METROPOLITAN NEWTOWNABBEY

Merville Garden Village Conservation Area

Designated in 1995, Merville Garden Village Conservation Area, has a pronounced northwest / southeast axis and unique layout and form. The present boundaries enclose Merville Garden Village as it was designed and built, clearly demarcating the area from its surroundings by a distinct character and appearance.

The Conservation Area is identified for information on Map No. 2a – Metropolitan Newtownabbey and Map No. 21 – Merville Garden Village Conservation Area.

The historical integrity of this area is protected in the prominent front block, facing onto the Shore Road. The ‘village’ draws much of its inspiration from the Garden City Movement combining architecture and its natural setting in a way that affords its residents a spacious environment, rich in contrasting form and colour, yet retaining a suburban intimacy.

Proposals for development within Merville Garden Village Conservation Area will be assessed in accordance with prevailing regional planning policy as currently set out in PPS 6 Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage, Policy UE 2 as set out in Part 3, Volume 1 of the Plan and design guidance contained in the Merville Garden Village Conservation Area Guide.

Areas of Townscape Character

The following Areas of Townscape Character (ATCs) MNY 30 – MNY 38 are designated in Newtownabbey, as identified on Map No. 2a – Metropolitan Newtownabbey and on clarification Map Nos. 2c – 2k.

Policy for the control of development within the ATCs is contained in Policy UE 3 in Part 3, Volume 1 of the Plan.

Abbeyville Park contains some of the last remaining post-war “prefabs” in Northern Ireland which were erected around 1948 by the Belfast Rural District Council, as part of the UK Temporary Housing Programme. As a housing form the prefabricated house was an immediate success and remains so to the present time.

The prefabricated bungalow was a highly advanced product of its time. The dwellings contained modern fixtures and fittings to a plan designed to give the maximum amount of space and privacy. These houses were manufactured in factories on a production line and assembled on site, which represents one of the main tenets of 1920s/30s architectural Modern Movement.

This is an extensive development of social housing comprising over four hundred houses built in 1949/50 by Ulster Garden Villages (Ltd). These create an ordered harmony as the terraces step down the sloping site. The particular character of Fernagh lies in its coherence, order and uniformity alongside the setting of the sloping site.

This area is bounded by the coast to the east, and by the M5 Motorway and A2 Shore Road to the west. During the early to mid nineteenth century, the long tapering portion of land north of Macedon Point between the Belfast - Carrickfergus Coast Road and the west shore of Belfast Lough, became a popular residential area for members of the merchant and professional classes. This led to the building of a number of substantial houses within generous landscaped grounds.

Lenamore is significant for its range of architectural styles and building types, which include turn of the century and inter-war dwellings set within a mature landscape.

The construction of Jordanstown railway station in 1861 and the subsequent issue of ‘villa’ tickets by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Company, helped stimulate the construction of houses in the vicinity of the station. The late Victorian and Edwardian dwellings are located along the Jordanstown Road, while the later developments of mostly bungalows are situated along Glenkeen Avenue. The significance and character of the townscape derives principally from the high quality of its generously landscaped layout.

This is a small, distinct area of late nineteenth century houses lying to the north-west of the former Whiteabbey village. The area has become subsumed by inter-war and post-war housing developments despite the area originating in a rural setting on higher ground. The area grew with the expansion of the late Victorian and Edwardian suburbs beyond the city boundaries, in conjunction with the development of the railways and the issue of ‘villa’ or ‘house-free’ tickets by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Company.

The area has a significant Victorian presence and its heritage and townscape qualities should be safeguarded.

Rushpark estate was designed and built by the Northern Ireland Housing Trust during the 1950s and is a good example of post-war social housing combining buildings and landscaped open spaces.

The generous provision of open space within the layout allows for comfortable accommodation within the two tower blocks and surrounding two storey terraced houses.

The leafy maturity of the parkland setting now extends to the houses and gardens. Any development in the area should be carefully controlled if its distinctive character and appearance are to be safeguarded.

Located eleven kilometres north of Belfast, on the northern shore of Belfast Lough, Whiteabbey developed during the early part of the nineteenth century to service the cotton and bleaching works.

The railway stations built at Whiteabbey and Jordanstown in the 1860s encouraged commuter traffic and the growth of suburbs. In the 1970s Whiteabbey was bypassed by the new Shore Road, isolating it from large volumes of daily traffic but encouraging further development.

The hilly topography of the area, provides some of the variety which characterises Whiteabbey, including the steep slopes of Old Manse Road and Circular Road.

Whiteabbey has retained its historic urban fabric in the form of the original street pattern and buildings.

The former Whiteabbey bleaching works and mill originated in the early nineteenth century, centred on the millpond on Glenville Road. The mills were the focal point in the social and economic life of the local community during the nineteenth century. Although nothing now remains of the Whiteabbey mills, the terraced housing, previously occupied by the employees, has survived together with the larger dwellings in Dillons Avenue.

Built in 1926, Ypres Park was developed for veterans of the Great War by the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust. By comparison with other contemporary houses built for rent, “Trust” houses were constructed to a very high standard both internally and externally. Each house had an allotment as well as a reasonably sized rear garden. Ypres Park remains largely intact and in good condition exhibiting the original form, open spaces and details.