Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB06/02/037

Address :
Former court house (now Glenarm Baptist Church) 43-45 Toberwine Street Glenarm Ballymena Co Antrim BT44 0AP

Townland:
Glenarm Town Parks

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Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
23/10/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Church

Former Use
Court House

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
45/12

IG Ref:
D3111 1511

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Owner Category

Church - Other

Exterior Description And Setting

Two storey former court house with four storey tower, of probable pre 1757 construction and possibly built around part of the ruins of a 13th century castle, but whose present appearance with Italianate decoration to the tower and enclosed lower floor is the result of a c.1840 remodelling. The building is set at the centre of the village of Glenarm on the corner of the narrow Toberwine Street and the equally narrow Castle Street, with tightly packed terrace houses / shops hemming it in to the N and W. It now serves as a Baptist church. The long E facing (Toberwine Street) elevation is asymmetrical. To the far left on the ground floor is a panelled timber door encased with plain pilasters and an entablature and pediment. To the right of this is a square window with Georgian paned sash frame, (8/4), and moulded ‘eared and heeled’ surrounds topped with a segmental ‘hood’ with keystone. To the right of this is another doorway, as before, then two more windows, also as before. To the first floor are five evenly spaced taller windows with Georgian paned sash frames (8/8) and eared and heeled surrounds. The shorter E elevation is also asymmetrical. To the left is an almost house-like section which appears to originally been a separate property, being taken over by the court house some time after 1903. This section has a panelled timber door to the ground floor with a large window to left with double sash frame (Georgian-like panes 4/4, 4/4) and a smaller window to right with single sash (vertical glazing bars 2/2). Two first floor are two more windows with sash frames (Georgian-like panes- both 4/4). To the right of the house-like section merges with the four storey tower. To the ground floor of the tower is a window with Georgian paned sash frame (6/6). The first and second floors of this (S) face of the tower are blank, with the same levels to N and W abutted by the first floor levels of the other sections of the building. At third floor level on the E face of the tower there is tall narrow window with Georgian panes. To the uppermost level all faces of the tower have an ‘arcade’ of three tall-ish semicircular-headed niches with simple mouldings at arch springing level with linked moulding above arches themselves. Beneath each recess there is a small rectangular [?vent] opening. The tower is topped with a shallow overhanging pyramidal roof with fish weathervane. To right of the tower the building has a curved ‘corner’ bay with a flat roof. This bay has a half-landing level window with semicircular head having a thick moulded surround and Georgian-paned frame with arched tracery to head. The bay has a moulded eaves course with plain low parapet above. As one would expect the rear (W and N) elevations have a utilitarian appearance. To the ground floor of the longer W elevation there is a timber sheeted door to left with two relatively small windows to the right of this then another doorway. The windows both have sash frames with unusual vertical panes having top and bottom margins, whilst the doorway has a modern glazed door. To the first floor left there is a partly glazed fire escape door, leading to a concrete fire escape which runs against the gable of the neighbouring property to the N and (at a lower level) abuts the gable of an outbuilding to the W. Where the W elevation intersects with the short N elevation there is a small-ish single storey hipped roof projection which appears to be the boiler house. This has a low door to its W face. To the right of the projection, on the ground floor of the N elevation there is a timber sheeted door. To the first floor centre-left there is a window with sash frame (4/4 square panes). The entire façade is finished in unpainted roughcast with smooth render in-out quoins to S and E elevations (and much of the tower). Smooth render base to these elevations also. The tower has a thin string course at fourth floor level. The main sections of the building are gabled with hipped roofs to the tower and boiler house projection. Most of the roof is slated but that to N elevation (i.e. the rear half of the roof of the Castle Street portion of the building) has artificial ‘slates’. There is a large rendered ridge chimneystack to the N end of the building, with a (relatively recent looking) brick stack to the W end. Cast iron rw goods to front elevations, mixture of materials to rear.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This building has a long and somewhat obscure history. According to the OS Memoirs of 1835, the earliest reference to a court house within the village occurs in the Courts Leet records for 1757, when mention is made of it having been repaired in this year. Unfortunately this actual record appears to have been lost for the earliest Court Leet book with the Antrim Papers (PRONI) dates from 1765; however there is little reason to doubt the word of the Memoir writer, for both he and the near contemporary first valuation returns regarded the building at that date as being of great age, the former referring to it as ‘a very rude clumsy old building’ and the latter grading it at ‘C’- i.e. a building of more than fifty years, and probably much older. How ‘old’ remains a mystery. The structure is believed to occupy the site of the original Glenarm Castle, [?a large tower