6 Cunningburn Road, Newtownards, Co Down

6 Cunningburn Road forms part of a picturesque group of dwellings situated in a hollow approximately one mile to the northwest of the Mount Stewart estate, near Newtownards, County Down. The group, collectively known as Cunningburn Mill, consists largely of former structures associated with corn milling and flax scutching, most of which have been converted to residential use within the last decade or so of the 20th century. The conversions were carried out sympathetically, preserving original exterior appearances while adapting interiors to modern domestic needs. The transformation of the complex is largely attributed to Mr Michael Murphy, who purchased much of the derelict site in the late 1980s.

No. 6 itself is the former corn-drying kiln house, thought to have been built in the 1770s at the same time as the adjacent corn mill, and converted to a dwelling in recent times. It stands on higher ground to the northwest of the group, beyond a tall brick chimney stack. The building is part single-storey, part two-storey in form, and is constructed in random rubble, with the north and south sides of its porch in brick.

The principal east-facing front facade is arranged with a central single-storey section flanked by a two-storey section at each end. A gabled porch projection, added during conversion, occupies the centre of the single-storey section. The porch has a timber and glazed door to its front gable, with a narrow eight-pane window to both its north and south faces. To the left of the porch is a six-pane window, and to the right a slightly larger casement window. The ground floor of the two-storey section to the south has a casement window to the front, with a similar window at first-floor level. The two-storey section to the north has a glazed door at ground-floor level, with a large casement window at first-floor level set within an opening with a segmental arch head. The north gable is blank.

Attached to the south gable is a single-storey projection whose roof serves as a patio or balcony. The east-facing facade of this section has a glazed door with a large multi-pane window to its right. The south facade of this section has two multi-pane windows, the right-hand one being considerably broader. The rear of this section has a large multi-pane window. At upper level on the main south gable, a glazed door provides access to the patio/balcony above. The stonework of this gable suggests that the roof of the projecting section may once have been lower. Above the projecting section, the rear of the two-storey section to the south has casement windows at both ground and first-floor levels.

The rear of the central single-storey section has a large multi-pane window at its centre, a smaller casement window to its right, and a small multi-pane window to the far left. The rear of the two-storey section to the north has casement windows at both ground and first-floor levels.

All roofs, with the exception of the south gable projection, are gabled and pitched, and are covered in Bangor blue slates. The single-storey central section has two Velux windows to the front and one to the rear, which also contains three further Velux windows. Each two-storey section has a single Velux window to the front. The two-storey section to the north has a small rubble chimney stack and rendered parapets; the south section also has rendered parapets.

To the north of No. 6 stands a rubble-built house which, though modern in construction, blends well with its surroundings. To the northwest is a modernised single-storey building, now rendered and used as a store, with two large modern garage doors to its southeast side, a small four-pane window to their left, and a timber and glazed door on the southwest gable. The northwest facade has a plain sheeted timber door with a fixed-pane window to its right, and to the left of this the wall is entirely open, providing a large open working area. The roof is gabled and pitched with Bangor blue slates and has two Velux windows to the southeast face.

The corn mill at the heart of the group is the most architecturally and historically significant building on the site. It was built in 1776 by Alexander Stewart, then owner of the Mount Stewart estate and father of the future Marquis of Londonderry, as recorded by a date stone indicating it was supervised by miller W. Harris. The mill was water-powered by the Cunning Burn. A flax mill further to the north of the townland was also powered by the same watercourse. The thatched cottage, probably the oldest building on the site, is considered the second most important structure in the group and likely predates the mill. Both the cottage and the mill are judged to be of significantly greater individual importance than the other structures, though the group as a whole is considered to be worth more than the sum of its parts.

Historical mapping and documentary sources trace the development of the site in some detail. A map of 1777 from the Londonderry Papers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, drawn by David Geddes, shows the thatched cottage, the corn mill and what appears to be the kiln house already in existence, confirming the mill had been built the previous year. A second structure to the northwest of the kiln house may correspond either to a building demolished in relatively recent times or to the site of the present single-storey store. A map of 1829, also by David Geddes and held in the same collection, shows the same buildings, as does the first Ordnance Survey map of 1834. By 1834, however, a windmill had been erected further to the northwest and a second corn mill had been built to the southwest, near the coast of Strangford Lough. By the 1830s, possession of the corn mill and flax mill had passed to a John Cooper. The corn mill at this time had a wheel twelve feet in diameter and two and a half feet in breadth, with a water fall of five feet. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s noted that there was insufficient water in the summer season and that what little there was could be cut off before it reached the mills, which likely explains why the windmill to the northwest was built to provide auxiliary power to the water-driven mills.

The revised Ordnance Survey map of approximately 1858 to 1860 shows that the house on the opposite side of the lane from the thatched cottage had been built by that stage, and that another building existed just to the southeast of the kiln house. This structure survived into relatively recent times and is remembered by older local residents as having once served as a shop. Notably, the flax scutching mill and store, together with the associated engine house and tall chimney stack to the rear of the corn mill, do not appear on this map, placing their construction after approximately 1858. This section of the complex may date from the 1860s, a period of increased linen production driven in part by the disruption to cotton supply caused by the American Civil War. The flax mill ceased production in 1894 and the corn mill around 1932. During the Second World War, the flow of water to the mill pond — situated directly to the north behind the thatched cottage — was halted, after which much of the complex was used as animal housing and gradually fell into dereliction before its purchase and conversion in the late 1980s and 1990s.