22 Lower Castle Street, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AT

22 Lower Castle Street is a plain, two-storey rendered terraced house dating from approximately the 1840s, one of a short block of three largely identical properties on the east side of Lower Castle Street, a short lane running southwards from the west end of Castle Street in the village of Glenarm. The building has been delisted, though it sits within a conservation area.

The front elevation faces west and is asymmetrical. At ground floor level, to the left, is a plain sheeted timber door with a plain four-pane fanlight above it; to the right is a six-over-six sash window. At first floor level there are two three-over-six sash windows, widely spaced and set slightly to the left of centre. The façade is finished in roughcast render. To either side of the main roof is a relatively recent wide red brick chimney stack. The roof is covered in natural slate with cast iron rainwater goods.

The lower portion of the south gable is obscured by a lean-to garage with a corrugated roof. At the centre of the first floor of the south gable there is a small window opening fitted with a modern top-hung frame. A two-storey gabled return has been added to the rear. On the south face of this return there are two modern first-floor windows, with the ground floor obscured from view. To the right side of the east rear elevation there is a three-over-six top-hung modern window. The east gable of the return is blank.

There is reason to believe that, like its neighbours, the interior has been substantially rearranged and much original period detail lost, though the staircase survives. Two-storey returns have been added to the rear of all three properties in the terrace.

Castle Street and Lower Castle Street occupy a significant position in Glenarm's history. Castle Street is the shortest of the village's four main original streets, running westward from the junction of Toberwine and Altmore Streets to the bridge over the Glenarm River, with Lower Castle Street branching off southwards near the west end. The street formed part of what was once the main road from Larne, a route of possibly medieval origin, winding northwards through The Vennel, across the bridge, and on to what is now the Straidkilly Road. The street was originally known as Bridge Street, a name that appears to have persisted until the mid-19th century. The bridge at the west end was erected in 1682, replacing a ford, though it had to be largely rebuilt in 1713 following flood damage.

The earliest leases in the Antrim Papers relating to plots along the street date from 1711. At least one building, the old parish church, stood at the south-west end of the street as early as 1683, and the 13th-century Bisset castle — probably a tower house — is reputed to have stood at the north-east end. The still-extant former courthouse, believed to have been standing since at least the 1750s, is thought to incorporate part of the ruins of this castle.

On John O'Hara's map of 1779, the earliest surviving plan of Glenarm, Castle Street is shown fully developed on both sides, and rows of properties of the same extent as those visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832 are already present. The evidence of the 1859 valuation suggests that most of the buildings shown in 1832 are those standing today, with the short terrace on Lower Castle Street appearing around 1835 to 1840.

In the early 19th century, the street's importance declined significantly. The old road from Larne was superseded by the new Coast Road and the new Glenarm Bridge, built in 1813 at the north end of the village, and the grounds around Glenarm Castle were enclosed. This process, largely complete by the mid-1820s, led to a gradual reduction in the street's status. Whereas Lord Antrim's agent could be found living in Castle Street in the late 18th century, by the mid-1830s he had moved to the south end of the newly widened and considerably grander Altmore Street.

The short terrace to which No. 22 belongs is recorded in the 1859 valuation but does not appear on the 1832 Ordnance Survey map, confirming a construction date of approximately 1835 to 1840. In 1859 the terrace was in the ownership of a Mrs Eliza Boyd, with this particular property occupied by a tenant named Alexander Dempsey.

Although No. 22 was removed from the statutory list on 5 October 2005 — partly on account of alterations detracting from its character and the substantial loss of interior detail — the three-house terrace as a group was considered to make a meaningful contribution to the immediate townscape of Lower Castle Street, which informed the decision to retain the terrace on the list for as long as it was listed.