4-14 Mill Street,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Varied group of 5 two storey houses set in the terrace on the S side of Mill Street, probably dating from the 1840s, but with Nos.6-10 possibly significantly altered (or partly rebuilt?)in the later 1800s. The group is set on a slight incline with the ground rising to the E.

No.4 is to the E end of the group. Its front (N) façade consists of an ‘Ards’ doorway to the left with panelled door and spoked fanlight. Steps to door. To the right of this is a window with PVC frame with two similar to the first floor. The façade is finished in lined render and painted. The rear façade is largely unrendered and has a sash window to the left on the ground floor, with Georgian panes, and a modern kitchen extension to the right of this. To the first floor are two windows with PVC frames as front. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with a single brick chimney stack and Velux window to rear. PVC rw goods. Internal evidence suggests that this house and that to the N (the present No.2) were once one property. No.4 is slightly taller than the rest of the group.

No.6 has a doorway to the left at the front with plain pilasters lintel frieze and cornice encasing a modern panelled and glazed door. Steps to door. To the right of this is a window with modern frame with two similar, but slightly smaller, windows to the first floor. The windows have slim modern cills. The front façade is finished in lined render and painted. The ground floor at rear has had a large, modern, flat roofed extension. To the first floor are two windows (the right one smaller and at stairwell level), both with modern frames. The roof is covered in asbestos slates with a rendered chimney stack.

No.8 is a small, narrow house, probably created c.1880-1900 by the blocking up of a carriage arch and the commandeering of a first floor room(s) (originally) belonging to its neighbour to the S (No.10). To the left on the first floor is a partly glazed PVC door with a window with PVC frame to the right of this. To the first floor is a slightly taller window with similar frame but with its cill set on two small corbels. The front façade is finished in lined render and painted. To the ground floor at the rear is a modern flat roofed kitchen extension with a single PVC framed window to the first floor. The rear façade is finished in plain render and unpainted. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with rendered chimney stack. PVC rw goods.

No.10 is roughly the same size as No.6. To the right at the front is a doorway like No.6 but with panelled door and plain fanlight. To the left of this is a window with modern frame, with two similar windows to the first floor. The front façade is finished in lined render. To the ground floor at the rear is a kitchen extension to the left with a corrugated [?iron] mono-pitched roof. To the right of this is a window with modern frame with two similar to the first floor (with that to the left set at slightly lower stairwell level). The rear has a dry dash finish. Asbestos free slates to the roof with single rendered chimney stack. Metal and PVC rw goods.

Nos.12-14 were once separate properties but have been amalgamated. The front façade of each, however, bear no sign of the internal changes. That to No.12 has a Gibbs-like ‘Ards’ doorway to the left with panelled door and fanlight. To the right of this is a sash window with margin panes, with two similar windows to the first floor. The front of No.14 is exactly the same only handed and the whole façade is finished in lined render and painted.

The rear façade was once as uniform but has witnessed some changes. To the far left of the ground floor (i.e. No.14) is a fairly recent bathroom extension with a flat roof with a window to the right of this and two further to the first floor (with that to the left set at a lower stairwell level). The rear of No.12 is roughly a handed version of No.14’s except that the stairwell window has been slightly shortened (it was once abutted by the roof of a now removed single storey extension), whilst to the right on the ground floor there is a very small flat roofed porch extension. The windows have modern frames. The rear is largely unrendered with brick dressings to the openings. The roof is covered in asbestos free slates. Two rendered chimney stacks. Cast iron and PVC RW goods.

Historical information

On the earliest surviving maps of the town of Comber, which date from 1721-22, Mill Street is shown with dwellings along much of it, though this particular site (then in the hands of a Francis Griffith) appears as part of the edge of a large field. The OS map of 1834 indicates that there were buildings on this site (in part if not in whole) at this date. The valuation records of the following year, however, tell us that the whatever was on the site was not of rateable value and probably not the two storey dwellings we see today. This is supported by deeds in possession of the owners of Nos.8, 12 and 14 which indicate that their own particular houses date from the 1840s, a date which their appearance and sandstone construction (which seems to have become more widely practised in Comber from c.1830 onwards) would seem to bear out. No.4, however, appears to have been originally linked with the present No.2 and may therefore may once have been a larger house, or a house with a shop. In fact, No.2 was actually a shop until fairly recently.

The dating of Nos.6-10 is more problematical. The square headed doorways (which No.8 also had until recently) are similar to other houses within Comber dating from around the 1880s, however, physical evidence suggests that No.8 was formed by the filling in of a carriage arch and the taking of an upstair room(s) from No.10. Thus, as far as these houses are concerned the doorways in question could simply represent late 19th century alterations to an older dwelling. No.6 may also have been an earlier dwelling to which a new door surround was added in the later 1800s, but this is not certain.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.654/M1B/1-4 Londonderry Papers- maps relating to Comber town 1721-c.1850.
2 PRONI D.654/M54/4, 6-7, 12, 15, 24, 28-32, 34 Londonderry Papers- maps relating to Mill Street, Comber 1797-1828.
3 PRONI VAL 1B/316A p.52 1st valuation, Comber.
4 PRONI OS/1/3/10 OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
5 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB1991), pp.28, 33.
6 Deeds in possession of present owners of Nos.4, 12 and 14, dating back to 1840s.
7 PRONI OS/6/3/10/3 OS map, 1st rev. 1858, Down 10.
8 PRONI 2nd valuation, Comber.
9 PRONI OS/2/3/10 OS map, 2nd ed. 1901, Down 10.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Varied two storey terrace of 5 dwellings, probably all dating from c.1840-50. Nos.12-14 are now one house though their well preserved facades still maintain the appearance of separate properties. No.8 is a very small house (c.8ft wide!) which evidence suggests was formed c.1880-1900 by the filling in a carriage arch and the taking of an first floor room(s) originally belonging to No.10. No.4 appears also to have been linked with No.2. Nos.4-10 now have modern window frames to the front and all of the houses (to a greater or lesser degree) have modern extensions to the rear.