South Rock Dwellings, off Newcastle Road, Newcastle, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QQ

South Rock Dwellings

A formal grouping of lighthouse keeper's houses built around 1825, located on the rocky south-eastern coastline of the Ards peninsula, approximately four miles north-west of Portaferry. The complex comprises four dwellings arranged in an almost square plan: a 'double pile' terrace of three single-storey houses facing east towards the sea, with a larger two-storey dwelling facing in the opposite direction. The rears and yards of the entire grouping are enclosed by a high wall.

The first of the single-storey seaward-facing houses features an almost central gabled porch with a sliding sash window (with horizontal and vertical astragals) to the gable front. To the left is a plain timber-sheeted stable door with a three-pane sidelight, and to the right a four-pane roundel window. A 'double' sliding sash and case window with horizontal and vertical astragals stands to the left of the porch, with two further similar windows to its right. The second house in the terrace originally had a central timber panel double door with a rectangular fanlight within an arch frame, surrounded by smooth cement. The third house has a similar arrangement. The south elevation displays double gables, with the valley between the pitched roofs almost obscured by a high parapet wall. Window openings include a 10 over 15 sash and two 6 over 9 double sashes. To the left, a side wall containing three door openings encloses a side yard.

The north elevation is also double-gabled. A single-storey lean-to with pitched roof (covered in asbestos slate) abuts the gable and contains two unevenly-spaced sash windows with horizontal astragals. To the right, a side wall features a large vehicle opening with relatively crude pilasters and entablature with keystone, connecting to the high enclosing wall.

Each terrace house has a second gabled off-shoot or return at the rear, creating a 'double' gable arrangement. All terrace houses are finished in rough cast render and have gabled pitched roofs with Bangor blue slates and stone parapets to both front and rear sections. Each section bears a rendered chimney stack (two to each house). Cast iron gutters and downspouts complete the detailing.

The two-storey dwelling on the opposite side of the grouping faces away from the terrace. Currently gutted and forming merely a shell (in preparation for renovation), it features a central door opening with a window opening to each side and two slightly shorter window openings above. The north and south gables are blank. This house retains a pitched roof with stone parapets and two rendered chimney stacks, though it has asbestos slates and extruded aluminium ogee guttering.

To the left and right of the two-storey house are high walls, flush with its front, which enclose areas on both sides and join at right angles with similar high walls extending from the north and south gables of the terrace, thus enclosing the backs of all buildings. A yard wall merges with the north gable, with a low outer boundary wall enclosing additional shared garden area to the south and east of the grouping. The entire terrace is surrounded by a low garden wall, and the dividing wall between the first house and former middle house has been removed.