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

Seven The Vennel is a plain two storey terraced house of circa 1840s-1850s, built in the 'town vernacular' style typical of small Ulster towns. It is situated on the south side of The Vennel in Glenarm, one of a non-identical pair with number five.

The front elevation faces roughly north and is asymmetrical. On the ground floor to the left is a panelled timber door, with a sash window to its right featuring Georgian panes in a 6/6 configuration. The first floor has two small sash windows, both with Georgian panes in a 6/3 pattern. The windows to the right-hand side of the front elevation were inserted around 1995 during comprehensive renovation works. The front façade is finished in painted render with in-out quoins to the left (east side).

The rear façade is constructed in limestone rubble. A recent partly glazed door occupies the ground floor to the left, with a small plain sash window to its right. The first floor rear has a window matching those of the front elevation. The gabled roof is slated, with a rendered chimneystack to the east.

The property's history reflects the changing character of The Vennel itself. Prior to the building of the Coast Road in the 1830s, The Vennel—whose archaic Scots name means 'a narrow winding lane'—was the main road from Larne and the south to Glenarm. Its sloping topography made it the least attractive of the village's four main streets, a fact reflected in early lease records from 1743 onwards which 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 much of its length.

The site itself appears vacant on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832. By the valuation map of 1859, it was occupied by two two storey houses whose combined dimensions match those of today, though their individual dimensions were virtually identical at that time. The property to the west (present number five) was notably larger then, much as it remains. The early twentieth-century Ordnance Survey plans and photographic evidence suggest that most of the present south side dates to that period, following significant rebuilding during the second half of the nineteenth century.

The property underwent comprehensive renovation in the 1990s, during which the front façade openings were substantially altered.