1 Coastguard Cottages, Helen's Bay, Bangor, Co. Down, BT19 1JY

1 Coastguard Cottages, Helen's Bay

This is a two-storey, two-bay end-terrace former coastguard cottage, built in 1856, and the northernmost of a terrace of nine. It was built to designs attributed to Benjamin Ferrey under the direction of Lord Dufferin of Clandeboye Estate, whose agent Mortimer Thomson supervised construction. Unusually for its time, the building was not entrusted to the Board of Public Works, which was responsible for most coastguard station building in Ireland during this period. Lord Dufferin took a close personal interest in the aesthetic quality of buildings on his estate, and the result is a terrace of notably higher architectural quality than was typical of coastguard housing elsewhere. The cottages are located on the south shore of Belfast Lough, to the west of Helen's Bay, set down a long private lane from Craigdarragh Road.

Number 1 has been combined with the adjoining Number 2 and converted into a single dwelling, making it larger than the other cottages in the terrace. The building is rectangular on plan with a projecting two-storey box bay to the north and an entrance porch to the west. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate, with raised stone gables. To the north there is a masonry chimneystack with rendered coping and decorative terracotta pots; to the south there is a rendered chimneystack with a single terracotta pot, rising from a shared valley with the adjoining cottage. The walling is Flemish-bonded red brick with a tiled course and a buttress to the west. All windows are uPVC replacements, set under flat brick lintels. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods with drive-in brackets and hoppers are carried on overhanging sandstone eaves supported by red brick corbels; uPVC rainwater goods serve the rear return.

The principal elevation faces north and presents a double gable — a consequence of the conversion of two cottages into one — each gable being a single window-width wide, with the left bay sitting at a slightly lower level. The left bay has a pent roof over a bow window at ground floor and a window opening above at first floor. The right bay has the two-storey projecting box bay with brick skews and a corbel course between floors. At the top of the gable there is a square-headed chamfered lancet opening with a sandstone Gibbs surround. The east elevation abuts the adjoining terrace cottage. The south (rear) elevation is painted render and has window openings to both gables at ground and first floor. There are brick gate piers and a timber latch gate into the rear yard. The west elevation is two windows wide at first floor; at ground floor there is a single window opening and a central entrance porch, which opens to the south and is lit from the north. The door is timber boarded with cast-iron hinge detailing.

The architectural detailing throughout is of good quality, reflecting the asymmetrical composition characteristic of Ferrey's approach. Notably, the arches over doors and windows were finished with wood boards sanded to imitate brick — a solution suggested by Lord Dufferin himself in a letter of March 1868, in which he proposed this as a less expensive alternative to the decorative tiles originally intended to fill these spaces. The original intention had been to incorporate jet black bricks and coloured tiles into decorative devices on the façade, though the surviving correspondence suggests this was only partially realised.

The building retains much of its original character, though some alterations to the façade have taken place in recent years, and the conversion of Numbers 1 and 2 into a single dwelling has resulted in the loss of some original fabric.

The terrace faces north with uninterrupted views of Belfast Lough and direct access to the beach. There is a large communal lawn to the front, partially bounded by mature trees to the north and accessed from the east through a decorative cast-iron gate. To the rear, each cottage has a private garden and car parking.

Historical background

The Coast Guard in Ireland was established in 1822, and by 1824 stations had been set up along the entire coastline. The primary purpose during the first half of the 19th century was the prevention of smuggling — particularly of unprocessed tobacco, which was heavily taxed but widely used by working people. Coastguard crews were frequently unpopular with local communities, being seen in Ireland as representatives of the Crown, and were considered to attract political as well as social hostility. They were generally discouraged from mixing closely with local people, and from the early period of the service's operation it was thought preferable to house them on the stations themselves rather than in rented accommodation in nearby villages. In 1856 the coastguard was transferred to the Admiralty, its functions redefined to include serving as a coastal defensive force and naval reserve in wartime, as well as continuing its revenue protection role. Responsibility for building and maintaining coastguard stations was given to the Board of Public Works, and a second phase of station building followed, most of it based on designs by E. Trevor Owens, brother-in-law of Charles Lanyon. The Clandeboye station — as it was known until at least 1890, when the name was changed to Helen's Bay Coastguard Station — was a deliberate exception to this arrangement.

Surviving correspondence from the Dufferin Estate Papers illuminates the construction process in considerable detail. Before leaving for London in January 1856, Lord Dufferin left Thomson with instructions to finish the station before 1st May, specifying that jet black bricks should be used if available, or failing that that devices be recessed to receive coloured tiles, and that bricks throughout the main building should be carefully selected for uniformity of colour. He also directed that the grounds in front be levelled, laid with grass and planted with trees. In a letter of 1st April 1856, Thomson reported that progress was being made but that coloured bricks and tiles had not yet been available, so the devices had been recessed in readiness. He noted that tiles had since arrived and expressed hope that black bricks might yet be sourced from Limerick. By 23rd July the houses were described as almost finished, with three already occupied by coastguard crews since 1st June. Thomson wrote again in September to report that five houses were occupied and two not yet quite ready, and that two additional houses, originally built for letting as bathing lodges, were also being sought by the Admiralty, which had issued instructions to double the force at every station.

Thomas McKnight, editor of the Northern Whig, observed in a discussion of the Irish land question that Lord Dufferin had spent comparatively more on his estate than perhaps any other Irish landlord of the period, and singled out the coastguard cottages and workers' housing at Clandeboye as being "in a style far superior to similar buildings on the estates of much larger landlords." Unlike many coastguard stations designed by the Board of Works, the Clandeboye cottages do not incorporate defensive features such as gun loops.

The station is first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, captioned 'Coast Guard Station', with a 'Flag Staff' and 'Boat Ho[use]' also marked. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 lists a Coast Guard Station and land occupied by the Board of Admiralty and leased from Lord Dufferin, with the buildings valued at £34 10s.

Lord Dufferin's involvement with the station continued for many years. The crew evidently regarded themselves as being under his patronage; surviving letters include correspondence from Station Officer Richard Keane seeking Lord Dufferin's assistance in finding employment in Belfast for a son, a daughter, and a colleague. A letter of September 1879 from crew member Thomas Nester appealed to Lord Dufferin — recalling that they had sailed together to Constantinople on HMS Melpomene — asking him to use his influence to allow Nester to remain at the station beyond the six-year posting limit, on account of his children being apprenticed to trades in Belfast. In 1898 the Dufferin Estate Office continued to act as landlord in matters of maintenance and development, with correspondence referring to probable costs of improvements and additions; it appears to be at this point that rear returns were added to the cottages. By this time the station was being referred to as Helen's Bay Coastguard Station on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900–02.

The 1901 Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory lists the crew as: John Pring, chief boatman; boatmen Palmer, Pinwell, Mackay, and Purdy Kerr; and coastguards McEwan, Telint, and Robertson. By 1907, the crew comprised Henry Brunsen, chief boatman; boatmen T. Dickson and T. Dingley; coastguards T. Seagrove, A. White, and M. Gunning; with James Thompson as station master. Among the notable incidents associated with the station, in 1893 the Helen's Bay coastguard participated in rescuing the crew of the schooner Clans of Chester, which had become stranded in the bay. Lifesaving did not become an official coastguard function until 1922, though such rescues were carried out throughout the 19th century.

By 1925 the building was no longer in use as a coastguard station. A letter survives from a Mrs John Murry appealing directly to the then Prime Minister Sir James Craig for one of the houses, noting that "a word from you would get one for no one would go against you." The Prime Minister's office referred her request to the Ministry of Finance for sympathetic consideration. The property has subsequently remained in residential use.