Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB06/02/068 C

Address :
11 Vennel Street (The Vennel) Glenarm Ballymena County Antrim BT44 0AS

Townland:
Glenarm Town Parks

---

Survey 2:
B2

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

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
45/12

IG Ref:
D3116 1505

---

Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Relatively small, plain, two storey rendered end of terrace house which, despite its slightly Georgian look, may date from as late c.1930. The property is set at the end of the stepped terrace on the S side of Vennel Street. The front (roughly N) elevation is asymmetrical. To the left on the ground floor is a c.1920s-30s style panelled and glazed door. To the right is a tripartite sash window with Georgian panes (2/2, 6/6, 2/2); directly above is a similar window. The left side of the first floor is blank. The front eaves is hidden behind a plain parapet with coping The W elevation is gabled and is blank. To the apex is a plain rendered chimney stack with one small pot. Each verge has a low stone copestone. To the left side of the rear ( S ) elevation is a single storey flat roofed extension with a deep painted timber fascia. To the centre of the S face is a late Edwardian style mullioned and transomed window with multi-pane upper lights. The E face of the return is blank. To the W face there is a partly glazed door. To the left of the extension (on rear façade of main house) is a narrow window, similar in style to previous. There is a similar window to the right of the extension. To the first floor are two windows, as the extension. The front and the W elevations are finished in painted render while that to the S and the flat roofed extension are finished in rough cast. The gabled roof is slated. PVC rw goods.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

VENNEL STREET Prior to the building of the Coast Road in the 1830s, Vennel Street or ‘The Vennel’ was the main road to Glenarm from Larne and the south. As the name, ‘Vennel’ (archaic Scots- ‘a narrow winding lane’), and its sloping topography suggest, it was the least attractive of the village’s four main streets. This is reflected in the fact that the earliest leases concerning the area (which date from 1743 onwards) refer to it as the ‘Stinking Vennel’ or ‘Stinking Vennel Street’ and repeatedly mention ‘waste tenements’. John O’Hara’s map of 1779 shows many small densely packed dwellings along both sides of much of its length. During much of the next century and a half, however, most of this housing was replaced- the 1832 OS map showing a very large gap on the south side, the annotations to the second valuation records showing much post 1859 rebuilding on the north side, and the 1900s OS plans and photographic evidence showing that most of the present south side appears to be early 20th century. No.11 On the valuation map of 1859 a group of eight small dwellings are shown on the site of the present terrace of five houses- nos.11-19; On the OS plan of 1903 six properties are marked and photographs of c.1910 show that the eastern portion of the terrace consisted of dilapidated single storey dwellings, with two storey ones to west, which look markedly different than those of today. This all suggests that this house and the terrace that it belongs to were all built after this date. The west end of the terrace (nos.11-15) appears to be slightly later than the east end, and may be as late as 1930, for the Antrim Papers at PRONI contain plans of three proposed ‘kitchen houses’ in Vennel Street which appear to date from this year and appear to relate to this grouping. The owner of the neighbouring property (no.13) stated that she believed the group had been built through the efforts of ‘Lady Antrim’, apparently meaning Angela, the mother of the present Earl. If correct this would be consistent with a date of c.1930. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI D.2977/1/5/1A, 1C, D.29773A/4/65/64A-B, 74A, 100, 103 etc. Antrim Papers Leases relating to property in ‘The Stinking Vennel’ / ‘Stinking Vennel Street’, 1743, 1754, 1784, 1788, 1831 etc. 2 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.] 3 Ulster Museum A view of Glenarm Castle (painting dating from some time between 1768 and 1812) [This painting also shows the town itself.] 4 View of Glenarm c.1769-c.1812 (painting in possession of Lord Dunluce) 5 “The town and castle of Glenarm, Co. Antrim” [1830] by T.M. Baynes in ‘Ireland illustrated’ (London 1831) 6 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.13 [c.1830-35] ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.127 7 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33 8 PRONI VAL/1B/149 First valuation, Tickmacrevan parish, 1833 [The map to accompany this valuation is now lost making it extremely difficult, (and in most cases impossible), to tell which properties the valuation book is actually referring to. In some cases (most notably the west side of Toberwine Street) the writer has been able to successfully correlate the information contained within the second valuation notebook for 1859 with that of the first valuation, in order to decipher some of the details contained within the latter, but for most properties within Glenarm this has not been possible.] 9 Samuel Lewis, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland’ vol.1 (London 1837), p.658 10 William Makepeace Thackery, ‘Irish sketchbook’ (1843), p.238 11 Mrs and Mrs S.C. Hall, ‘Ireland: Its scenery, character etc., vol.III (London 1843), p.130 12 PRONI VAL/2D/1/11 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1859 [with later annotations- ?c.1900] 13 PRONI VAL/2B/1/41B Second valuation [notebook], village of Glenarm, 1859 [In the light of the problems concerning the first valuation this notebook and its accompanying map are both invaluable. For many areas the details of the second valuation only survive in the final printed form, with the names of householders and leaseholders and the rateable value for each property supplied only. For some areas, Glenarm among them, the working notebooks compiled by the valuers have survived, providing information such as dimensions of buildings, their use, the number of rooms they contain, notes on age and condition, and, (occasionally), comments regarding the overall appearance of properties. In many respect these notebooks closely resemble those of the first valuation, but frequently contain more detail.] 14 PRONI OS/8/103/1 OS town plan of Glenarm, 1903 15 PRONI VAL/12E/31/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1907-[1935] 16 PRONI D.2977/37/3/1 Antrim Papers Plans and elevations of three proposed kitchen houses at Vennel Street, ?c.1920s-30s 16 PRONI VAL/3G/20/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm. 1936-57 Secondary sources 1 C.E.B. Brett, ‘Historic buildings…Glens of Antrim’ (Belfast 1971), p.16 2 Eileen Black, “A view of Glenarm Castle” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.7 (1979), pp.29-30 3 Jimmie Irvine, “A map of Glenarm- 1779” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.9 (1981), pp.52-61 4 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 5 Felix McKillop, ‘Glenarm- A local history’ (Glenarm 1987)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building K. Group value

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Relatively small, plain, two storey rendered end of terrace house which, despite the slightly Georgian look of the front elevation may date from as late as 1930 . Of townscape importance.

General Comments

Date of Survey

14 May 2001