17 Mill St., Cushendall, Co.Antrim

17 Mill Street, Cushendall, County Antrim

This is a terraced two-bay three-storey rendered house built in the early 19th century, possibly as early as 1834, and first recorded with certainty on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857. It faces southeast as part of a continuous terrace lining the northwest side of Mill Street. The building shares group value with the adjoining No. 19 Mill Street, with which it was originally constructed as a single property before being subdivided into two dwellings in 1891.

Architectural Description

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate, fitted with four traditional iron skylights — two to the front pitch and two to the rear — along with terracotta ridge tiles and replacement steel rainwater goods. A shared rendered chimney stack with black clay pots sits on the northeast party wall.

The external walling to the front (southeast) elevation is finished in painted ruled-and-lined render. Window openings are square-headed throughout, with painted masonry sills. The front elevation is two bays wide across three storeys: the ground and first floors have replacement timber sliding sash windows with 6-over-6 pane arrangements, angled horns, and exposed sash boxes; the second floor has 6-pane timber casement windows. To the left of the front elevation is a square-headed door opening fitted with a four-panelled timber door featuring bolection mouldings and a rectangular overlight above.

The southwest side of the building abuts No. 19 Mill Street, and the northeast side adjoins No. 15 Mill Street. The rear (northwest) elevation is two bays wide across three storeys and features roughcast cement render, square-headed window openings with concrete sills, and replacement timber casement windows. A single-bay flat-roofed extension projects to the rear. Rainwater goods to the rear elevation are replacement uPVC.

Historical Background

Nos. 17 and 19 Mill Street were almost certainly erected in the first half of the 19th century by the Turnly family, who were the landowning proprietors of Cushendall. Francis Turnly had travelled to China in 1796, where he accumulated a fortune of approximately £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 purchase the village comprised little more than a number of modest cabins, a mill, and a bridge. Turnly — described by the architectural historian C. E. B. Brett as an eccentric character who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property" — developed the village into a coastal resort, constructing hotels and numerous commercial properties to serve the growing number of tourists travelling through the area en route to the Giant's Causeway.

The building is likely to date from the Townland Valuations of 1834, though it is difficult to identify specific structures in that source owing to the loss of the accompanying Townland Valuation Town Plan for Cushendall. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1859, Nos. 17 and 19 were recorded as a single building valued at £11, at that time in use as a lodging house owned by Alexander McDermott, a local landlord residing in the townland of Falmacrilly.

In 1864, ownership passed to the McDonnell family of Kilmore House, and the building ceased to be used as a lodging house, being leased instead as a private dwelling. A Ms. Mary Reeny was recorded as the first occupant under this arrangement. Ownership passed briefly to a Mr. Robert Hugh Orr in 1880, before Joseph McCollum, a local publican residing at No. 23 Mill Street, purchased the property outright in 1888. The building continued to be occupied as a single dwelling by the Blaney family from 1869 until 1891, when McCollum subdivided it into two separate dwellings, each valued at £6 and 10 shillings.

Despite this formal subdivision, the 1911 Census continued to record Nos. 17 and 19 as a single property, occupied by Matilda McCollum, described as a local seamstress and dressmaker. The census building return classified it as a second-class dwelling containing a drapery shop on the ground floor of No. 19, five inhabited rooms in total, and a piggery as its sole outbuilding.

From around 1915 until the 1930s, No. 17 was occupied by a Mr. John McAlister. Occupancy changed frequently between the 1930s and the 1970s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the rateable value of No. 17 was raised to £8 and 10 shillings, and it was further increased to £12 and 10 shillings by the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), during which period the McCollum family were still recorded as the owners of No. 17, though no longer of No. 19.

In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society's guide to the Glens of Antrim described Nos. 9 to 23 Mill Street as "a long terrace of three-storey rendered houses with quoins, all with similar proportions and detailing, but most rather dreary … the shops in the terrace have simple fascias." The guide described Mill Street more broadly as "an outstandingly good street by Ulster standards; there is almost nothing to jar the eye … this street demands, and deserves, the most careful and sensitive consideration of any change of any kind." The buildings along Mill Street were included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to be designated in the province — and in that year Cushendall was also chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 17 Mill Street was listed in 1976.

Alterations and Condition

The building underwent a complete internal and external renovation in around 1981. A second phase of alteration took place in around 1994, when the roof was reslated using Bangor Blue slates. While the front elevation retains largely appropriate replacement fabric, the rear elevation features inappropriate replacement windows which detract from the overall character of the building.

Setting

No. 17 forms part of a continuous terrace of similarly scaled buildings lining the northwest side of Mill Street within the Cushendall Conservation Area. Together with its neighbours, the brightly painted terrace of domestic-scaled buildings makes a significant contribution to the character and intact, distinctive appearance of the village centre.