2 The Vennel, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AN

2 The Vennel is a small, plain two-storey terraced house located on the north side of The Vennel in Glenarm, at the western end of the terrace. The building dates from the probable late 19th century, most likely the 1880s based on evidence from historical maps and photographs, which show the site vacant in 1859 but the house in place by around 1903.

The house is finished in painted render with a stuccoed façade. The front elevation faces roughly south and is asymmetrical. To the right of the ground floor is a panelled timber door with a rectangular two-pane fanlight. To the left of the doorway is a large picture window with a modern frame. The first floor contains two plain sash windows. The left side (west) of the front façade is finished with plain quoins. A traditional-style projecting street lamp (though recent) is mounted on the left side at first floor level. The western gable is finished in the same manner as the front but without quoins and has no openings.

The rear elevation is finished as a gable. On the ground floor left side is a small lean-to structure with a small window of modern frame facing north. To the right of the lean-to is a recent partly glazed door. The first floor has two plain sash windows. The roof is gabled and slated, with two polychrome brick chimneystacks. The rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron and PVC.

Historically, The Vennel was the main road from Larne and the south to Glenarm prior to the construction of the Coast Road in the 1830s. The street's name derives from an archaic Scots term meaning "a narrow winding lane", and its sloping topography reflects its character as the least attractive of the village's four main streets. Early 18th-century leases refer to it as the "Stinking Vennel" and mention "waste tenements". John O'Hara's map of 1779 shows many small densely packed dwellings along both sides of the street. During the following century and a half, most of this housing was replaced, with significant rebuilding occurring on the north side in the latter decades of the 19th century, of which this property forms part.