Public Library, 34 New Street, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 3AF

Public Library (formerly New Market House and Court House), 34 New Street, Randalstown — built in 1831

This is a late Georgian market house with court rooms above, now serving as a public library. It is a building of special architectural interest and local social importance, conspicuously positioned on the main street of the town. The listing covers the library building itself together with its boundary wall, railings, and gates.

The building is symmetrical in plan, comprising a five-bay, two-storey central block flanked by single-bay, single-storey wings. The main entrances face west.

EXTERIOR

The roof of the central block is covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses with dark-toned ridge tiles. At the centre of the ridge sits an octagonal cupola with copper-sheeted sides containing timber-louvred rectangular openings; it carries a clock face to the front and north sides, and is topped by an ogee lead dome. Two chimneys on the ridge are smooth cement-rendered with plain projecting cornices. PVC gutters and downpipes are fitted.

The walling is squared basalt rubble with original recessed lime mortar pointing and a plain projecting plinth. At ground-floor level, the entrance elevation is divided into five semi-circular arched recesses. The three central recesses are filled with finely jointed snecked basalt in irregular courses and each contains a semi-circular arched window. The two flanking recesses are filled with squared basalt rubble matching the main walling and each contains a semi-circular arched doorway. First-floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, six-over-six with horns, set in exposed sash boxes in cement-rendered reveals with projecting concrete cills and flat arches to the heads. Ground-floor windows are semi-circular headed sashes of similar construction. The left-hand doorway contains a rectangular timber ledged door with a modern metal letterbox, surmounted by a semi-circular radially glazed fanlight in a timber frame with cement-rendered stone base blocks; a concrete ramp leads to the doorstep. The right-hand doorway is similar but fitted with a sheeted door and a concrete doorstep.

The wings are set slightly back from the central block and built of finely jointed snecked basalt. Each contains a semi-circular arched window at ground-floor level similar to those on the central block, with projecting cills of rhyolite. PVC gutters connect via short cast iron links to the main downpipes. The north gable of the north wing is a blank wall of roughly coursed basalt rubble with squared quoins at the corners, with overhanging eaves finished in tongued-and-grooved sheeted soffits and timber barge boards. The north gable of the main block is of basalt rubble with squared quoining and a small area of red brick infill at the apex of the gable, also with overhanging eaves and timber barge boards.

The rear elevation of the north wing is of basalt rubble with roughly squared quoins to the right-hand corner; it is set back slightly from the main block and contains one window similar to that on the front elevation. The roof is slated as on the entrance front; a cast iron gutter connects via a short link to the main block downpipe.

The rear elevation of the main block is five bays wide and two storeys tall, with semi-circular arcading at ground-floor level. The general walling is similar to the entrance front except that the plinth is not continuous along this elevation. Guttering and downpipes appear to be cast iron throughout. The five first-floor windows are similar to those on the entrance elevation, except for the second from the right, where the cill height has been raised to accommodate a modern small-paned metal window. At ground floor, the two pairs of outer windows are contained within semi-circular arched recesses filled with basalt rubble incorporating semi-circular arches; the windows to the right are both semi-circular headed sashes as elsewhere, with Tardree granite cills. The second window from the left is similar, but the window at the extreme left has had its cill level raised to contain modern small-paned fixed metal lights with top-hung vents, with a smooth cement-rendered tympanum and a projecting concrete cill. The central bay has been partly filled with smooth cement render, lined and blocked, with a large radially glazed lunette filling the arch above.

The rear elevation of the south wing is set slightly back from the main block and is similar to the north wing, except that in place of a window there is a large later rectangular garage doorway with a concrete lintel and smooth rendered jambs, fitted with a timber sheeted and glazed door. The south gable of the south wing is similar to the north wing gable except for the addition of a rectangular timber sheeted door in a timber frame set within a raised smooth cement surround. The south gable of the main block is similar to the north.

SETTING

The building stands detached within the built-up area of the town, facing the road but set back from it behind a small enclosed front area with lawns. This is bounded by a low roughly coursed basalt rubble wall with large sandstone copings, surmounted by original cast iron spear-headed railings, many of which have lost their heads. The railings terminate at each end in large square piers of coursed rhyolite; the caps are now missing and the pointing has been replaced with modern reticulated cement. Short returns of the boundary wall and railings at each end of the front area are linked to short screen walls extending from the gables of the wings; these screen walls are of snecked basalt with concrete copings.

The front boundary wall and railings contain two gateways, each on axis with one of the main entrances. The gates are original cast iron of similar design to the railings, set in square cast iron posts; the left-hand gateway is raised on a sandstone step. Concrete paths lead from the gates to each doorway. The front area between the paths is surfaced in concrete bordered by crazy paving, with a small grass patch at each end.

The corner pier to the north was one of a pair originally forming a gateway to the yard behind; it carries a cast iron gate matching the railings in design, while the corresponding pier has been absorbed into an adjacent building and painted over, though it still retains the other half of the pair of gates. The corner pier to the south was similarly one of a pair forming a gateway, but the gates are now missing; the corresponding pier forms a corner pier of the adjacent former schoolhouse. Both gateways give onto tarmac driveways leading into a large market yard at the rear, which is surfaced in tarmac and bounded by one- and two-storey sheds. At the centre of the yard, close to the rear of the library, stands a conjoined pair of large semi-circular roofed corrugated iron sheds.

HISTORY

The building was constructed in 1831 at a total cost of £500, of which Lord O'Neill contributed £100. It was known primarily as the New Market House, though it also served as a court house. Its original arrangement was described in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland as follows: the ground floor was used as a market for the sale and storage of grain, opening on each side through three lofty circular-arched gateways with wooden gates, and contained two apartments fitted up for use as a dispensary. The upper floor comprised three rooms — a magistrates' petty sessions room and two jury rooms — together with a weigh-house or dispensary and a smaller room.

The ground-floor arcades were subsequently closed in. The building ceased to function as a court house in 1951 when the Petty Sessions moved to Toome, after which it was taken over by the Ministry of Health. The ground floor later became the local public library.

The building replaced an earlier market house that had stood on the site of nos. 14–20 Main Street. That earlier building had been constructed in 1770 at the expense of Charles, Earl O'Neill, and also accommodated a court room; it was burnt during the rebellion of 1798.

The building is situated within a conservation area.