‘The Burn’,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small one and a half storey gabled farm house set on a hillside to the W of the Tullynagee Road, c.2 miles S of Comber.

The front (W) facade has a right of centre modern glazed door with plain fanlight. To the left of this are two sets of ‘paired’ sash windows, with a further ‘pair’ to the right of the doorway.

To the N gable are two small attic sash windows, with two similar sized windows to the S gable, but with modern frames.

To the rear there are two doors to the left. The first of these (which leads to a small store room) is timber sheeted with a small glazed panel. The second door (which leads to the kitchen) is c.1950s and is part glazed. To the right of this door is a small casement window, then a large sash window (with vertical glazing bars), and to the far right, a smaller sash window.

The front and rear facades are finished in rough cast with the gables in lined render with chamfered quoins. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with three rendered chimney stacks. Two small cast iron skylights to the rear of the roof. PVC rainwater goods.
Outbuildings to N.

The rear and gable walls of this house appear to be built mainly of rubble (and are quite thick) whilst the front appears to be in brick.

Historical information

A building is shown on this site on the OS maps of 1834 and 1858, which the 1834 valuation records state was in the hands of a John McKee. Unfortunately the map to accompany the 2nd (1863) valuation appears to be missing (thus making it difficult to tell who lived in the house), but it appears to have remained within the wider McKee family. The present owners father in law, who came into possession of the property in 1907, is believed to have carried out renovations immediately afterwards. Judging from the present front facade, with its regular paired window openings and brick construction (as opposed to the rest of the walls which are in rubble), it appears that this facade was largely rebuilt at this point. The interior detail appears largely early 20th century also.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
2 PRONI VAL1B/320, p.2 1st valuation Kilmood parish 1834.
3 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp. 94-95.
4 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
5 PRONI 2nd valuation parish Kilmood.1863. [The map to accompany this part of the valuation appears to be missing.]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Small, plain, one and a half storey farm house, of possible pre 1833 origin but probably radically renovated in the early 1900s. This renovation may have involved the complete rebuilding of the front facade.