Former Saw Miller's house, Castle Lane, Glenarm Demesne, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0BQ

Former Saw Miller's House, Castle Lane, Glenarm Demesne, Ballymena

A surviving blackstone estate building with its outbuildings in reasonable structural condition. The interior of the dwelling house has been altered. The group possesses character but is not sufficiently distinctive to merit listing.

The main house is a simple, gabled two-storey rubble-built structure of approximately 1850, formerly the residence of the saw miller for Glenarm Castle estate. It stands within the estate grounds, roughly a mile south-west of the castle itself, adjacent to the former saw mill.

The front elevation faces roughly east and is asymmetrical. On the ground floor, a half-glazed panelled door sits right of centre. To the far left is a sash window with Georgian panes (6/6), with a blocked window opening to its right. Another sash window appears right of the door. The first floor contains two further sash windows with Georgian panes. On the left side of the elevation, markings show evidence of a former lean-to outbuilding that has now been completely demolished. Where this structure once stood, the façade is whitewashed. A small flat-roofed boiler house extension is attached to the left side of the north gable, with a sash window on its right side. The south gable, built on the squint, is blank except for a small window with a modern frame positioned right of centre on the ground floor. The rear west elevation has one modern multi-pane window at the far right of the ground floor and three sash windows with Georgian panes to the first floor.

The façade is finished in basalt rubble. The gabled roof is covered with natural slates, with a slight eave overhang and plain barges. Cast iron rainwater goods are present. Chimneystack in stone on the north gable and in render on the south gable.

Immediately south of the house stands a long two-storey rubble-built gabled outbuilding. To its east, a shorter single-storey gable building is abutted at right angles. This smaller building is the former saw mill, which appears originally to have had a water-wheel on its north gable.

The house appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1858 but not that of 1832. It originally functioned as the estate saw miller's residence, with the water-powered saw mill located just to the east. Although the house may have been built around 1855 at the same time as nearby Castle Farm buildings, extant saw mill records within the Antrim Papers begin in 1852, suggesting it could be earlier. Markings on the left side of the front façade indicate the former presence of an abutting single-storey building, which may have been integrated with the main house or functioned as a workshop or store. The apparent spaciousness of the interior suggests use beyond that of a simple dwelling. The saw mill remained in operation until at least 1921.