2 Mill Street, Cushendall, Co.Antrim

2 Mill Street, Cushendall, County Antrim

This is a corner-sited, two-storey with attic, stucco-fronted commercial building built around 1832, prominently positioned at the central crossroads of Cushendall at the junction of Mill Street and Bridge Street, directly facing Turnly's Tower. It was originally constructed together with the adjoining No. 4 Mill Street as a single unified structure, and the two buildings continued to be recorded as one until 1892, when they were divided into their current form. Despite this separation, the two buildings retain group value by virtue of their shared history and complementary character.

Architectural Description

The building is rectangular on plan, presenting a two-bay elevation facing northeast onto Bridge Street and a three-bay elevation facing northwest onto Mill Street, with a distinctive bowed corner entrance bay where the two street frontages meet. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, steel skylights to the front pitches, and rendered profiled chimneystacks. Cast-iron guttering is carried on iron drive-through brackets to the rendered eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The external walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined render with rusticated quoins and a projecting render plinth course.

Windows throughout are square-headed with painted masonry sills and original six-over-six sliding timber sash windows without horns, with partially exposed sash boxes and some surviving historic glass.

The northwest elevation, which faces onto Mill Street, has three bays over two storeys. The central opening provides access to the residential accommodation on the upper floors, and features a rusticated quoined surround enclosing a recessed tripartite doorcase. This doorcase comprises an original four-panelled timber door with bolection mouldings, flanked by full-height five-pane sidelights and surmounted by a spoked fanlight. The door opens onto two concrete steps to the street. To the left of this doorcase is a display window fitted with a replacement fixed-pane timber window.

The bowed corner entrance bay is a particularly distinctive feature. It has slightly recessed smooth rendered walling set beneath an oversized stop-chamfer below the eaves. The square-headed door opening retains its original timber frame, a flat-panelled timber door, and a plain overlight, opening onto a curved concrete step to the street.

The two-bay northeast elevation onto Bridge Street contains a further display window with a fixed-pane timber window. The southeast side abuts No. 2 Bridge Street, and the southwest side abuts No. 4 Mill Street.

Historical Context

No. 2 Mill Street was built as part of the deliberate development of Cushendall carried out in the early 19th century under the direction of Francis Turnly, the village's proprietor. Turnly had travelled to China in 1796, where he accumulated a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he used this wealth to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000, subsequently renaming the settlement Cushendall. At the time of his purchase, the village consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill, and a bridge. Turnly — described by architectural historian C.E.B. Brett as an eccentric character who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property" — developed it into a coastal resort, with the construction of hotels and numerous commercial properties, partly in response to growing tourist traffic passing through the area on the way to the Giant's Causeway.

The building was depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 and was likely included in the Townland Valuations of 1834, although specific structures are difficult to identify in that source due to the loss of the accompanying town plan for Cushendall. Nos 2–4 Mill Street were first recorded with certainty in Griffith's Valuation of 1859, where the combined building was valued at £20 and noted as leased by the Turnly family to a Mr John Hamilton, a local farmer.

The building continued to be recorded as a single structure with No. 4 until 1892, when the Annual Revisions recorded the division, revaluing No. 2 alone at £12. John Hamilton remained at the property until his death in 1899, after which it passed to his widow, Jane Hamilton, who operated a drapery shop from the premises until her own death in 1903. Despite the physical division of the property in the 1890s, the 1911 Census continued to record Nos 2–4 as a single property, noting Patrick Duffy, a Royal Irish Constabulary pensioner, as occupant. The census described it as a first-class dwelling comprising ten rooms, with rear outbuildings including a piggery, fowl house, and potato house.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), No. 2 was revalued at £21, at which time it was occupied by a Ms Josephine Esther Anderson. In 1950 the building was acquired by William Kearney, who converted it into a café. His brother Daniel, a local butcher, occupied the adjoining No. 4 Mill Street from 1953. The Kearney family purchased both properties outright in 1967, and by the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the rateable value of No. 2 stood at £38.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society Guide for the Glens of Antrim described Mill Street as "an outstandingly good street by Ulster standards; there is almost nothing to jar the eye," calling it a street that "demands, and deserves, the most careful and sensitive consideration of any change of any kind." It specifically described Nos 2–4 Mill Street as "good three-storey houses, part Georgian, part Regency glazed." Mill Street was included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to be designated in the province — a designation described as "testimony itself to the special qualities of the village." That same year, Cushendall was chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 2 Mill Street was listed in 1976.

Around 1986 the building underwent an extensive renovation, including the reslating of its roof and the restoration of its chimneystacks and window frames. Around 2001 the former retail shop on the ground floor was converted into a fast food restaurant.

Setting

The building occupies one of the most prominent positions in Cushendall, standing at the central crossroads where Mill Street meets Bridge Street, directly opposite Turnly's Tower. Its largely intact historic fabric makes a significant contribution to the character and appearance of this conservation area setting.