TURNLY'S TOWER
The Curfew Tower, 1 Mill Street, Cushendall, Co Antrim
1993
At the heart of Cushendall
Of all the interesting and varied buildings Hearth has worked
on, probably the oddest is the Tower in Cushendall. One of the
most attractive villages in the Glens of Antrim, Cushendall owes
much of its appearance to its 19th century owner Francis Turnly,
who built the Curfew Tower about 1820, using local pinkish red
sandstone. Although there are various stories giving reasons why
it was built, it seems most likely that it was simply a folly
or eyecatcher at the centre of the village. It is five stories
high (though one storey has only a tiny window and is virtually
invisible externally), with a battlemented parapet and a small
walled garden.
The building was apparently 'the great object of Mr Turnly's thoughts,'
and was erected 'as a place of confinement for idlers and rioters'.
He left instructions that it was to be guarded night and day by
a permanent 'garrison of one man' - initially an army pensioner
named Dan McBride - who was to have provisions for a year and
be armed with a musket, a bayonet, a case of pistols, and a thirteen
foot long pike with a cross at the end 'so that it could not be
pulled through the hole guarding the door-ways'. When this Hibernian
ornamental hermit retired, he was replaced in due course by a
Mr Stewart, who was in the navy in the First World War and had
a wooden leg, despite which he was an enthusiastic tree climber.
He brought up a large family in the Tower, rang the curfew bell
religiously, and ran a Union Jack up the flagpole. The last resident,
Bob Hume, carried on the traditions, repairing broken glass by
flattening corrugated perspex over a bunsen burner to achieve
the authentic distortion.
The traces of this fortified past are still to be found in the
windowless dungeon, the massively heavy entrance door, 'murder
holes' below the oriel windows, and an old well at the back door.
Niches in the walls beside the upper level windows almost certainly
housed heavy shutters for the windows, and a curfew bell has been
reinstated on the parapet (the old one was missing, and the present
one formerly graced a London fire station). A new lead roof was
put on, floors were replaced, the old narrow steep staircase repaired,
stonework repointed and repaired; and a new kitchen extension
was added at the rear using stone salvaged from former outbuildings,
contained within the walled garden and built into the rising hillside
to minimise its impact. The Tower was sold on completion to Bill
Drummond, who has since set up the In You We Trust that offers
short-term residencies for artists
in the Tower.
Client: Hearth Revolving
Fund
Architect: Hearth
Main Contractor: J S Dunlop, Ballymoney
Restored: 1992-93
Accommodation: One tower house with two bedrooms and dungeon.
Assisted by loans and grants from: N I Housing Executive, Historic
Buildings Branch DoE and own capital.
