64-66 Castle Street

October 2024

Project Attributes

Project:

Ballycastle Museum

Owner:

Ballycastle Museum

Date:

11th November 2025

Address: 64-66 Castle Street

Listing: unlisted

Construction date: 1760-1779 (Historic Buildings Record HB05/13/009)

Year	Owner/lessee	Business name	Building use	Notes
				Built as a single property, the building was subdivided into two between 1859 and 1952. According to the Historic Buildings Record, the property to the west was no.64, the property to the east being no. 66. Fiona Spence (owner 2012-presnt) considers 64 to be the upstairs flat and 66 to be the shop. According the JMcC research, RAF members were billeted upstairs during WWII (unclear whether no.64, 66 or both).
1834	Neil McNeil, Miss Hill, and John Sharpe			HB05/13/009
no.64) 1859	Jane Adams			HB05/13/009
no.64) 1864	Jane Adams, then John Cully			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1865-1873	Mary McCambridge			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1874-1875	Vacant			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1879	Mary McCloy			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1880	Henry McAuley			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1881-1885	James Taylor			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1886	Mary Cunningham			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1887-1901	John Bonar			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1901	John Bonner		Tinsmith	Census – building no.76 John Bonner, 58, head of family, RC, tin smyth, not married
no.64) 1902-1906	John Bonar			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1907-1911	Samuel McCausland			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1911	John Bonar		Tinsmith	Census – building no.81 John Bonar, 40, head of family, RC, tinsmith, married Bridget Bonar, 42, wife, RC, sells tinware, married Lizzie Bonar, 15, daughter, RC, domestic Servant, single Mary Bonar, 13, daughter, RC, scholar, single Rosey Bonar, 11, daughter, RC, scholar, single John Bonar, 9, son, RC, scholar, single Annie Bonar, 4, daughter, RC, scholar, single Bridget Bonar, 3, daughter, RC, single
no.64) 1912-1914	Vacant			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1915-1919	James Doherty			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1920-1921	Elizabeth McCaughan			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1922-1925	Thomas McFadden			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) 1926-1930	Rose McFadden			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.64) ?1931-1937	Charles McGoldrick			HB05/13/009
no.64) 1937-1939	John Morton			HB05/13/009
no.64) 1941-1952	Francis Coyles			HB05/13/009
no.66) 1859	James Taylor			HB05/13/009
no.66) 1864-1880	James Taylor			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1874-1876	Mary McCambridge			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1881-1885	Denis McAuley			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1886-1887	Hugh ?			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1888-1889	Michael ?			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1890-1894	William Simpson			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1895-1897	William McCaughan			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1898-1900	Saml. ?			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1901				Census – building no. 79 or 80? No return?
no.66) 1901-1902	Ann Butler			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1903	Vacant			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1904-1905	Neal Kane			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1906	Samuel McCausland			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1907	John Bonar			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1908-1909	Vacant			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1910	Thomas McFadden			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1911	Thomas McFadden			Census – building no. 82 Thomas McFadden, 51, head of family, RC, gen labourer, married Rose McFadden, 40, wife, RC, domestic servant, married Thomas McFadden, 20, son, RC general labourer, single James McFadden, 18, son, RC, general labourer, single Charles McFadden, 16, son, RC, toy maker, single Frank McFadden, 14, son, RC, scholar, single Joseph McFadden, 10, son, RC, scholar, single Maggie McFadden, 5, daughter, RC, single
no.66) 1911-1921	Thomas McFadden			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers.
no.66) 1922-52	Lizzie McCaughan			SMcM research based on Griffith’s Valuation registers. HB05/13/009. According to HB05/13/009, “one of the former occupants, (a Mr Chambers- ? the father of former leaseholder Elizabeth McCaughan), is buried in the rear yard!” According to Fiona Spence (email 26/02/25) “I believe the historic building register people visited my Dad at a stage and my father had a habit of sometimes telling a story ‘to keep people going’ as a joke! But sometimes he also has accurate information too. I believe this entry also details that it was my Dad the current resident when they did it who told them this! I vaguely remember my Dad mentioning about this person visiting and my Dad having a smirk and laugh when he told people the story! I think these people were about in the 1990s / 2000s. I remember rolling my eyes when I saw what they had written down. I’m pretty sure I read it out to my Dad and he laughed!”
1952-1961	John Wilson		Dance hall and restaurant	John Wilson reintegrated nos.64 and 66 and built a large dancehall as a rear extension, (HB05/13/009). According to Fiona Spence (08/12/23), Johnny Wilson was in the Navy during WWI and a Mason. When the building was in use as a dancehall and café, takeaway fish and chips were sold from the side passage on the left. According to Fiona Spence (email 19/02/25), “There was no alcohol in the dance hall but fights still broke out.” A relative of Fiona’s worked at the café and dancehall and used to stay in the property in a room with no windows.
1961-2014	Jim Spence	The Northern Furnishing Co.	Furniture shop	According to Fiona, her father, Jim Spence, bought the property from Johnny Wilson, his grandfather’s cousin, in 1962. Throughout the 1960s, the flat above the shop was used as overflow accommodation for the Royal Hotel (now the Tannery Nightclub in the Diamond). When Jim built a two-story extension to the rear, he found a lot of horseshoes and the family thought there used to be a blacksmith’s on the site. Jim used the shop to sell antique and second-hand furniture. He also owned stores in Clare Street and held auctions outside in the street there. He had previously worked under John Patrick at the Market Yard.