21-23 Vennel Street (The Vennel), Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AS

21-23 Vennel Street, Glenarm

This small, low two-storey gabled house dates from approximately 1910-15, though its vernacular Georgian appearance might suggest an earlier period. Originally comprising two separate dwellings, the building retains sufficient period detail both internally and externally to warrant listing. The two properties were amalgamated in around 1992.

The building sits on the sloping south side of Vennel Street. The front elevation facing north is asymmetrical. To the left of centre stands a panelled and glazed door with a heavy moulded surround resting on a moulded plinth that merges with the chamfered and painted plinth at the base of the wall. To the left is a Georgian-paned sash window (6/6 panes) with moulded surround. To the right of the doorway is a shorter panelled door with similar surround, no longer in use. Immediately to the right is another matching sash window, set at a slightly lower level. The first floor carries two similar but shorter sash windows, directly aligned with those below. Moulded in-out quoins flank the front elevation to left and right.

The west gable is blank. The east gable has a door at ground floor level to the left and a sash window directly above, matching those on the front. At the base of the right side of this gable is a large horizontal concrete buttress. The rear elevation displays two widely spaced sash windows with moulded surrounds at ground floor level (that on the right notably shorter), with two similar windows directly above at first floor. The entire façade is finished in painted roughcast. A fine projecting eaves course runs across the front and rear elevations. The gabled roof is slated with cast iron rainwater goods. Two rendered chimney stacks with mouldings and squat chimney pots sit either side of the ridge.

Vennel Street was the main road from Larne and the south to Glenarm prior to the Coast Road's construction in the 1830s. The name derives from archaic Scots meaning "a narrow winding lane", and its sloping topography marked it as the least attractive of the village's four main streets. Early leases from 1743 onwards refer to it as the "Stinking Vennel" or "Stinking Vennel Street", repeatedly mentioning waste tenements. John O'Hara's map of 1779 shows many small densely packed dwellings along both sides. Much of this housing was replaced during the following century and a half, with the 1832 Ordnance Survey map showing a large gap on the south side, second valuation records (annotated around 1900) indicating substantial post-1859 rebuilding on the north side, and discrepancies between early 20th-century maps and photographic evidence of around 1910 suggesting most of the present south side dates from the early 20th century.

The valuation records of 1859 show this site was then occupied by two small single-storey dwellings that were relatively newly built at that time. Photographic evidence from around 1910 reveals both dwellings had become dilapidated, appearing in fact to be derelict. The present building, formerly two dwellings, may date from around 1910-15 and may incorporate some fabric from the earlier houses, as evidenced by the unusual buttress to the east gable.