3-5 Castle Street, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AT

Nos. 3 and 5 Castle Street are a non-identical pair of two-storey rendered terraced houses of probable mid-19th century construction, dating to around 1835–40. They sit on the north side of Castle Street in Glenarm, within a conservation area, and are privately owned. The buildings were assessed for listing but were found not to merit it; this record exists for documentation purposes only.

The two houses share a south-facing front elevation, though the façade of each property is asymmetrical. No. 3, on the left, has a modern timber-sheeted door with a diamond-shaped glazed panel at ground floor level, and a mock sash window — actually top-hung — to the right of the door. At first floor level there are two similar top-hung windows. No. 5 has a modern panelled door to the right at ground floor and a modern top-hung window to the left, again with two similar windows at first floor. The paired doors of Nos. 3 and 5 share a fine smooth cement surround. No. 3 appears to have a flying lease over part of No. 5, an arrangement that may reflect an earlier history in which both properties formed a single dwelling — pencil annotations in the 1859 valuation notebook hint at this possibility, which would also help explain the awkward composition of the front elevation.

The front elevation has a roughcast rendered finish. To the rear, the finish is mixed, incorporating facing brick, smooth cement render, and roughcast. Both properties have had recent two-storey flat-roofed returns added to their rears, fitted with modern windows; these returns almost entirely obscure the rear elevations of both houses. The gabled roof covering both houses is slated. At the east and west ends of the ridge are plain rendered chimneystacks, which merge into the chimneystacks of the neighbouring buildings on either side. Cast iron rainwater goods are fitted to the front elevation, with PVC rainwater goods to the rear.

The houses are almost certainly those recorded in the 1859 valuation as relatively new dwellings of similar dimensions, at that time in the possession of a Robert McKee (No. 3) and a James Wilson (No. 5).

Castle Street is the shortest of Glenarm's four main original streets, running westwards 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 possible medieval origin — which wound northwards through The Vennel, across the bridge, and on towards 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 street has considerable historical depth. The earliest leases within the Antrim Papers relating to plots and buildings along the street date from 1711. An old parish church was standing at the south-west end of the street as early as 1683, on the site now occupied by the former schoolhouse. The 13th-century Bisset castle — probably 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 at least since the 1750s, is thought to incorporate part of its ruins. John O'Hara's map of 1779, the earliest surviving plan of Glenarm, shows the street fully developed on both sides, with rows of properties matching the extent shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. The 1859 valuation evidence suggests that most of the buildings visible on the 1832 map are those standing today, with the short terrace in Lower Castle Street — including Nos. 3 and 5 — appearing around 1835–40.

In the early 19th century the street's prominence declined sharply. The old road through Castle Street was superseded by the new Coast Road and a new Glenarm Bridge, built in 1813 at the north end of the village, and the grounds around Glenarm Castle were enclosed. This process was largely complete by the mid-1820s. The effect on Castle Street's status was gradual but marked: whereas Lord Antrim's agent had lived on the street in the late 18th century, by the mid-1830s the agent had moved to the south end of Altmore Street, which had by then been widened and was considerably grander in character.