Stone Shed at Mount Stewart, Mount Stewart, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2RU

Stone Shed at Mount Stewart

This is a small, unusual and somewhat roughly constructed shed of probable mid 20th century date, located in the north west corner of the Mount Stewart estate, roughly 2.5 miles north west of Greyabbey.

The shed is built with cobblestone faced walls and roughly fashioned stone quoins. It has a corrugated iron monopitched roof. The front south-east elevation features a dummy doorway filled with cobblestones, with a semicircular arch head stone surround with in-and-out dressings below. Two stone steps lead to this doorway. The north-east elevation contains a small dummy window with stone dressings and skeleton voussoirs in the centre.

The rear elevation is partly open, revealing a concrete block construction with interior divided into three sections that appear to be used as kennels. The rear is not stone faced, and the interior construction suggests the shed or kennel is entirely modern in this respect.

Although a small building is shown on this site on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1834, the present shed is of relatively recent construction. Two explanations have been proposed for its origins. The Mount Stewart Estate Office staff reported that the shed was built by Viscount and Lady Bury, possibly when they took possession of the nearby dwelling to the immediate south (Ros Cuan) during the Second World War. Alternatively, local artist Robert Higgins, a frequent visitor to the estate, attributed the shed's existence to Roy Stewart, presumably an estate worker, who built it recently as a kennel for his dogs. It is possible that both suggestions are partly correct—that the shed was originally built by the Burys as a folly but was later converted by an estate worker to house dogs.

The gabled building a few yards to the south, now called Ros Cuan, was shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and was originally known as The Cottage. It was renovated during the Second World War as a home for Viscount and Lady Bury and renamed Ros Cuan. It was extended and converted to modern apartments in 1996–97.