97 Main Street, Bushmills, Co.Antrim

97 Main Street, Bushmills, County Antrim

This is a two-storey, two-bay, painted rendered mid-terrace house, built between 1834 and 1857 as part of the extensive early 19th-century reconstruction of Bushmills village. It sits on the west side of Main Street, towards the south side of the village centre, with the Bush River running parallel to the west. The building follows a rectangular plan and is adjoined on both sides by neighbouring terraced properties — No. 99 to the south-east and No. 95 to the north-west.

The front elevation faces north-east and is finished in painted render set on a painted rendered plinth. At ground-floor level there is a single entrance doorway to the left, alongside a coupled 1/1 timber sliding sash window with horns. On the first floor, a single 1/1 timber sliding sash window sits above, though it is not aligned with the bays below. The front door has been replaced with an inappropriate timber and glazed door, which detracts from the building's character. Half-round uPVC guttering to the front discharges into a cast-iron circular downpipe.

The pitched slate roof is finished with black clay ridge tiles and has an unpainted rendered chimney stack to the north-west side. To the rear, a large modern two-storey painted rendered extension — built around 1981 as a kitchen and bathroom addition — abuts the south-west elevation. The rear walling is of smooth painted render and features a single large uPVC casement window at first-floor level, along with a uPVC glazed door and uPVC window at ground-floor level. Rainwater goods to the rear are painted uPVC throughout. The rear yard is enclosed by a low timber fence.

The building has its origins in the MacNaghten family's rebuilding of Bushmills from the 1820s onwards. The MacNaghtens had acquired the Bushmills estate in 1787 and drove a comprehensive programme of reconstruction across the village. The Townland Valuation Town Plan of around 1834 and the Townland Valuations of 1835 record that a first-class-C structure — that is, a slated building described as old and out of repair — previously stood on the site of what are now Nos. 97–103 Main Street. This earlier building was subsequently demolished, and the current terrace, including No. 97, appears for the first time on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857.

Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records the house as initially valued at £2 10 shillings, leased by Hugh McNaul, a prominent local landowner, to a Ms. Elizabeth Blair. Occupancy changed frequently over the following decades. By the turn of the 20th century the property was leased by a Mr. John Sinclair to Samuel Patton, a local labourer. The 1901 Census of Ireland described it as a second-class dwelling comprising four rooms, with a single outbuilding — a store to the rear, since demolished. The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1902 continued to show the house in its original simple terraced form. Samuel Patton remained at the address until around 1910, when Charles Sinclair, a local tailor, took up occupation. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) raised the property's value to £5 5 shillings and noted that the Sinclair family purchased the house outright around 1954. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), a Ms. Sarah Sinclair was recorded as both owner and occupant, with the property valued at £7 15 shillings.

The 1972 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide to North Antrim described the buildings along Main Street in general terms as forming "a well-scaled street," noting that "many good doorways and shopfronts remain" and that "the unity of the street frontages must be maintained," while observing that no individual building apart from the former Courthouse merited separate mention.

No. 97 was listed in 1980 and subsequently included within the Bushmills Conservation Area, designated in 1992 to preserve the built heritage of a village that contains the highest concentration of listed buildings in the north-east of Northern Ireland. The building retains special architectural and historic interest as part of a group of similarly proportioned terraced houses, alongside Nos. 95, 99, and 101–103 Main Street. Its architectural interest lies in its style, proportion, and setting, though alterations — principally the replacement front door and the rear extension — detract from its overall integrity. Its historical interest reflects its age, a degree of authenticity, its importance within the village's development history, and its local significance within the conservation area.