house-like structure and outbuildings] built probably c.1250 and partially pulled down by Sorley Boy McDonnell in 1597. Apparently it was later repaired and (according to local historian Felix McKillop) still occupied in the late 1600s, however, Richard Dobbs, who wrote a short description of Glenarm in 1683, (and made reference to the towns principal structures), makes no mention of it. Whatever the fate of the castle, the thickness of part of the walls of the present building has lead some to suggest that sections of the older structure survived. However, the abovementioned 1835 OS Memoirs statement concerning ‘the foundations of a very extensive old castle which stood at the centre of the town "ntil a few years ago", could imply the siting of the former court house does not correspond exactly with that of the medieval stronghold. The valuation returns of 1833 tell us that at that stage the building consisted of the long main section fronting on to Toberwine Street and the tower. The tower was originally topped with a spire, but by 1812 this had fallen into such bad repair that it was ordered by the Court Leet to be removed and the ‘stone and bricks to be sold to pay for demolition’. To the first floor of the building was the court room itself, with the largely open ground floor serving as the market house. In the early 1830s the court room was also used for a time as a makeshift place of worship by the local orthodox Presbyterian congregation, following their split with the Unitarians. Some time between 1835 and 1843 the building underwent a major renovation with the understorey fully enclosed and the tower refurbished in Italianate manner. With the enclosing of the ground floor this level ceased to be used as a market house, the second valuation of 1859 recording that it contained a reading room, dispensary and ‘two small rooms’ for the caretaker. At some point [?in the early 1900s] the court house appears to have taken over the building to the immediate west (in Castle Street), which prior to this appears to have been a private dwelling. The building’s primary function as a court continued until the mid 20th century. It now serves as a Baptist church. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D.2977/23/1 Records relating to Glenarm Manor Court, 1755-1845 2 PRONI D.2977/23/2 Records relating to Glenarm Court Leet, 1765-1847 3 PRONI D.2977/36/3/1A Antrim Papers Map, showing the Town of Glenarm, plus Glenarm Castle and demesne, by John O'Hara, 1779. [Includes a list of the tenants in Glenarm town.] 4 Ulster Museum A view of Glenarm Castle (painting dating from some time between 1768 and 1812) [This spire of the court house is shown in this painting.] 5 View of Glenarm ?c.1780 (painting in possession of Lord Dunluce) [The spire of the court house is shown in this painting also.] 6 “The town and castle of Glenarm, Co.Antrim” (1830) by T.M. Baynes in ‘Ireland illustrated’ (London 1831) [This illustration indicates that the tower of the court house had a shallow pitched roof at this date, but the present overhanging roof probably dates from the c.1833-43 renovation.] 7 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.13 [c.1830-35] ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.127 8 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33 9 PRONI VAL/1B/149 First valuation, Tickmacrevan parish, 1833 [The map to accompany this valuation is now lost.] 10 Samuel Lewis, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland’ vol.1 (London 1837), p.658 11 William Makepeace Thackery, ‘Irish sketchbook’ (1843), p.238 [Thackery describes the building as a ‘town house with campanile in the Italian taste’.] 12 Mrs and Mrs S.C. Hall, ‘Ireland: Its scenery, character etc., vol.III (London 1843), p.130 13 PRONI VAL/2D/1/11 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1859 [with later annotations- ?c.1900] 14 PRONI VAL/2B/1/41B Second valuation [notebook], village of Glenarm, 1859 15 PRONI OS/8/103/1 OS town plan of Glenarm, 1903 16 PRONI VAL/12E/31/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1907-[1935] 17 PRONI VAL/3G/20/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm. 1936-57 Secondary 1 C.E.B. Brett, ‘Historic buildings…Glens of Antrim’ (Belfast 1971), p.16 2 C.E.B. Brett, ‘Court houses and market houses of Ulster’ (Belfast 1973), pp.32-33 3 Eileen Black, “A view of Glenarm Castle” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.7 (1979), pp.29-30 4 Jimmie Irvine, “A map of Glenarm- 1779” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.9 (1981), pp.52-61 5 Hon. Hector McDonnell, “The building of the parish church at Glenarm” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.10 (1982), pp.31-36 6 Felix McKillop, ‘Glenarm- A local history’ (Glenarm 1987), p.11

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance Z. Rarity X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two storey former court house with four storey tower, of probable pre 1757 construction and possibly built around part of the ruins of a 13th century castle, but whose present appearance- with Italianate decoration to the tower and enclosed lower floor- is the result of a c.1840 remodelling. The building, which is largely roughcasted with a slated gabled roof and Georgian-paned sash windows, is set at the centre of the village of Glenarm on the corner of the narrow Toberwine Street and the equally narrow Castle Street, with tightly packed terrace houses / shops abutting it to both north and west ends. The house-like Castle Street section appears to have originally been a separate property which was merged with its larger neighbour in the early 20th century. Given that much of the historic structure appears to survive combined with its (relative ) antiquity makes the building suitable for the B+ grade. The building now serves as a Baptist church.

General Comments

Date of Survey

03 April 2001