'Noel's Pound Coiner', 25 Castle Street, Ballycastle, County Antrim, BT54 6AS

This is a relatively large two-storey end-of-terrace shop with a large two-storey return, situated on the south side of Castle Street at its junction with Glentaisie Drive in Ballycastle. The building predates 1835 and is of considerable historical interest, though it has been substantially altered in recent years. It sits within a conservation area.

The front elevation faces north and is asymmetrical. At ground floor level, the façade is dominated by a large modern shopfront comprising two wide display windows with a shop doorway — fitted with a modern door and sidelight — set to the left. Further left is a separate doorway giving access to an upper-floor apartment, also fitted with a modern partly-glazed door. Evidence suggests that most, if not all, of the ground floor openings were created after around 1972. At first floor level, three evenly-spaced flat-arch windows with modern timber frames look onto the street. Between the second and third windows from the left is a traditional-style projecting sign, and there is also a large projecting street light. The painted front elevation features painted imitation quoins.

The west elevation shows the gable end of the main building alongside the flank wall of the long two-storey return. The first floor of the gable has two flat-arch windows with modern timber frames — one to the left and one roughly central. At attic level there are two small widely-spaced windows, also with modern timber frames. The return's first floor has one window of similar size and framing to those on the gable. The south gable is only visible at attic level, where a small window similar to those on the west gable is set to the left.

The rear elevation could not be fully inspected. The left-hand side is taken up by the large two-storey return, and map evidence suggests a further, lower return may exist on the right-hand (east) side, though this could not be confirmed. At first floor level on the main section, three unevenly-spaced flat-arch windows with modern timber frames were visible, along with a doorway fitted with a partly-glazed modern timber door. This doorway is reached by a modern metal fire-escape stair, which continues up to roof level where another doorway with a similar door is set within a gabled dormer-like projection. Close to the eaves of the rear façade, a date stone appears to carry the date 1827 with lettering above it, of which only the letters 'W' and 'H' could be made out.

All visible portions of the exterior are finished in painted cement render, with the exception of the east gable, which is unpainted. The main section has a relatively steeply pitched gabled roof covered in asbestos tiles. The north face of this roof has three relatively large Velux windows, with one further Velux on the left-hand side of the south face. A rendered ridge chimneystack sits towards the east centre of the roof. The roof of the dormer to the south is covered in a modern artificial slate. The two-storey return to the east appears to have a single-pitch roof covered in corrugated metal. Rainwater goods are in PVC-u.

The building has a well-documented history. The first valuation, carried out in January 1835, records a house on this site of broadly similar dimensions to the present main front section (measuring 39 feet by 31½ feet by 19½ feet), together with a rear addition measuring 19 by 9 by 6½ feet, and a drying loft and bark mill measuring 39½ by 21 by 12 feet. Subsequent valuations record no major structural changes to the main section, suggesting that much of what survives today dates from before 1834. The precise date of construction is uncertain: the 1834 valuers graded the building '1B+', a designation applied to structures in good condition of at least twenty years' standing, which would point to a construction date of around 1814 or earlier. However, the date stone on the rear carries the year 1827. The building's two-storey form and relatively high-pitched roof closely resemble others along Castle Street, many of which appear to date from approximately 1740 to 1770, when the town — and Castle Street in particular — took on much of its present character under the improving landlord Hugh Boyd. In this context, the date 1827 may simply record a later improvement or extension rather than the original construction. The inhabitants recorded in 1834 were Archibald Black and Samuel Sharpe. The presence of a bark mill indicates that part of the property was then used as a tannery; Archibald Black is indeed listed as a tanner in Slater's Directory of 1846. Cross-referencing this with Pigot's Directory of 1824, a Samuel Hill is listed as a tanner, and he or a member of his family appears in later valuations as the lessor of the property. This connects with the letter 'H' — presumably for Hill — visible on the 1827 date stone, though it is not certain whether the tan yard of 1824 occupied exactly this site.

The 1859 valuation gives a more detailed picture of the property at that date. It records the tan yard in operation, with the main section of the building containing a carriage gateway, a small single-storey return and the large drying loft already noted in 1834, as well as a further thatched single-storey outbuilding and 24 tan pits. The house at that time contained ten rooms and garrets, though its 'situation' was described as 'bad'. Daniel Black had taken over the tenancy by 1859 and remained until 1872, when Patrick McKinley was recorded as occupant and Adam Hill as lessor. The following year Daniel Black appears as lessor, with the house occupied by lodgers. By 1876 Robert Blair had taken over the lease, followed by Gregory Morrison as occupier from 1879 to 1882, Gabriel Kinney from 1882 to 1891, and then the Blair family themselves from that date until 1910, with Catherine and then Mary Blair listed as occupiers after 1902. A Mrs Blair is noted as running a boarding house in the town in the 1905 Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory. The property stood vacant until 1913, when John Huey moved in. Etta Scally held the lease from 1922 until 1953, followed by William Smyth from 1953 until 1976, when the present owner acquired the building.

When surveyed in October 1972, the building contained two shopfronts: one to the far left and a larger one to the right, where the present wide shop window now sits. It is possible that the left-hand shopfront of that date occupied the position of the carriage gateway mentioned in the 1859 valuation. The gateway itself likely disappeared sometime after 1951, when part of the terrace to the west was demolished to make way for Glentaisie Drive, thereby opening up the side of the building and allowing yard access from that direction. The present owner states that he gutted the building in 1980, creating a single larger shop unit at ground floor level and two apartments on the upper floors.