9 Main St., Bushmills, Co.Antrim

No. 9 Lower Main Street is a single-storey, three-bay, pebble-dashed mid-terraced house, built prior to 1832. It forms part of a terrace of similar properties at Nos 5–19 Lower Main Street, historically known as 'Metal Row', situated on the west side of Lower Main Street at the northern end of Bushmills village centre, with views south to Market Square and the Bush River to the west.

Origins and Historical Background

The terrace was first depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, laid out along its current alignment at the northern end of Bushmills. The village had been a significant settlement by the end of the 18th century, but from the 1820s onwards it was largely rebuilt and expanded by the Macnaghten family, who had acquired the estate in 1787. The terrace takes its former name, 'Metal Row', from its proximity to Woodville House Mill immediately to the north — a two-storey dwelling and former iron foundry — which later housed nail makers, foundry workers and mill workers.

The Townland Valuations of around 1834 record that No. 9 was occupied by a Mr William Ward and valued at £2 18 shillings. The valuer described it as a thatched building of medium age, still in sound order and good repair, measuring 30 feet by 19.6 feet and standing 7.3 feet in height. By Griffith's Valuation of 1859, the property had been slightly reduced in value to £2 10 shillings and was leased by Sir Edmund Macnaghten of Dundarave House to a Ms Margaret King, whose family remained at the address until around 1896. The 1901 Census records the property as occupied by Robert Sharpe, a local labourer, and his wife, and notes that the thatched roofs of Nos 5–19 Lower Main Street had been slated by at least the turn of the 20th century. At that time No. 9 was described as a second-class dwelling consisting of three inhabited rooms.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the house increased in value to £3 10 shillings and was occupied by a Ms Elizabeth McLean. The property was purchased outright by a Ms Phyllis Smythe in 1962, and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) its total rateable value stood at £6 10 shillings. No. 9 was listed in 1980 and is included within the Bushmills Conservation Area, designated in 1992, which protects a village that contains the highest concentration of listed buildings of any town or village in the north-east of Northern Ireland.

Exterior

The house has a rectangular plan with a pitched roof. The walling is pebble-dashed throughout. The roof is finished in fibre cement, with black clay ridge tiles. There is a single unpainted rendered chimney stack at the south-west end, with no pots visible. Half-round painted cast-aluminium guttering serves the front elevation, while moulded ogee guttering discharges to square-section downpipes at the rear.

The principal elevation faces south-east and is accessed directly from the pavement on Main Street. All three bays sit on an unpainted rendered plinth, and the elevation of each property along the terrace row is divided by unpainted rendered quoins. The windows are small replacement painted timber casement units over painted stone sloping sills, each set within painted rendered band surrounds and beneath painted hood moulds.

The slightly recessed doorway is centred on the front elevation and contains a vertically sheeted timber door with a small rectangular vision panel featuring decorative glazing and iron door furniture, set within a painted render surround under a painted hood mould. To the left side of the front door is a single basalt block, roughly hexagonal in shape and similar to the stones found at the Giant's Causeway.

The south-west and north-east sides abut neighbouring properties, Nos 11 and 7 Lower Main Street respectively.

Rear and Extensions

The north-west elevation overlooks a small rear yard. Most of the original rear elevation has been demolished and a new wall built to extend the footprint of the house. The original rear roof slope has been removed, and the deeper footprint has been re-roofed in tiles at a shallower pitch than the original. The rear elevation is four bays wide, with a single door opening between the left-side bays containing a vertically sheeted timber door with a small vision panel with decorative glazing. To the left of the door is a single window bay; to the right are two window bays. All openings have rendered band surrounds. A modern rooflight is present. Rainwater goods to the rear are uPVC.

Despite these alterations to the rear, the house retains its external historic character through its simple proportions, pebble-dashed walling, and the hood moulds to the front windows and door. It has group value with the remainder of the terrace, Nos 19–11 and 7–5 Lower Main Street.