Semidetached lightkeepers' houses, House 1 (SW), East Light, Ballycarry Td, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim

East Light Lightkeeper's House, Ballycarry, Rathlin Island

This is the south-west house of a pair of semi-detached lightkeeper's houses dating from circa 1916, designed by Charles William Scott. It is located at the south end of the East Light lighthouse premises on Rathlin Island, aligned east-west, and faces north.

The building is a two-storey, two-bay structure constructed from rendered random rubble walls brought to courses, with smooth cement render embellished with banded stucco quoins, an advanced base course, a shallow platband at first-floor cill level, and a moulded eaves course. The roof is flat, weatherproofed reinforced concrete with a low parapet and rendered chimneys to the centre and gables. A raised skylight serves each house.

The principal north elevation is distinguished by its asymmetric composition. Each house features a projecting single-storey porch to the left, with a tongue-and-groove door to its right cheek and a 1-over-1 sash window to its north elevation; the left cheek is blank. Mounted on top of each porch is a water cistern, a notable feature of architectural interest. These cisterns were originally fed with rainwater collected from the flat parapeted roof, demonstrating an ingenious in-built water supply system. Both porch and tank have moulded eaves, and the tank has a low blocking course around a flat lid to its interior, with a blank stucco roundel on the north face. The first-floor wall of each house is set slightly back from the tank and lit by a narrow 1-over-1 sash window, with a 2-over-2 window to the right. All openings have flat heads and stucco architraves. All window openings have 2-over-2 timber sliding sashes and dressed granite cills, except where otherwise noted.

The south elevation mirrors the asymmetry of the façade. At ground floor to the left of each house is a projecting single-storey porch with a pitched glazed timber roof and rendered base. A tongue-and-groove door is positioned to the left cheek. To the left of each porch is an original window, with a smaller top-opening timber casement with narrow concrete cill evidently a later insertion. To the right of each porch is another original window, with two additional windows at first-floor level. Window surrounds to this elevation are plain, without stucco architraves, and some are now sheeted over. A rendered party wall extends approximately half a metre south, approximately 1800mm high with concrete coping.

The east elevation features two 1-over-1 sash windows to ground floor with granite cills and three to first floor with concrete cills. The west elevation has no openings. The north-facing side wall has a tongue-and-groove door to ground floor and a 2-over-2 sash window to first floor. Rainwater goods are absent, with water discharged into the cisterns rather than via conventional guttering.

The interior, although some rooms have been modernised, survives largely intact in its original form.

The building is set within a broader complex of lighthouse buildings. A flagged concrete path runs around the block, with a shared concrete yard at the rear. The area in front and to the east is grassed over. A concrete footpath leads north to the main lighthouse and north-east to fog signal buildings. To the west is a single-storey former standby generator house from the 1970s, with flat oversailing concrete roof and rendered walls; generators have been removed and the building is now used as a store, with a sheeted-metal lean-to shelter attached containing two plastic fuel tanks and a bowser. To the north-west lies a single-storey keeper's house. The yard behind is bounded by the rubble masonry wall surrounding the premises. The setting commands extensive views over the North Channel towards Islay and the Mull of Kintyre.

Historical Context

The East Light began operations in 1856, initially accommodating keepers and their families in single-storey houses within the grounds. The present pair of two-storey houses was built circa 1916, first appearing on the 1922 Ordnance Survey map. They were constructed to accommodate the families of keepers manning the West Light (which began operations in 1919), though in practice families could be allocated to any of the available houses. The 1916 Valuation revision book records the premises' rateable valuation increasing from £21 10s 0d to £46, reflecting the substantial new building works including the porches and single-storey annex. The annex at the east end was heightened from one to two storeys in the 1970s to house equipment monitoring the West Light and installations at Rue Point.

The building has group value with its paired semi-detached companion (the north-east house), the main lighthouse, associated lighthouse structures, and the single-storey keeper's houses on the premises. The original fabric survives, and the houses are of local historical interest not only in their role accommodating East Light keepers' families but also in reflecting the accommodation needs created by the opening of the West Light, demonstrating the social and economic demands of lighthouse operation in the early twentieth century. The in-built water supply system is of particular architectural and industrial archaeological interest, representing an innovative approach to self-sufficiency in an island location.