Fisherman's House, Carrick-a-Rede, Ballintoy, Ballycastle, Co antrim

Fisherman's House, Carrick-a-Rede, Carrickarade Island, Ballintoy, Co. Antrim

This is a detached single-storey former salmon fisherman's dwelling and store, built around 1830, situated on the sloped south-east side of Carrickarade Island off the north Antrim coast. Although rudimentary in construction, it represents one of the few surviving physical remains of a once-thriving salmon fishing industry along this stretch of coastline. The building is remarkable for both its setting and its rarity: it can only be reached via the famous Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and sits perched on the cliff edge with sweeping views over the bay and along the rugged north coast. On clear days, Rathlin Island and the coast of Scotland are visible from the site.

The house is vernacular in character and of industrial archaeological interest. Its simple plan form was perfectly suited to its purpose, providing working and shelter space for fishermen alongside storage for equipment. Although this is not the original dwelling on the site, it has stood here since the 1830s and appears as a singular dwelling labelled "Fishery" on the Ordnance Survey First Edition map of 1832, and on all subsequent Ordnance Survey maps thereafter.

Architecturally, the building is rendered and limewashed over rubble and brick construction, with a tar-covered plinth course. The replacement pitched roof is finished in natural slate with angled ridge tiles and masonry coping. There are no rainwater goods. A single rendered chimneystack rises from the west gable wall. All timber window frames, doors and door frames are replacements, covered in tar as protection against the harsh coastal weather. Although some exterior historic fabric has been replaced, this work is considered sympathetic and appropriate.

The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrical in composition. It features a single four-paned fixed timber casement window to the left, with a timber lintel above and a masonry sill below, and two square-headed door openings to the centre, each fitted with sheeted timber doors and approached over a granite step. The south elevation presents limewashed render walling but is not accessible due to fencing and proximity to the cliff edge. The rear west elevation abuts modern concrete walling entirely up to eaves level. The north elevation partially abuts the slope of the island and a stepped concrete path; the visible walling is limewashed render, with a single four-paned fixed timber casement window at the apex of the gable. A stepped path provides access to the dwelling from the rope bridge.

The setting is of particular significance. To the front of the building on the cliff edge, a mixture of original and replica fishery equipment is displayed, including anchors and a winch crane, technically known as a derrick. A modern corrugated outbuilding stands to the rear of the dwelling atop a concrete platform, and remnants of a former rubble and brick structure survive to the north-east. Approximately 500 metres south on the mainland, the ice-house that served the Carrick-a-Rede salmon fishery survives as a scheduled monument.

The name Carrick-a-Rede derives from the Irish Carraig a' Ráid, meaning "rock of the casting" or "rock in the road." Atlantic salmon has been fished at Carrick-a-Rede and Larrybane since at least 1620, with fishermen exploiting the island's position directly in the path of salmon returning to spawn in the Bush and Bann rivers. It was reportedly Alexander Stewart, the last in a 200-year line of the Stewarts on the north Antrim coast, who first provided a rope bridge crossing around 1755, reducing dependence on a boat to reach the island. The Ordnance Survey memoir for the parish of Ballintoy described the rope bridge as "one of the lions" of the north coast. In the 19th century, more than 80 fishers, 21 salmon fishers and 10 fish carriers were recorded working in the parish of Ballintoy. According to an article in the Northern Whig of November 1927, the fishermen and clerk occupied the cottage only during the summer months, with the men doing the fishing while women and boys carried the catch back across the bridge.

The dwelling is thought to have been in continuous seasonal use by the workers tending the fishery up until 2002, when the last occupant, Achi Colgan, ceased work and left the island. In the 1960s, almost 300 fish were being caught each day; by 2002, the same number was being caught over an entire season, a decline attributed to water pollution. Following Colgan's departure the house stood in disuse for a number of years before being refurbished in 2011 through a partnership between the National Trust and DARD/North East Region Local Action Group, with funding from the EU Rural Development programme. It reopened in 2012 and is now occasionally used by the National Trust for educational purposes, presenting the history and stories of the island's former occupants. A comparable fisherman's dwelling at Kinbane served the same purpose but has not survived to the same degree, making this example particularly rare.

The National Trust has managed the island since 1967. The site and surrounding area is designated an Area of Special Scientific Interest on account of its unique geology, flora and fauna. Beneath the island are large caves, which once provided shelter during storms and were used by boat builders. The rope bridge and the fisherman's house are considered inextricably linked, together contributing to the social, cultural and economic heritage of Northern Ireland.