extension to the rear either at this time or later in the 1950s or early 1960s. It may have been at this stage that the staircase was altered and access to the first floor moved to its current position. At some point between this date and 1967 the carriage entrance to the eastern side was made in to a separate shop unit with an extension to rear created out of much of the wedge-shaped gap between the larger hardware store addition and the neighbouring property to the east. Sometime between c.1965 and c.1984 the two central chimneystacks were removed, and in 1979 the remaining ground to the rear, which had been partially occupied by outbuildings, was sold off and most of the structures subsequently removed.

The now no.10a-b was sold to a relative of the present owner in 1984. Around this time the main shop became a chemist’s and later an estate agent’s. At some point afterwards this shop itself was sub-divided with the new unit to the west end as well as all of the first floor level most recently used as a hairdressing salon, with access to the uppermost floor (which would appear to have been merely used for storage post-1951), practically cut-off.

References - Primary sources
1 BL Cotton MS Augustus I, ii, 42 Pictorial map of Carrickfergus, c.1560
2 TCD MS 1209 (26) Map of Carrickfergus attributed to Robert Lythe, 1567
3 PRO MPF 98 (formerly SP 64/1/31) Map of Carrickfergus, c.1596
4 NLI MS 3137 (42) Plan of Carrickfergus by Thomas Phillips, 1685
5 “Plan of Carrickfergus”, ‘British Magazine’, May 1760
6 PRONI D1954/6/13 ‘Map of the county of the town of Carrickfergus’ by James O’Kane, 1821
7 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…1832, 1839-40’ vol.37, ed. A. Day and P. McWilliams, (QUB, 1996), pp.30, 161
8 PRONI VAL1B/187 First valuation, Carrickfergus, c.1836 [Unfortunately the numbered town plan that would have accompanied this valuation no-longer exists, making it very difficult to to tie the details supplied in the valuation book with individual buildings.]
9 PRONI VAL2B/1/22C Second valuation, Carrickfergus, 1860 [Details of valuation to be added]
10 PRONI VAL12B/7/5A, 5D, 5F, 7A-C Annual valuation revision books, Carrickfergus ED, 1861-1929
11 UM RW 525, WAG 1757 photos of High St / Market Sq, Carrickfergus c.1880, c.1920
12 OS town plans of Carrickfergus, 1884, 1926, 1945, 1967
13 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie)

Secondary sources
14 McSkimin, Samuel, ‘The History and Antiquities of the County of the Town of Carrickfergus…’, new edition, (Belfast, 1909)
15 Robinson, Philip et al, ‘Irish historic towns atlas, no.2, Carrickfergus’, (RIA, Dublin, 1986)
16 ‘Conservation statement - Hunter Building 10 High Street, Carrickfergus’, by HBK Architects, February 2020 (copy in HED file)
17 ‘Historic building fabric survey and interim archaeological report…10 High Street, Carrickfergus’ by Farrimond MacManus, June-July 2020 (copy in HED file)
18 Logue, Paul, and MacManus, Ciara, "Number 10 High Street, Crrickfergus - A late medieval merchant family and its builings", in 'Ulster Journal of Archaeology', Vol 78, 2023

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Z. Rarity
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

Number 10 High Street, Carrickfergus, is a relatively large but plain and unassuming three-storey terrace townhouse of ostensibly 19th century appearance, now containing three shop units with late 20th / early 21st century frontages. Beyond this facade, however, various details as well as elements of the fabric indicate that this is a considerably older building than its street front would suggest, with evidence pointing to a late medieval structure that would appear to have assumed much of its present dimensions as a result of two phases of heightening in c.1670s-80s and again in the late 17th or early 18th century. Of particular significance is the presence of a rear stair projection containing part of a mid to later 17th century staircase, substantial portions of thick rubble walling which could appear to be of the 1500s or earlier, upper levels constructed in brickwork of the 1600s to 1700s, and stout timber ceiling beams which may also be of the 16th-17th century. The building’s antiquity is also attested to by the fact that the lower part of its walling is similar to that of the neighbouring property, Dobbin’s Hotel, a pre-1560 tower house which seems to have been remodelled in the late-Georgian era, and the documentary sources, which show that this site had been developed by at least the late 16th century and would seem to have remained in continuous usage ever since.

Urban buildings that can be demonstrated to have pre-1700s origins are rare in Northern Ireland, with those of late medieval or Tudor-era pedigree virtually unknown outside of the aforementioned Dobbin’s Hotel. As such therefore, 10 High Street is a structure which despite not inconsiderable alterations in recent decades, is of considerable archaeological and architectural importance with its setting (in terms of scale and townscape) also largely intact..