'Earth Works', 51 Castle Street, Ballycastle, County Antrim, BT54 6AR

'Earth Works', 51 Castle Street, Ballycastle — a large and impressive three-storey terraced building, originally constructed as a house (or possibly two houses) around the 1740s, forming part of Hugh Boyd's development of Ballycastle. It was later converted to commercial use and is now in residential use. The building sits on the sloping south side of Castle Street, to the west of the town centre, with its asymmetrical front elevation facing north.

The front façade is finished in painted plain render and presents six windows at first-floor level — horned timber sash frames with plate glass glazing, largely evenly spaced — and six shorter but otherwise similar windows directly above at second-floor level. A traditional-style projecting signboard is fixed between the first and second windows from the left at first-floor level. At ground floor, the principal entrance is a panelled and glazed timber door with a plain rectangular fanlight above, framed by relatively plain moulded pilasters. These pilasters rise to a long shop signboard with cornice, which spans across to the large shop window to the left. That window consists of a two-pane picture window, encased with pilasters matching those of the doorway; raised copper lettering appears on the signboard above it. Between the shop window and the entrance there is a wall-mounted post box. To the right of the entrance is a smaller, now disused, shopfront comprising a timber and glazed door with an attached window, both the window and the glazed door panel being covered with security screens. Further right still is a segmental-headed carriage archway fitted with timber double doors. Together, the shopfront forms a well-detailed Victorian composition of considerable character.

The east-facing gable is exposed at second-floor level, devoid of openings and finished in plain unpainted cement render. The main roof is gabled with a relatively steep pitch and appears to be wholly slated. There is a large rendered ridge chimneystack at the east end. To the rear slope of the roof, a large central dormer has been added, with an uneven gabled roof and probably a window to the west side, though this could not be confirmed during survey. Several large Velux windows have also been inserted into the rear roof slope. Rainwater goods are largely cast iron, with a small section of PVCu to the rear.

The rear façade of the main building is difficult to observe in full owing to the presence of a large, modern-looking single-storey extension. On the ground floor of the rear elevation, to the left, is the back end of the carriage archway. To the right of this is a recessed doorway with a timber-sheeted door and small sidelight in a modern frame, which appears to be a recent insertion. At first-floor level there are two windows with modern timber frames to the far right, with internal evidence suggesting two further windows beyond these, also with modern timber frames. At second-floor level there are four windows of differing sizes, all with frames matching those on the first-floor front elevation. The rear façade is finished in dry dash render.

The large single-storey extension to the rear is roughly L-shaped and covers almost all of what was formerly an open yard. It is largely modern in appearance and largely devoid of openings, save for a pedestrian doorway and two relatively small windows to the left side of the west face, and a vehicle doorway to the short north face. Its walls are finished in unpainted cement render and its roof has a shallow pitch covered in corrugated iron.

The building's history is well documented through valuation records. In the first valuation of January 1835, a relatively old house of the same dimensions as the present main section is recorded — 38½ feet by 27 by 23, with a cellar of 17 by 17 by 6½ feet. As no major structural changes are recorded in subsequent sources, the building seen today is considered to be the same structure. Its considerable age as noted in 1835, combined with the presence of similar mid-18th-century buildings on the opposite side of Castle Street and the neighbouring house to the west bearing a construction date of 1748 (an inscription to that effect was noted by C.E.B. Brett in 1971, though it no longer exists), strongly suggests a 1740s date of construction. The building's size raises the possibility that it was originally two separate houses, though neither documentary evidence nor the internal layout — even accounting for subsequent alterations — supports this conclusively.

The occupant recorded in 1835 was one James Woodside, listed as running a public house in Castle Street (then known as Main Street) in Pigot's 1824 Directory. By the second valuation of November 1859, the property was in the hands of one Anne O'Hara, with a Thomas Fisher as the immediate lessor. The valuers described it as containing a shop (that is, a pub) and three rooms below, four over, and five at the top, though it was noted as not in good internal repair — with the valuers adding, in a seemingly derogatory fashion, that it suited the business of a publican. The carriage archway was at that time being used as a shed, and there were two outbuildings to the rear, one single-storey and the other two-storey.

Between 1862 and 1876 Thomas Fisher himself lived in the building, renting it to a William Faris between 1876 and 1879, and to an Edward McKinnon from 1879 to 1882, before returning as resident between 1882 and 1885. A James Magill was the next occupant until 1887, at which point part of the building was noted as dilapidated. The property then stood vacant until 1892, possibly following some repair work. Subsequent occupants included Denis McKinley (1892–1897), Archibald McKinley (1897–1915), and Patrick McKeague (1915–1921). A valuers' notebook entry from 1915 describes the premises as quite old, with the second floor considered quite valueless, suggesting that any repairs carried out around 1890 may not have been extensive. In 1921–22 a Nellie Donegan is listed as resident, followed by a Lizzie Fisher, likely a relation of the earlier Thomas Fisher. The appearance of female names as residents around this time may coincide with the building ceasing to operate as a public house and converting to a post office — a use suggested by the wall-mounted post box on the front elevation — though the valuation records make no reference to any formal change of use. In the early 1930s a Charles McNamee became tenant, followed by Catherine McNamee in 1941, Hugh Dempsey in 1948, Anne Dempsey around 1956, and Patrick O'Kane in 1968. When surveyed in October 1972 as part of the first survey of historic buildings, the property was in use as a café, trading as the Castle Café.

Despite the various alterations it has undergone, the building retains strong architectural and historic interest, contributing positively to its conservation area setting through its style, proportions, ornamentation, and well-detailed Victorian shopfront — though some of the alterations do detract from its overall character.