Coastguard Cottages, 16 Belfast Road, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 8BU

A group of mid-nineteenth century coastguard cottages built around 1864, located south of Belfast Road in Carrickfergus. Set parallel to the road with small gardens to the rear, the group has historic maritime associations with Carrickfergus but has been altered and lacks sufficient architectural interest to warrant listing.

The individual building described is an attached single-bay two-storey terraced former coastguard cottage, the sixth from the left (east) in a group of seven, built around 1864. It is rectangular in plan with a two-storey return to the rear featuring a cat-slide roof, and a single-storey lean-to entrance porch to the north.

The roof is pitched natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles. Cogged brick eaves remain, with only a few cast-iron downpipes surviving; the remainder have been replaced with square-profile uPVC rainwater goods. A roughcast-rendered corbelled chimneystack sits against the west party wall, topped with decorative clay pots.

The walls are roughcast rendered with a cogged brick string course and smooth rendered platband above (north elevation only), and a smooth rendered plinth. Windows are timber casements with painted masonry cills throughout, unless otherwise noted.

The principal north elevation is abutted on its left by a single-storey extension with a slated lean-to roof (shared with No. 16). The exposed section to the left features a 6/6 timber casement at ground floor and dipartite 4/4 casements at first floor. The east gable is abutted by No. 14. The south (rear) elevation is abutted on the right by a two-storey return with slated cat-slide roof; the exposed section has a single 6/6 timber casement window on each floor. The west gable is abutted by No. 18. The south return matches the main block detailing and includes two roof lights, shared with No. 16. The south gable is blank, with central timber 6/6 dipartite casements to the left cheek and a glazed timber-panelled door to the left; a timber-sheeted door sits to the right.

The cottages are set parallel to Belfast Road, accessed from the east with parking to the north and a garden to the south. They are bounded to the road edge by a roughcast-rendered wall with saddleback coping.

The Coastguard Station is first recorded in the Valuation Revision book of 1861–94, leased from J. Bowie with a ground rent of £36. It succeeded an earlier station at Governor's Place, Carrickfergus. The town plan of 1860 shows the buildings added in pencil at a later stage, with date of addition unstated. The buildings appear on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902, captioned 'Coastguard Station'. According to Hamond's 1991 survey, the station remained in use until at least 1945. The station is now in private ownership and has been refurbished as dwellings. Various additions have been made to the rear (south) wall during recent refurbishment. The terrace is now harled, and it is unclear from inspection whether the original construction was of brick or basalt. It is ornamented with stone and diagonally-set brick stringing below first-floor window sill level, with further decorative brickwork along the eaves and chimney corbels.