'The Schooner' public house, 2-6 Castle Street, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AT

The Schooner Public House, 2–6 Castle Street, Glenarm

The Schooner is a large and prominent, but relatively plain, part three-storey, part two-storey end-of-terrace public house, possibly dating from the 1830s. It stands on the south side of Castle Street at the junction with Altmore Street, and sits within a conservation area. The building is finished in plain painted render to the front and east elevations, with unpainted render to the rear.

The whole front elevation faces north and is asymmetrical, reflecting the fact that the building was originally three separate properties, subsequently amalgamated some time after 1935. To the left (east) side, the three-storey section is itself symmetrical, with a central panelled double door at ground floor level framed by fluted pilasters. To either side of this door is a modern top-hung timber window. A painted timber signboard extends across most of the width of this section. At first- and second-floor level there are two further similar, but slightly taller, windows per floor. The three-storey section is framed by in-and-out chamfered rendered quoins. To the right (west) side, the two-storey section is almost symmetrical. At ground-floor level there is a small plain central door flanked by large modern timber windows. At first-floor level there are three modern top-hung timber windows. The east elevation is gabled. From left to right at lower levels there is a modern timber window, with a similar window directly above. At second-floor level there are two further similar windows. The gable is framed with in-and-out quoins. The building is L-shaped in plan; the rear elevations form the inner angle of the L and are therefore relatively short, facing onto very small enclosed yard areas with high surrounding walls that are difficult to observe or photograph. All windows and doors to the rear are modern. Plain rendered chimneystacks sit at the east and west ends of the ridge. The roofs are covered in natural slate, with cast-iron rainwater goods to the front elevation and PVC rainwater goods to the rear.

The combination of alteration, amalgamation of the three original properties, and internal modernisation has left the building without significant architectural or historical interest.

Historical context

Castle Street is the shortest of Glenarm's four principal original streets, running westward from the intersection of Toberwine Street and Altmore Street to the bridge over the Glenarm River, with Lower Castle Street branching southward near the western end. The street formed part of the main road from Larne, a route of possible medieval origin, which wound northward through The Vennel and across the bridge before curving toward what is now the Straidkilly Road. The earliest surviving leases in the Antrim Papers relating to plots on the street date from 1711, though at least one building — the old parish church — was recorded on the south-west end of the street as early as 1683. The 13th-century Bisset castle, thought to have been a tower house, is reputed to have stood at the north-east end of the street; the still-extant former courthouse, believed to have been standing since at least the 1750s, is thought to incorporate part of its ruins. The bridge at the western end was erected in 1682, replacing a ford, but had to be largely rebuilt in 1713 following flood damage. The street was originally known as Bridge Street, a name that appears to have persisted until the mid-19th century.

On John O'Hara's map of 1779 — the earliest surviving plan of Glenarm — the street is shown fully developed on both sides, with rows of properties corresponding to those visible on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. Evidence from the 1859 valuation suggests that most of the buildings shown in 1832 are those standing today, with the short terrace in Lower Castle Street appearing around 1835–40. O'Hara's map clearly indicates Castle Street's importance as part of the main northward route from Larne, with the road skirting the grounds of Glenarm Castle on the west side of the river. In the early 19th century this arrangement was substantially altered when the old road 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 the castle were enclosed. This process, complete by the mid-1820s, appears to have gradually reduced the street's status. It is perhaps telling that while a notable such as Lord Antrim's agent could be found living on Castle Street in the late 18th century, by the mid-1830s the agent had moved to the south end of the newly widened and considerably grander Altmore Street.

The public house at numbers 2–6 is made up of three formerly separate properties — one three-storey and two two-storey — all recorded in the 1859 valuation. At that time, number 2 (the three-storey section) already contained a public house described as having a good business situation, while numbers 4 and 6 were private dwellings. The valuers noted that all three properties were relatively old even at that date, suggesting all may pre-date the 1832 Ordnance Survey map. If this is the case, it is suspected that the taller section (number 2) may have had its roofline raised at some point after 1832. The 20th-century valuation records confirm that the three properties were amalgamated some time after 1935.

Primary sources consulted include Antrim Papers leases (1711–1871) and maps held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the 1779 O'Hara map of Glenarm, an early 19th-century painting of Glenarm Castle in the Ulster Museum, a further painting in the possession of Lord Dunluce, T.M. Baynes's 1830 view of Glenarm published in Ireland Illustrated (London, 1831), the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland volume 13 (c.1830–35), the 1832–33 Ordnance Survey county map, the first valuation of Tickmacrevan parish (1833), the second valuation notebook and town plan for Glenarm (1859, with later annotations), and Ordnance Survey and valuation town plans of 1903, 1907–1935, and 1936–57. Secondary sources include C.E.B. Brett's Historic Buildings of the Glens of Antrim (Belfast, 1971), Eileen Black's article on a view of Glenarm Castle in The Glynns (1979), Jimmie Irvine's article on the 1779 map of Glenarm in The Glynns (1981), the Hon. Hector McDonnell's article on the building of the parish church at Glenarm in The Glynns (1982), and Felix McKillop's Glenarm — A Local History (Glenarm, 1987).