12-16 Kilmood Church Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey terrace of three gabled houses set on the SW side of the Church Road in the tiny hamlet of Kilmood. These houses are now vacant and inaccessible (and partly obscured) due to plant growth in all around them.

Front NE facade of each house has the same arrangement of a central timber sheeted door with a sash window to either side. The front facade of the central house (No.14) can hardly be seen due to plant growth. No.12 (at the SE end of the terrace)has horizontal astragals to its front windows. The front facade of the entire terrace is finished in plain render and painted.

The gable ends appear to be blank (but are largely obscured). The rear of the entire terrace is completely inaccessible (and largely obscured), however, No.16 has a mainly glazed lean to extension with a felted roof.

The roof of the entire terrace is gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates, some of which are now coming adrift. Three chimney stacks, of which the render is coming away revealing brick construction. Remnants of cast iron rw goods.

This terrace appears to have been abandoned for some time and the houses are now in poor order, however, they are not yet beyond redemption, though the writers have been informed that they are to be demolished soon.

Historical information

A building matching the shape and siting of this terrace is shown on the OS maps of 1834 and 1859-60, suggesting that these houses are probably of early nineteenth century origin. It is probable that they were originally built as estate workers’ dwellings by the Gordon family of near by Florida Manor, perhaps around c.1820 when Kilmood Church, court house and school house were also constructed. The second valuation survey confirms that the houses were indeed the property of Robert Gordon of Florida Manor and that each ‘house and small garden’ was leased to James Stevenson, Robert Knox and Robert McKee respectively.
The terrace is now the property of the Church of Ireland and is to be demolished soon.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 16.
2 PRONI VAL/320 p.14 1st valuation Kilmood parish, Kilmood Td., c.1835.
3 PRONI OS maps 1st rev. 1859-60, Co. Down 16.
4 PRONI 2nd valuation Kilmood parish, Kilmood Td, c.1861.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Single storey terrace consisting of three houses, probably dating from c.1820. Due to the buildings deterioration there is little of architectural interest.