Portnagolan House, 17 Layde Road, Cushendall, Co. Antrim, BT44 0NQ

Portnagolan House is a detached late Victorian sandstone house built around 1884, subsequently extended to the north around 1910, and set within a mature landscaped sloping site on the east side of Layde Road overlooking Shore Road and the beach at Cushendall. The listing covers the house itself together with the entrance screen on Layde Road and the walls and gate to Shore Road.

The original house is three bays wide and two storeys tall, and is subservient in scale to the larger two-bay, two-storey over-basement extension that was added to its north side around 1910. The extension closely replicates the stone detailing of the earlier part. Together the two parts read as a single commodious residence, with a seamless transition between the various floor levels despite the slight differences in level across the site. The house faces west and is irregular in plan.

EXTERIOR

The roofs are pitched natural slate, finished with black clay ridge tiles and black clay finials, with lead valleys and four tooled red sandstone chimneystacks carrying terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are cast iron, supported on timber fascia boards to overhanging eaves, with cast-iron downpipes.

The walling of the original southern block is random coursed rough-hewn sandstone with feathered edges to flush quoins and cement pointing. The northern extension uses random coursed rock-faced red sandstone with cement pointing. Window openings throughout are square-headed with tooled flush red sandstone surrounds and red sandstone sills, and are largely fitted with replacement single-pane sliding timber sash windows with horns.

The three-bay two-storey west front elevation of the original block has a central wall-head dormer window centred above a gabled projection at ground floor level, with a smaller glazed entrance porch to its right. The central gabled projection contains the entrance hall and features decorative timber bargeboard, a timber finial, and gable panelling, with two small square-headed window openings fitted with fixed-pane leaded coloured glazing. The entrance porch has a timber-framed glazed structure with arcaded plain glazed lights set on a masonry sill and brick wall, leaded coloured glazed overpanels, and a glazed panelled timber door, again with decorative bargeboard and a timber finial. The advanced northern block presents a two-bay two-storey over partially raised basement gabled west elevation with matching timber bargeboard and panel, and square-headed window openings fitted with cruciform timber casement windows.

The informal north side elevation has randomly placed window openings of various sizes fitted with timber casements of various sizes. At basement level in the centre there is a lean-to porch and shelter built in red brick, with a steel fire escape to the right.

The east elevation, which faces the gardens, features an advanced two-bay three-storey gable-fronted elevation to the north block, incorporating a three-sided canted bay window that spans the entire ground floor, roofed with a hipped natural slate roof, fitted with timber casement windows, and supported on three iron posts. The south block on this elevation is two bays wide, two storeys tall over a partially concealed basement, with three wall-head dormer windows and a central square-headed door opening fitted with a glazed uPVC door that opens onto a small concrete terrace at ground floor level, with steps enclosed by tooled sandstone ashlar plinth walls. The gabled south elevation has a central three-sided canted bay window with a hipped natural slate roof, lead ridges, and replacement top-hung timber casement windows.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The site was not recorded on the first or second edition Ordnance Survey maps (1832 and 1857), nor in the Townland Valuations of around 1834 or Griffith's Valuation of 1859. The house first appears in the Annual Revisions in 1884, when the newly constructed building was valued at £20 and 5 shillings. The site was leased from the Turnly estate — the prominent landowning family that owned most of Cushendall — to Madeline Dobbs (1817–1902), a spinster who occupied the house until her death in 1902. The property, known as Portnagolan House, first appeared on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903 as a simple rectangular dwelling representing the three southern bays of the present house, the northern block not yet having been built. The 1901 Census of Ireland described Madeline Dobbs as a Lady residing at Portnagolan House with her sister and nephew; the accompanying building return classified it as a first-class dwelling of nine rooms, with outbuildings including a stable, coach house, cow house, and dairy.

On Madeline Dobbs's death in 1902, the house passed to St. Clair Dobbs, a magistrate, Deputy Lieutenant for County Antrim, and local land agent. The Annual Revisions indicate that the two-storey northern extension was added around 1910, when the rateable value of the house doubled to £40, and the 1911 census building return recorded that the number of rooms had risen to thirteen. The house first appears in its current form on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1921. The Dobbs family purchased the site outright from the Turnly estate around 1930.

The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) raised the value of the house to £50 and recorded it as the home of Margaret Dobbs, a prominent local antiquarian and Gaelic enthusiast. Margaret Dobbs was the daughter of Conway Edward Dobbs, High Sheriff of Carrickfergus and Justice of the Peace for County Antrim. Her father moved the family to Glenariff, where they resided at Glenariffe Lodge, and it was there that Margaret Dobbs developed her interest in Gaelic culture, enthusiastically promoting the Irish language among her circle of friends, many of whom came from well-known Protestant families, including the family of Roger Casement. Margaret Dobbs was a founding member of Feis na nGleann (the Glen Feis), a local festival celebrating the rich Irish heritage of the area. Her passion for the region led her to write plays, undertake original historical research, and participate in local archaeological digs. In 1946 the Feis committee honoured her contribution; a pair of stained glass windows within Portnagolan House commemorates her life and work. She continued to live at Portnagolan House until her death in 1962, at which point the house was divided into a number of self-contained apartments. By the end of the Second General Revaluation the total rateable value had risen to £122. The current owners took possession in 1985 and converted the building into a pair of self-contained holiday apartments for visitors to the Glens of Antrim.

The house is of cultural importance as the former home of Margaret Dobbs and retains much of its late Victorian character both internally and externally, despite some modern alterations. It remains oriented towards the sea views in its original setting overlooking the coastline.

SETTING

The property stands within an extensive sloping landscaped site enclosed by mature hedging, accessed via a winding gravel driveway that leads south and opens onto Layde Road through a pair of replacement steel gates hung on original fluted cast-iron posts. The gates are flanked by a short stretch of curved iron railings set on a low rock-faced sandstone ashlar plinth wall. The house is located within a conservation area.