Former Rectory, 60 Munie Road, Glebe, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0BL

Former Rectory, 60 Munie Road, Glebe, Glenarm

This large two-storey former rectory house probably dates originally from the early to mid 18th century, but acquired its distinctive 'Irish Tudor' appearance in 1858 when it was substantially enlarged and decorated with half dormer gables, paired windows, drip mouldings with label stops and other period details. The building ceased to serve as a rectory in the late 1940s and fell largely vacant after the mid 1950s, until the present owner carried out a sympathetic restoration in 1990 following good conservation practice.

The house sits on sloping ground to the east of Munie Road, approximately two miles south-west of Glenarm. The front elevation faces roughly north and is asymmetrical in composition. At the left of centre stands a large two-storey projection with a stepped-kneeler 'Irish Tudor' gable. The centre of its ground floor contains a large pointed-arch door opening with bevelled sandstone archivolt and timber-sheeted double door. Either side of the door are semicircular-headed windows with 2/1 sash frames featuring horizontal glazing bars. The first floor has a paired sash of the same pattern, above which sits a square drip moulding with label stop. Below the stone window sill is a decorative carved stone panel inscribed 'A.D. 1858 Hector McDonnell Me Restoravit MCMXC'. The gable features a stone parapet with stone-edged kneelers and is crowned by a square stone finial with ogee cap. The short east and west faces of the bay are blank.

To the left of the porch is a paired sash window as on the first floor of the bay, with drip moulding. Above it, set within a Tudor-style gabled dormer with stone coping matching the main gable, is a smaller similar window. To the right of the porch are two windows as found on the ground floor left, with the rightmost slightly narrower. Above these are two gabled half-dormers; the left contains a window as before, whilst the right has a broad single sash window.

The east gabled elevation displays on its ground floor two paired sash windows as on the front, with drip moulding. The first floor has a tripartite sash window in similar style but without mouldings.

The west gable shows on its ground floor right side a paired sash window as before with drip moulding, and to its right a sash window with Georgian panes (6/3) without dressings. The first floor right side has a tiny plain sash window, with a tiny louvered opening at roof space level in the right side of the gable.

The right side of the west gable merges with a large two-storey rear gabled return. The west face of this return has a Georgian-paned sash window (6/3) to the ground floor left, and two much smaller sash windows (2/2 with vertical glazing bars) to the right. The first floor left has two widely spaced Georgian-paned sash windows (both 3/6). The south gable of the return contains a doorway with recent glazed door to the right of the ground floor, with its right edge curved and the remainder blank. The east face shows two Georgian-paned sash windows (both 3/6) to the ground floor and two smaller 2/4 sash windows to the first floor.

The rear elevation centre has two Georgian-paned sash windows to the first floor (both 3/6). To the right extends another two-storey gabled return, smaller but still substantial. Its west face has a timber-sheeted door with plain four-pane fanlight to the ground floor left, and a 2/2 sash window to the first floor left. The south gabled face has a Georgian-paned sash window (6/6) to the ground floor left side and a smaller similar window (3/6) to the first floor right side. The ground floor right side abuts a single-storey outbuilding. The east face has a Georgian-paned sash window (6/6) to the ground floor left and a 4/4 sash window to the right; the first floor has a 3/6 sash window left and a 2/4 sash window right. To the far right of the rear south elevation (east of the second return) is a plain sash window with semicircular arch-headed frame to the first floor.

The façade is finished in painted roughcast. The gabled roof is slated with three rendered chimneystack groups: one to the west gable and two close to the centre ridge of the main front section, with further stacks to each return. Aluminium rainwater goods are fitted. To the rear is a yard enclosed by a high rubble wall to the west, a large two-storey rubble-built outbuilding to the south, and a single-storey rubble-built outbuilding to the east.

The house originally served as the rectory for Glenarm Church of Ireland parish church (Tickmacrevan parish). Its precise original date is uncertain, though the current owner notes it appears on an estate map of 1730. The original 18th-century dwelling was considerably smaller than the present structure, measuring 41 feet by 24 feet by 15½ feet (the area now easily identified between the outer chimneysstacks), with two two-storey returns. In 1858 the property was extended eastward with a new eastern return added, the roof raised, and Tudoresque details introduced, likely in imitation of Glenarm Castle. These changes were probably carried out under the direction of Reverend David C. Courtney, listed as incumbent in the 1860 valuation. The building was regarded as 'very old' (grade 'C+') by valuers in 1833. The property remained a rectory until the late 1940s, when it was subsequently rented. It became vacant in the mid 1950s and fell into disrepair and abandonment. In the late 1980s it was acquired by the present owner, who undertook its restoration in 1990.