[Extracts from Five Big Houses of Cushendun and Some Literary
Associations by C E B Brett, published by Lagan Press in 1997.
Copies are available through the UAHS.]
The Caves House
Built on an extraordinary site - a shelf of flat ground, surrounded by cliffs on three sides, by the rocky shore on the fourth - the Caves House is accessible only through the lengthy and curving tunnelled arch of one of the caves from which it takes its name. Today, it is a somewhat nondescript three-bay, three-storey house, painted white, with a return running back to meet the foot of the cliff, and a medley of outbuildings. Only one window at the back retains its Georgian glazing bars, but the underlying Georgian proportions of the house are still discernible, just, behind the much more recent porch and trimmings.
Lieutenant Chaytor of the Ordnance Survey, writing in 1832, says "There are several caves in the Parish. The most extensive is in the townland of Sleans opposite the site of Port Crommelin harbour; there are several apartments in it from 6 to 18 feet high. It is the property of Mr Crommelin. In it he has 2 store rooms, a powder magazine, a smith's forge and a cow-house; there is also a car passage through it. The tide flows nearly to its mouth." And: "At the north-east extremity of the parish, which is the south side of Cushendun Bay, N D Crommelin Esquire purposes building a small harbour, of which he has had a plan submitted to parliament, whose sanction he has obtained; it will be called Port Crommelin harbour". This harbour, of which no stone was ever laid, is even shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833 and Samuel Lewis's map of 1837; a number of plans for it, by James Donnell of the Fisheries Board and by the well-known Scottish engineer John Rennie, dated 1830, survive, and show, near the site of the present house, "Cottage, N D Crommelin". Several of these drawings are well reproduced in colour in the Cushendun Conservation Area booklet published in 1996.
Nicholas de Lacherois Crommelin (Senior) (1783-1863) (the name
is pronounced "Delasheroy Crumlin") was an expansive
and expensive gentleman, descendant of Huguenot linen merchants,
who built Carrowdore Castle in Co. Down and was much given to
idealistic but extravagant investment. (Uncovering the history
of this family is rendered far from easy by the fact, which I
did not at first appreciate, that the name 'Nicholas de Lacherois
Crommelin' appears in identical form in three successive generations:
I have designated them 'Senior', 'Junior', and 'III'.) In 1800,
the Crommelins had bought from Sir Henry Vane, in whom a part
of the Antrim estate was then vested, an extensive tract of barren
mountain land between the Glens and Ballymena.
In 1824, Nicholas Crommelin (Senior) set about building the village
he named Newtown Crommelin; he spent some £14,000 on cottages,
mill, kiln, schools, church, and especially roads: his scheme
was, that Port Crommelin at Cushendun should serve the inland
community on the far side of the mountains at Newtown Crommelin,
and indeed should become "the port of Ballymena". But
he incurred large debts, and annoyed everyone by failing to pay
what he owed. And, according to Boyle, "as the chief rent
has not been paid by Mr Crommelin to the chief landlord, consequently
neither leases can be granted nor improvements proceed".
Both experiments - the new town, and the harbour - ended in total
failure; which must have come as no surprise to Francis Turnly
of Drumnasole, who wrote to his agent on 30th March 1832, "I
have received a letter from Mr Finigan dated Cushendun, now, as
he states called Port Crommelin (a very premature designation)".
From the same letter, it appears that Turnly was then about to
eject Mr Crommelin from other premises at Brocas, near Cushendall,
as his previous leniency had proved "abortive"...
Maria (Henrietta) De Lacherois Crommelin (1849-1930)
Mercifully, this lady wrote under the simpler nom-de-plume
"May Crommelin". She was a Carrowdore niece of Nicholas
Crommelin (Junior), and the author of over 40 travel books and
novels. Their titles include Brown eyes; Crimson lilies; Miss
Daisy Dimity; Orange Lily; Goblin gold; and Dead men's dollars.
Many of them are set in exotic surroundings. According to Who
was who, her travels embraced North and South America, the West
Indies, Syria, Palestine, Japan, Egypt, India, Burma and South
Africa. She was bilingual in French, and was one of the first
female Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.
Her passport, issued and signed by Arthur Balfour in 1919 and
renewed until 1929, contains a vast variety of stamps of different
countries. She signs herself "May delaCherois Crommelin":
Age, "70"; Profession, "Fiction and Travel Writer";
place and date of birth, "Armagh, 30.8.1849"; Height,
"5 feet 5 inches"; Forehead, "High"; Eyes,
"Grey blue"; Nose, "Medium"; Mouth, "Medium";
Chin, "Round"; Colour of Hair, "Brown grey";
Complexion, "Pale"; Face, "Round"; Any special
peculiarities, "-". Her sepia photograph discloses a
distinctly plain lady in small spectacles and large hat.
When I learned that one of her novels, Divil-may-care, of 1899,
was set in the village of "Cushenderg", I had high hopes
of discovering a detailed description of Cushendun, or of The
Caves House, at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, descriptions
of this kind were not exactly her style, which is exemplified
by the following chapter-end of Bettina, of 1900:
[Most of the other literary associations described in the book
are weightier - Louis MacNeice and John Masefield are only two
of the nine figures described]
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