Old Mill House, Dundonald Old Mill, 231 Belfast Road, Killarn, Dundonald, Co. Down, BT23 [?4SU]

Old Mill House, Dundonald

A small two-storey rubble-built formal house of approximately 1752, with a gabled roof, situated just north of Belfast Road less than one mile east of Dundonald. The house is attached to a former mill complex of similar date and now serves as a store for the adjoining restaurant.

The west-facing front facade has a central 'Ards' doorway with blocked (Gibbs-like) pilasters and architrave featuring a keystone, surrounding a timber-sheeted door and semicircular fanlight. To the left of the doorway are two windows with plain rendered surrounds and modern frames; two similar windows appear to the right on the ground floor, with five evenly spaced windows on the first floor. The north gable is blank. The south side of the house is attached to the former mill building. The rear facade now appears largely blank except for a ground-floor door on the right side. A small lean-to section spans across a gap between the rear of the house and higher ground level to the east. The facade, now unrendered, shows evidence of having been rendered in the past. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with stone parapets and two brick chimney stacks. An extractor duct projects through the rear roof.

The attached mill building bears a carved stone plaque inscribed 'Hugh Barnett Merchant in Belfast 1752', marking the completion of the complex in that year. Documentary evidence from 1757 records James Barnett, Hugh's son, advertising the letting of the bleach mill and noting the 'good dwelling house all new and slated'. The house appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1834, by which time the site was owned by William Stitt of Comber. Around 1850, the mill was converted to corn milling by a Newtownards baker named Munce, with the miller continuing to live in the house until the 1920s. In 1987–88, the former mill buildings were converted to a shop and restaurant. The 'Ards' door surround may be a later addition, possibly dating to around 1830.

Modern window frames have been inserted and the interior layout appears to have been altered. The building is currently in the process of renovation and may become further integrated into the restaurant operation.