146 Portaferry Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey gabled house situated right on the landward side of the Portaferry Road and possessing a simple rustic appearance which may be indicative of considerable age.

Front SW facade has an off centre front doorway with simple surrounds with keystone and ‘side blocks’. The doorway now contains a recently installed panelled and glazed door. To the left of the doorway is a sash window, with a similar window to the right. To the right of this is another similar window and a plain sheeted timber door, both belonging to a single storey gabled section attached to the SE gable. There are three windows as before to the first floor of the front facade of the main house.

The SE gable is blank as is the gable of the single storey section attached to the ground floor.

The rear of the roof of the main house slopes further at the rear to incorporate a single storey section which covers almost all of the rear elevation. This rear facade has a central timber sheeted door and tiny window to the immediate left of the door.

Attached to the SE side of the rear single storey section and to the rear of the gabled single storey section on the SE gable, is a small lean to shed like structure which merges with a larger gable outbuilding to the NE.

The main house gable to the NW has a sash window to the right on the first floor and a double sash window to the left on the ground floor. To the right of this is a lean to store with large flat arch doorway opening on the NE side. The SW side of this lean to is hidden behind a high rendered wall which is flush with the front facade.

The entire facade is covered in rough cast render.

All of the roofs of the house, including the lean to sections, are covered with local rough hewn ‘Tullycavey’ slate, with three rendered chimney stacks to the main roof and one to the gable of the single storey section to the SE.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS map of 1834. Locally the house is known as the ‘Halfway House’ as it is said to have been the mid point of the old coach road from Belfast to Portaferry and once served as a staging post for the changing of horses. The positioning of the house, right on the side of the road, tends to support this belief, and also suggests that this building may be of considerable age.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Down 11.
2 PRONI VAL 1B/34 1st valuation, Newtownards, c.1835.
3 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Revision, 1860, Down 11.
4 PRONI 2nd valuation, Newtownards, c.1861.

Secondary sources
1 ‘Miscellany’ in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.17', 1993, p.19.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Simple, well preserved two storey vernacular house which may once have served as a staging post for coaches travelling between Belfast to Portaferry. This building is shown on the 1834 OS map and appears to be of considerable age. It has retained its original interior and facade and remains one of the most distinctive dwellings along the whole of the Portaferry Road.