2 Coastguard Cottages, Causeway View Lane, Portrush, BT56 8DA

2 Coastguard Cottages, Causeway View Lane, Portrush

This is a two-storey mid-terraced house, built in 1896 as part of a former Coastguard station. It sits within a group of buildings that retains much of its original form and appearance, including some ancillary outbuildings and most of the individual gardens. Although the main terrace lacks the architectural flourishes of some earlier Coastguard stations, it has an attractive, almost artisan-cottage simplicity in a loosely Georgian style. Its impact is enhanced by its location, wedged between two streets with the properties facing into their respective detached gardens. The group as a whole is a good example of its type and is of interest as part of the Coastguard estate in Northern Ireland.

The full station complex consists of a detached two-storey station building and commanding officer's house (130 Main Street), six two-storey terraced dwellings (1–6 Coastguard Cottages, of which this is one), original outhouses, and a later boathouse and associated store. The entire grouping is designed in a simple, loosely Georgian style and, while it may originally have been finished in brick, is now almost entirely rendered. The buildings occupy an urban site to the north of Portrush town centre, on a slight rise between Main Street to the south and Causeway View Lane to the north.

The terrace of six cottages runs north to south, with the former station building at the south end of the site, its south elevation facing directly onto the pavement of Main Street. Cottages 3–4 and 5–6 are paired, each pair sharing mirrored internal layouts and identical accommodation, entered from the east side via Causeway View Lane. Nos. 1 and 2 are also paired with mirrored internal layouts but are entered from the west side, with access off Main Street, and are slightly larger than Nos. 3–6. This difference in size reflects the relative status of the occupants: No. 130 was occupied by the commanding officer, and Nos. 1–2 by middle-ranking officers. No. 2 sits immediately to the north of No. 1. To the left (south side) of the rear there is a two-storey return. The front entrance is set in the west façade, and to the rear there is a small private yard. To the east side of the return there is a communal access yard serving the rears of Nos. 1 and 2.

The roof is pitched and finished with natural slate and grey fireclay ridge tiles, with overhanging eaves and exposed rafter tails. Rainwater goods are uPVC. There is a shared rendered chimneystack to the ridge with corbelled bands and matching clay pots. Walls are finished with ruled and lined render, and on the west side this is set on a rubble stone canted plinth.

The front west façade has a flat-headed door set slightly left of centre. To the right of the door there is a flat-headed window with a cut stone sill; the painted timber sash frame is arranged 6-over-6. To the left there is a similar but smaller window with the sash frame arranged 2-over-2. Directly above each of these is a matching window at first floor level. Windows to the rear follow the same pattern and include 3-over-6 and 6-over-6 sash arrangements.

The detached gardens belonging to the cottage extend to the west. To the east side of the terrace there are two communal access yards divided by a masonry wall: the northern yard gives access to the front entrances of Nos. 3–6, while the southern yard gives access to the rears of No. 130 and Nos. 1–2. To the rear of Nos. 3–6 there is a small range of single-storey outbuildings containing a communal washhouse and two small outhouses per dwelling — one an outside WC and the other a fuel store.

Historical background

The 1896 station replaced an earlier one that predated 1857, which comprised a station house and four smaller dwellings arranged in a terrace fronting directly onto Main Street; those earlier buildings may not have been purpose-built. A Board of Works tender notice for the new buildings appeared in August 1892, though valuation records do not record the new station as being in progress until 1896. The identity of the architect is not known, but valuations suggest the total building cost was approximately £2,500.

In 1923, following the transfer of the Coastguard to the Board of Trade — a change that restricted the service's role to life-saving, salvage from wreck, and administration of the foreshore — staffing was reduced and the dwellings began to be rented out. By 1925, Cottages 2–6 were tenanted by George Scarborough, William Elliott, John Henry, Charles Meadows, and a Mrs Millar respectively, while Cottage No. 1 and the station building itself were retained by the Coastguard service until at least 1972. No. 1 was acquired by the then-current owner in the mid-1980s.

The tenancy of No. 2 — the subject of this listing — passed to Daniel Aughlin around 1926 and then to Patrick J. Fleming in 1928, before being taken back into Coastguard use around 1933, remaining so until it was sold to the then-current owner around 1973.

It is possible, based on evidence visible on the rear elevation of Cottage No. 4, that all the buildings were originally finished in brick, though this is not certain. The main station building originally possessed a rocket station and a look-out hut, which may have been elevated. The Belfast truss-roofed building constructed on part of the gardens originally belonging to Cottages 5 and 6 was built after 1921 and possibly after 1935, as it does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map partially revised in that year; it does not appear to have had any direct relationship to the cottages themselves.

Note on the history of the Coastguard

The Coastguard in Ireland traces its origins to the Preventative Water Guard, a UK-wide body established in 1809 to combat smuggling. In 1816 it was expanded and reorganised to take control of revenue vessels, and in 1822 was transferred to the Board of Customs and renamed the Coast Guard. Although it was in practice involved in rescuing those in difficulties at sea, revenue protection rather than lifesaving remained its official function. In 1856 the Guard was transferred to the Admiralty, and its staff — henceforth mainly naval men — became involved in coastal defence and acted as a naval reserve. In 1923 the Coastguard was placed under the Board of Trade, with its role formally restricted to life-saving, salvage from wreck, and administration of the foreshore.