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

Coastguard Cottages, Belfast Road, Carrickfergus

A group of mid-nineteenth century coastguard cottages built around 1864, located to the south of Belfast Road in Carrickfergus. The buildings are set parallel to the road with small gardens to the rear.

The group comprises a terrace of six two-storey houses with a larger house positioned at right angles to them at the west end. The cottages are of rectangular plan with two-storey hipped returns to the rear. The roofs are hipped natural slate with blue and black clay ridge tiles. The walls are roughcast rendered with decorative cogged brick eaves and a cogged brick string course with smooth rendered platband above (on the north elevation). The plinth is smooth rendered.

Windows are 6/6 replacement uPVC casements, designed to mimic the original 6/6 timber sliding sashes, with painted masonry cills. The roughcast rendered chimneystack to the west party wall is corbelled and finished with decorative clay pots. Few cast-iron downpipes remain; most rainwater goods are replacement uPVC of square profile.

Alterations include the replacement of original windows and rainwater goods, and various additions have been made to the rear walls during recent refurbishment. The buildings are now in private ownership and have been converted to residential dwellings.

Historically, 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 Carrickfergus for 1860 shows the buildings added in pencil at a later stage (date unspecified). The cottages appear on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902 captioned 'Coastguard Station'. The station remained in use until at least 1945.

The group has historic interest in terms of its maritime association with Carrickfergus, but has been altered and does not possess sufficient architectural interest to warrant listing.