11 Mill St., Cushendall, Co.Antrim

11 Mill Street, Cushendall, County Antrim

This is a terraced, single-bay, three-storey rendered house built around 1834, and possibly as early as the Townland Valuations of that year. It sits on a rectangular plan facing southeast, forming part of a continuous terrace along the northwest side of Mill Street. It may be an infill building. The house was first recorded with certainty on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 and in Griffith's Valuation of 1859.

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles. There is a rendered chimneystack to the southwest party wall and cast-iron rainwater goods. The external walls are finished in ruled-and-lined cement render, left unpainted. Window openings are square-headed with concrete sills and replacement single-pane timber sliding sash windows fitted with angled horns and exposed sash boxes. The single-bay front elevation has a single square-headed door opening to the left, fitted with a replacement flush timber door that opens directly onto the pavement — a feature considered out of keeping with the building's architectural character. The southwest side abuts the adjoining No. 15, and the northeast side elevation abuts No. 9. The rear elevation was not accessed during survey. The rear yard is enclosed by stone walling.

The house retains much of its original character through its diminutive proportions and timber sliding sash windows, despite the replacement front door. An extensive renovation in 1985 included reslating the roof, installing new rainwater goods, and replacing the front windows.

Historical background

No. 11 Mill Street belongs to a wider group of two- and three-storey buildings along the north side of Mill Street, the majority of which were erected in the first half of the 19th century under the direction of the landowning Turnly family. Francis Turnly, Cushendall's proprietor, had travelled to China in 1796 where he accumulated a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he used this money 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 consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill and a bridge. Turnly — described by 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 to serve the growing number of tourists passing through on the way to the Giant's Causeway. This development included the erection of hotels, such as the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street, and numerous commercial properties.

Griffith's Valuation of 1859 recorded No. 11 Mill Street at a value of £4 and 15 shillings, initially leased by John McKillop to a Mr. Patrick McCollum. In 1865 ownership passed to the McDonnell family of Kilmore House, who held the property until 1898, when it was purchased by Joseph McCollum, a local publican residing at No. 23 Mill Street; the McCollum family continued to own No. 11 Mill Street until at least the 1970s. Between 1870 and 1898 the house was occupied by Henry McAuley. The Census of Ireland records that in 1911 a Henry Scullion, a local tailor, resided there; in that year the census building return described No. 11 as a second-class dwelling consisting of only two inhabited rooms, with a shed as its sole outbuilding.

The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) increased the property's value to £6 and 10 shillings and recorded a Mr. John McKillop as resident. McKillop continued to occupy the house until his death around 1964, when it passed to a Ms. Elizabeth McKillop. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the value stood at £7 and 15 shillings.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide to the Glens of Antrim described Nos. 9–23 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 in the province to have been designated at that time — a status described as "testimony itself to the special qualities of the village." That same year Cushendall was chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 11 Mill Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

Setting

No. 11 Mill Street forms an important part of a coherent row of similarly scaled buildings lining the northwest side of Mill Street within the Cushendall Conservation Area. As part of the brightly painted terrace of domestic-scaled buildings, it contributes significantly to the character of the conservation area and to the intact and distinctive appearance of the village centre.