Mountpleasant, 148A Scrabo Road, Ballycullen, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4NN

Mountpleasant is a large, formal, two-storey late Georgian farmhouse built in 1820 on the site of an earlier house burned down during the Rising of 1798. It stands on top of a slight rise within its own grounds at the end of a winding drive off the Scrabo Road, on the western edge of Newtownards. The house may have been designed by the Belfast architect John Millar, who is recorded in the valuation records of 1833 as the owner. In 1842 the house and farm was bought by William Mayne, ancestor of the present owner and also of Blair Mayne, the man instrumental in the formation of the SAS. William Mayne built the small gate lodge at the end of the drive (now 147 Scrabo Road) in 1846. During the 20th century most of the land formerly belonging to Mountpleasant was sold, with a dual carriageway cutting through a short distance to the north of the house and Scrabo County Secondary School sited a short distance to the west. Some houses have also been built along the south-western side of the drive off Scrabo Road.

The front, east-facing facade features a central doorway in the local 'Ards' style, with 'blocked' (Gibbs-like) pilasters with a moulded cap that extends as a transom below a semicircular blocked architrave with keystone. The front door is panelled and has a semicircular spoked fanlight above. To either side of the doorway is a sash window with Georgian panes (12 over 12), with three similar but slightly smaller windows to the first floor. The north gable has a window to the left on both ground and first floors, matching those on the front, and a semicircular arched attic window high in the gable with a sash frame and horizontal glazing bars. Below the ground floor window on the north gable, an open stairwell leads down to the basement, surrounded by a low rendered wall with decorative wrought iron railings. This basement survives from the earlier house of the 18th century, and judging from its extent, the original dwelling was probably quite substantial and may also have been two storeys in height.

The south gable has an attic window high in the gable matching that on the north, and three first-floor windows with sash frames and horizontal glazing bars.

The front facade and gables of the main house are finished in a salt-and-pepper pebbledash render and are covered in climbing plant growth. The main roof is gabled and pitched with Bangor blue slates, two large flat-roofed dormers to the rear with modern windows, and a small skylight between the dormers. There are stone parapets and a rendered chimney stack to each main gable.

Partly attached to the right-hand side of the north gable is a two-storey gabled extension, which may have been part of the original 18th-century house. It is partly finished in roughcast render but is mainly unrendered, with a Bangor blue slated gabled roof, stone parapets, and a brick chimney stack to the front in an unusual position. The ground floor of its east-facing facade has a large flat-arched garage opening. To the upper level is a single-paned window to the left, with a larger three-light window to the left of that. The north gable of this extension has a large upper-level arched fixed-light window opening and a broad modern-looking window at the lower level. At the right-hand side of this gable is an unusual multi-sided single-storey turret with a hipped roof in Bangor blue slates. To the rear of the turret is a recessed doorway with an ogee arch head and a modern partly glazed door. To the rear of this north extension, at what is now semi-basement level, are two blocked window openings each with a centre stone mullion. These windows may originally have been at ground floor level and may date from the original 18th-century house, but the ground level towards the rear of the present house has been raised, giving them their current semi-basement appearance. At first-floor level are two sets of two-light windows, each with a centre mullion, now fitted with modern frames. Both the north extension and the large outbuilding to the rear incorporate unusual 'medieval'-style features, which may suggest that the original farmhouse possessed mock Gothic — or 'Gothick' — detailing.

Attached to the south gable on the ground floor is a single-storey gabled extension built around 1970. It has three narrow medieval-style fixed-light windows to the front with flat pointed (Tudor) arch heads and moulded reveals. The south gable of this extension has a similarly shaped doorway to the right, a modern corner window, and large modern patio doors to the rear. The extension is finished in a contrived-looking roughcast render with a gabled roof in concrete tiles. To the left on the ground floor of the main south gable is a window with a modern frame, and to the right of this is a doorway with a modern fully glazed door. This gable merges with the south facade of a two-storey flat-roofed return and extension, which has a sash window at first-floor level and a large modern kitchen window at ground floor level.

The rear of the main house has been considerably altered in recent times. To the right is the two-storey flat-roofed extension, which has a single-storey section attached to its north facade and to the rear of the main building. The north facade of the combined single- and two-storey extension has modern windows and a modern glazed door with large fanlights and sidelights. To the left of the extension, on the main house, is a large modern kitchen window. At first-floor level to the left is a sash window with horizontal glazing bars, with a small oddly shaped modern window to the right of it. The far right of the rear facade of this extension is a recessed section, flush with the rear of the main house and covered in the same relatively recent roughcast render. This section has a small fixed-light window at the upper level and a modern partly glazed door at ground floor level. The rear of the main house and the flat-roofed extensions are finished in roughcast.

To the rear of the house is a large, now concreted, former farmyard. To the north-west of this stands a large two-storey rubble-built outbuilding with Tullycavey slates on its gabled roof and various medieval-style window openings similar to those on the front of the modern south extension. This building is now in poor condition but appears to be at least as old as the present house, if not older, and may be contemporary with the earlier 18th-century dwelling.

In recent times a small but inappropriate single-storey extension has been added to the south and a large modern extension to the rear, and the interior has been altered to some degree. These changes have eroded the impact of what is otherwise a fine example of a substantial farmer's house of the period.