First Trust Bank (former Trustee Savings Bank), 3 Castle Street, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 7BE

First Trust Bank (former Trustee Savings Bank), 3 Castle Street, Carrickfergus

A three-storey late-Georgian house, built circa 1830, now in use as a bank. The building is situated at the junction of Castle Street and Marine Highway in Carrickfergus town centre, close to the Norman castle, and is located within a conservation area.

The building is trapezoidal in plan, facing east over the harbour towards Carrickfergus Castle. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with rendered gable chimneystacks and painted metal half-round gutters with round downpipes. The external walls are painted smooth rendered with V-jointed quoins. The ground floor features a banded rusticated treatment with a first-floor sill-course above.

The principal east elevation is symmetrical except for a blocked carriage arch at the ground floor right end, now containing an ATM housed in a rendered segmental-arched recess. The ground floor window is a replacement top-hung casement with sill guards. The upper floors feature square-headed painted timber 6/6 sashes with painted reveals and sills. A square-headed painted timber raised-and-fielded six-panel door provides the main entrance.

The building is well-proportioned and finely detailed externally, with a particularly notable Ionic doorcase. The interior layout and detailing have been largely changed by its conversion to banking use. The north and south gables are entirely abutted by adjoining properties, and the rear west elevation was not inspected during survey.

The building appears on the first-edition Ordnance Survey map of 1836, with an alley or entry way to the right. The second-edition map of 1857 shows a slight addition at the rear elevation, and the 1921 edition shows further enlargement with the entry built over. Griffiths Valuation of 1860 records the property as a house, office and yard occupied by Miss Mary Stuart and rented from Alexander Gunning at a ground rent of £15. The entry describes a house over the gateway, main return, attached office, and a jawpit, with a total tenement valuation of £34. Contemporary notes mention a pantry and kitchen with four rooms on the ground floor and four above.

Valuation revisions from 1894 to 1908 list the property as a house, office and yard occupied by William Gorman and leased from Alexander Gunning, valued at £28. An additional entry records a slate and timber yard on the same reference, also occupied by William Gorman but leased from Robert Gillespie, valued at £6. From 1908 to 1915 the occupancy changed to James Gorman in 1913. From 1915 onwards the slate and timber yard was occupied by William Gorman and son, retaining the £6 valuation. Census records from 1901 and 1911 indicate that Alexander Forsyth and family lived at the address, though Griffiths Valuation of 1861 records Margaret Jenkins as the occupant, suggesting possible changes in house numbering on Castle Street.

Despite internal alterations, the building represents one of the most significant houses of the period in Carrickfergus and is valued for its architectural style, proportion, ornamentation and prominent setting.