83 Castlenagree Road, Bushmills, Co. Antrim, BT57 8XL

A two-storey house of mid-Victorian picturesque and vaguely Tudoresque character, dating to approximately 1855–60, though likely representing a remodelling and enlargement of an earlier dwelling shown on maps as far back as 1832. The building is situated within the Dundarave Estate demesne in County Antrim, roughly 0.2 kilometres west of Castlenagree Road and 1.1 kilometres east of the centre of Bushmills, in a rural setting towards the eastern side of the demesne. It is thought to have served originally as a gardener's or steward's residence. The house lies within the curtilage of Dundarave Estate and within its Registered Historic Park and Garden, and has group value as part of the estate alongside Dundarave House, the walled garden, and other listed buildings within the demesne.

PLAN AND SETTING

The original section of the house is L-shaped in plan, with a single-storey porch set within the crook of the L. There are several relatively recent single-storey lean-to extensions to the rear and south end of the building. To the west gable there is a later single-storey lean-to extension, abutted by a long open shed or garage of relatively recent construction or adaptation. A further lean-to addition sits directly behind the west gable lean-to. The house backs onto the south-east wall of a large, disused walled garden of rhomboid plan. The eastern half of this garden is now mainly lawn and the western half mainly wooded, though much of the tall rubble walling appears to survive. At the eastern corner of the garden there is what appears to be a folly tower or belvedere.

EXTERIOR

The walls are finished in roughcast with a smooth render plinth. The front elevation and gables have rusticated quoins of alternating projection — so-called in-out rustication — set within an area of smooth render. Windows to the front and side elevations have plain surrounds with drip mouldings, while those to the rear have plain surrounds only. The windows are flat-headed and of slightly differing sizes. Most have two-over-two timber sash frames with painted stone sills, while those to the lean-to extensions are generally smaller and fitted with modern top-hung frames. There are two roughcast chimney stacks, which appear to have been either replaced or refurbished relatively recently.

The overhanging roof has been re-slated in recent years, and the decorative bargeboards and plain fascia boards are recent replacements. The rainwater goods are also recent replacements. The roof renewal and replacement of bargeboards and fascia took place post-2015. The side lean-to has also been refurbished; its frontage previously featured a parapet, and its roof appears to have been renewed at that time.

FRONT ELEVATION

The front elevation faces south-south-east. A gabled porch sits roughly to the centre and contains a Tudor arch doorway with a panelled timber door and a plain fanlight above. The porch has a window to its west face with a one-over-one timber sash frame, and an overhanging roof with decorative replacement bargeboards. A finial was originally present on the porch roof but has been removed. To the left of the porch, at ground floor level, is a single window, which is noticeably smaller than the two windows above it at first floor level; this disparity may suggest that the upper floor was increased in height at some stage. To the immediate right of the porch is a full-height gabled bay with one window to each floor. The south face of the lean-to to the far left of the elevation has a doorway with a plain timber door.

WEST ELEVATION

No openings or features of note.

EAST ELEVATION

Symmetrical arrangement with two windows to each floor.

REAR ELEVATION

To the ground floor are two widely spaced windows, the right-hand one being considerably smaller and fitted with a modern frame. Immediately to the right of this is the rear lean-to extension, which has two small windows with modern frames and a further similar window to its west face. To the upper floor there are three windows, with the central one being the largest.

INTERIOR

The interior is in good condition and retains a substantial amount of original or historic fabric. This includes the staircase, floors, doors and architraves, skirtings, cornices, handrails, and windows. The main elevation is largely asymmetric in composition — the windows, porch, and front return are all arranged asymmetrically — though the north-east side elevation is symmetrically composed. The rear elevation is also asymmetric.

ORNAMENTATION

External ornamentation is modest but characterful, comprising the Tudoresque porch with its Tudor arch, decorative timber bargeboards, hood mouldings to windows, and heavy corbelling to the corners of the building.

HISTORICAL NOTE

A rectangular building is shown on this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, positioned along what was then the southern boundary of a rhomboid-shaped productive garden belonging to Bushmills House, the mansion that preceded the present Dundarave. In the first valuation book for Billy Parish dated June 1835, a steward's dwelling is noted within the demesne, which may correspond to the structure on this site. The valuers described it as a slated house in good repair, not new, with a quality rating of 1B+, measuring 25 feet by 20 feet by 17½ feet in height. Later pencil annotations, possibly from the 1840s, record what appears to have been an addition measuring 20 by 15 by 7 feet. Neither set of dimensions matches the house as it stands today. The revised Ordnance Survey map of 1855 shows a building closely resembling that depicted in 1832.

In the 1859 valuation book, a farm house and offices rated at £10 are recorded within the demesne, and annotations on the accompanying valuation map suggest this refers to the building on this site, though some uncertainty remains as it may relate to a farmyard at the north end of the demesne. Later 19th-century and 20th-century valuations record no changes to the structure, indicating that it had either assumed its present form by 1859, or that any subsequent change or rebuilding was simply not noted — as was common for many demesne structures, some of which were not individually itemised.

The present appearance of the house is consistent with a date in the later 1850s to 1860s, and may represent a remodelling and extension of the pre-1832 dwelling, with a gable-fronted bay and porch added to the existing fabric and the whole re-roofed. The plan form as it exists today is visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1904. The farm house continues to be recorded in the valuation books until 1929, when a separate gardener's house is mentioned for the first time and all reference to a farm dwelling ceases, though again the precise relationship between these entries and the present building is uncertain.