2 Coastguard Cottages

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey single-bay mid-terrace red-brick former coastguard cottage built c.1870 to designs by Enoch Trevor Owen, located east of Farmhill road to the north east of Holywood town centre. Rectangular on plan with single-storey extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with brick chimneystacks having sandstone dentilled eaves. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is Flemish bonded red-brick with yellow brick dog-tooth string-course and ornamental stone dressings to windows. Windows are pointed headed multi-paned timber sliding sash.

The principal elevation faces west. Window to left at first floor; ground floor has window to left and entrance door to right. Timber entrance door with three lancet windows to upper portion and brass door knocker.

The north elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB23/18/028C)

The east (rear) elevation has a window to centre at first floor, and diminutive replacement window to left; abutted at ground floor by modern brick flat-roof extension.

The south elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB23/18/028A)

Setting:

The terrace is set back from the road with a small lawned garden to front enclosed by mature hedgerow and cast-iron gate. To rear is large mature garden enclosed by mature hedgerow, separated from the house by communal pathway.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: brick
Windows: timber
RWG: cast-iron

Historical information

On October 15th 1870 the Irish Builder carried the announcement, ‘A Coastguard station has been commenced at Cultra, Co Down under Board of Works. Messrs J and R Thompson, contractors. Quantities prepared by Mr Bermingham’. (Irish Builder)

This area, north of Holywood, was for many years relatively undeveloped. In the early nineteenth century a number of mansions and bathing lodges were constructed and the area away from the coast remained relatively undisturbed from that time until the early decades of the twentieth century. At the time of their construction, the Coastguard cottages were surrounded by open fields and the grounds of large villas. ‘Marino Coastguard Station’ is first shown, captioned, on the third edition OS map of 1901. Brett suggests that the station was built inland, without a sea view, due to the difficulty of obtaining coastal plots which had already been earmarked for development following the opening of the railway line to Bangor in 1865. Government correspondence of 1 June 1870 shows that the watchtower was not thought vital to the finished building because the villas that were yet to be built nearer the coast would obscure its view. (Brett, p.257)

The ‘Coast Guard Station’ first enters valuation records in 1872 when it is valued at £42. Street Directories of the period list a Chief Boatman at the station and four crew. In 1880 the Chief Boatman was John Thompson and the crew were Francis Beggs, James McKeown, William Medden and Cornelius Cronin. (Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory) The command structure had altered by 1892 and there was now a Chief Officer, Edward Jeffers, two ‘Commissioned Boatmen’ and two ‘Boatmen’. (Belfast and Ulster Directory)

The 1901 census shows that the current house then consisted of four rooms and was deemed to be of the second class, based on its size and construction, as were the other houses in the terrace. (1901 census) Kentish-born William Allen lived in the house with his wife and their six-month-old baby. (1901 census)

The coastguard houses are listed as vacant in the 1911 census and it appears that by 1913 the terrace had ceased to be a Coastguard Station and was occupied as private dwellings. (1911 census, Annual Revisions) Occupiers are listed in the valuation records from 1913 onwards and separate valuations begin to be given for each dwelling. (Annual Revisions)
In common with the other two houses in the centre of the terrace, the current house was given a valuation of £4. From 1913 Thomas Smythe was the occupier and by 1917 the house had been taken over by James Peacock. No further changes are recorded in the period up to 1930. (Annual Revisions)

In 1856 the Coastguard, which was at this time largely an anti-smuggling force, was transferred to the Admiralty, and some military functions were added to its remit. The responsibility for building and maintaining coastguard buildings was given to the Board of Public Works who designed and built over 60 new stations during the next 20 years. (Mayne, p.17) The chief architect at the Board of Works was James Higgins Owen but after 1863 Owen delegated responsibility for design to Enoch Trevor Owen who is likely to have been responsible for the Coastguard station at Marino. (www.dia.ie)

Marino follows the basic design of coastguard stations, consisting of a terrace of houses with a clearly defined officer’s house at one end and a watchtower at the other, containing the room where the nightly watch was kept and which also contained the crew’s arms. According to Mayne, the stations were often built to a standard design with slight amendments according to terrain and the availability of local materials. “The ground floor of a crew’s house had a scullery about 8ft by 10ft (fitted with 24 wrought-iron hat and clothes pins); a living room half the width of the house measured about 17ft by 11ft. Upstairs was a master bedroom with the same dimensions as the living room and two bedrooms half that size. At the back of the terrace was a yard with a row of domestic offices including, for each house, a coal shed and a two-seater privy with yellow pine seats. A communal wash house stood in the centre of the row and wash days were divided in rota among the households. A pump sometimes stood in the middle of the yard.” (Mayne, p.19)

Coastguard stations were often vulnerable in times of unrest, the coastguard being seen as representatives of the crown, and following sectarian riots in 1864, gun loops were inserted into coastguard terraces in much greater numbers. Marino coastguard station is particularly well defended in this way. Oriel windows fitted with gun loops and wrought-iron shutters also formed part of the defences. In order for crews to be able to defend any part of the station, interconnecting doors were fitted between the bedrooms on the first floor. (Mayne, p.19)

The house continues in use as a domestic dwelling.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
3. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930)
6. PRONI FIN/16/5/1 – Correspondence relating to siting of proposed Coastguard Station at Cultra
7. 1901 census online
8. 1911 census online
9. Irish Builder Vol 12, 15th October 1870, p.247
10. Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory, 1880
11. Belfast and Ulster Directory, 1892

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002
2. Mayne, D “19th Century Coastguard Stations in Mourne” in 12 Miles of Mourne, Journal of Mourne Local Studies Group, Volume 7, 1996, p.13-28
3. www.dia.ie – Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

An mid-terrace red-brick former coastguard cottage built c.1870 to designs by Enoch Trevor Owen of the Board of Works in Dublin. No 2 has been extended but the original floor-plan is largely intact, although finishes are largely modern. Architectural detailing throughout the terrace is of good quality and is largely intact, including the weathervane to the top of the watch tower and the carved stone angled gun loops. The house forms part of significant and coherent group, and is of interest as part of the coastguard estate in Northern Ireland.

General comments

Please note this record has been renumbered, it was previously recorded as HB23/18/028