Old Mill House, Dundonald Old Mill, 231 Belfast Road, Killarn, Dundonald, Co. Down, BT23 [?4SU] is a Grade B2 listed building in the Ards and North Down local planning authority area, Northern Ireland. First listed on 4 March 1977.

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

WRENN ID: lesser-keep-thyme
Grade: B2
Local Planning Authority: Ards and North Down
Constituency: Strangford MP: Jim Shannon (DUP)
Country: Northern Ireland
Date first listed: 4 March 1977
Address: Old Mill House, Dundonald Old Mill, 231 Belfast Road, Killarn, Dundonald, Co. Down, BT23 [?4SU], BT16 1UE
Irish grid reference: J 440 745
Coordinates: 54.59837, -5.77129
Source: NI Environment Agency listing

Also on this page: radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

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.

Local climate

Old Mill House, Dundonald Old Mill, 231 Belfast Road, Killarn, Dundonald, Co. Down, BT23 [?4SU] sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 4 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 98% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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

Description

Local climate

More on this building

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