5 Kearney Village, Kearney Road, Kearney, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QP

5 Kearney Village is a vernacular house of pre-1834 date, forming the left-hand dwelling in a single-storey block of two houses. It is significantly larger than its neighbouring right-hand house (No. 6), and retains sufficient architectural character despite alterations and modifications. The building possesses group value as part of Kearney Village.

The house is situated on the north-east edge of Kearney Village, approximately three miles south-east of Portaferry, positioned close to and facing the shoreline. The front (east) façade features an off-centre timber and glazed stable door, with a single window to the left and one to the right, both now fitted with modern frames. The south gable displays a three-sided bay window with modern frame. This gable is flush with the south façade of a long rear return that was added in 1994–95. This return contains four windows and a door, all similarly treated with modern frames, along with slightly smaller windows to the north façade. The original west (rear) façade has a small flat-roofed extension, also joined to the return, with a small window and door on its west face, both with modern frames, and another modern window on the main rear façade.

The exterior is finished in roughcast and painted. The gabled roof is covered in Bangor blue slates, with two rendered chimney stacks serving the original portion and one for the return. Rainwater goods are of cast iron and PVC.

The main block was re-roofed in the 1960s. A block matching the site and shape of the original portion of this house and No. 6 appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and on all subsequent maps, suggesting both dwellings may be of pre-1834 construction.

Kearney Village has a significant history. In early medieval times, the townland of Kearney belonged to the McKearneys, a family possibly distantly related to the O'Neills of Tyrone. During the later medieval period, it passed to the Gaelicised Norman Savages, who leased much of it to the Smiths. A lease of 1643 from Patrick Savage to Patrick Smith records the valuable millworks. By the later 17th century, the Savages had leased lands to the Ross family of Rosstrevor, who held them through the 18th century. A lease of March 1729 provides the first evidence of substantial settlement at the present village site. Throughout the remainder of the 18th century, the settlement grew, with residents employed on local farms and at nearby flax and corn mills, supplementing their income through salvage of shipwrecks and possibly smuggling. The village likely reached its greatest extent in population and activity during the 1830s, when it comprised 33 families, two schools (one Church of Ireland and Catholic, the other Presbyterian), and a ceilidh house. Most buildings visible today appear to have been present at this time. The 1836 valuation records only three single-storey houses occupied by Hugh and John McNabb and Widow Hasty (owner of a nearby windmill), most dwellings being exempt from rating. Decline began in the latter half of the 19th century; by 1900 the population had halved as residents moved to towns or emigrated. By 1938, Hugh Orr had acquired most Kearney farms and cottages for his model farm. By 1945 only three houses were occupied with seven residents total. When the National Trust acquired the village around 1965, using funds from the Enterprise Neptune campaign, it was largely a ghost town. Since 1965, the Trust has restored and reconstructed Kearney based on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map plan. Most houses are now occupied as full-time homes or holiday residences, leased from the Trust, with only one original dwelling remaining vacant awaiting restoration.