10 Cunningburn Road, Cunningburn, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 2AR

Cunningburn Mill is a picturesque group of houses set in a hollow approximately one mile north-west of the Mount Stewart estate. Several of the dwellings are former structures associated with corn milling and flax scutching, recently converted while largely preserving their original exteriors, though their interiors have been altered — sympathetically, in keeping with the character of the buildings.

Number 10 sits at the northern end of the grouping and is almost certainly the oldest building on the entire site, predating the mill building itself and almost certainly constructed before 1776 — and probably considerably earlier. A piece of oak from the building was analysed by the dendrochronology team at Queen's University, suggesting a construction date of around 1700.

The building is a long, single-storey structure with gabled ends, comprising a house to the north and a shed to the south. The house section was probably originally two separate dwellings. Its principal south-facing front facade has a timber-sheeted stable door to the left accompanied by a sash window with Georgian-style panes, followed by four similar sash windows to the right, then a second stable door, and a further sash window at the far right. The entire front of the house section has a thatched roof. A low, partly harled wall runs along the front of the house. To the east gable there is a small slated lean-to with a dilapidated sash window.

The shed section to the south has a Bangor blue slated roof. Its south facade has two timber-sheeted doors, with a sash window with Georgian-style panes at the far right — this window now belongs to the house. The west gable of the shed section is blank.

The rear of the building is cluttered. The house section appears to have been slightly extended at the rear in lean-to fashion and now has a large modern window. The shed section's rear is largely obscured by dog kennels and other outbuildings, including a curious tower-like structure; only a small eight-pane window and a small gabled projection could be made out. The rear roof of the house section is covered in corrugated asbestos, and there are three rendered chimney stacks. The front facade of the entire building is rendered, though some render has come away at the rear.

The earliest known documentation of this grouping is a map drawn up in 1777, when the townland of Cunningburn was part of the estate of Alexander Stewart of Mount Stewart — father of the future Marquis of Londonderry. That map appears to show the dwelling itself, the corn mill, and what may be the kiln house. Another house is shown slightly to the north-west of the kiln house, possibly corresponding to a building demolished in fairly recent times, or perhaps to the site of the present single-storey structure to the north-west of the tall chimney, now used as a store. The corn mill had been built by Alexander Stewart the year before this map was drawn up and, as its date stone records, was originally placed under the supervision of a miller named W. Harris. Some distance to the north of the grouping, a flax mill was also powered by the Cunning Burn.

A subsequent map from 1829 shows much the same arrangement of buildings as in 1777. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows the same layout, though by that date a windmill had been built further to the north-west, and another corn mill had appeared to the south-west of the townland near the shore of Strangford Lough. By 1835, possession of both the corn mill and the flax mill to the north had passed to a John Cooper and a Thomas Robinson. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that the corn mill had a water wheel twelve feet in diameter and two and a half feet in breadth, with a fall of water of five feet, but that there was not a sufficient supply of water in summer, and what little there was is said to have frequently been cut off before it reached the mills. It was probably this insufficiency that led to the construction of the windmill to the north-west, wind power serving as an auxiliary to water power.

The valuation returns of 1836 record the miller's house, corn mill, kiln, and a kiln man's house. The valuers' notes make clear that they regarded the miller's house as at least twenty years old but in good order, as its relatively respectable rateable value of £3 19s 6d suggests. The revised Ordnance Survey map of approximately 1858–60 shows that the house on the opposite side of the lane (House No. 2) had been built by that stage, and that another new building had appeared just to the south-east of the kiln house — a structure that survived into fairly recent times and is remembered by older local residents as having served as a shop. The flax scutching mill and store, together with the associated engine house and tall chimney to the rear of the corn mill, had not yet been built at this point. These appear to have been constructed a few years later and may be the flax steam mill mentioned in the 1861 valuation.

The 1861 valuation provides limited detail on the buildings, but records that the miller's house was thatched and slated, the corn mill had two pairs of stones (one for grinding, one for shelling), the flax mill's steam engine had an output of sixteen horsepower, and the lease had passed to Hugh Cooper, with a one-third share held by John Robinson. Around the mid-1870s, the lease of the complex was acquired by David and John Warden. 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 directly behind the house was halted, after which much of the grouping fell into use as animal housing and gradually into neglect. The miller's house continued in occupation throughout, being subdivided into two dwellings in the early 20th century before later being restored to a single property. It remains occupied by a descendant of the Wardens. Much of the complex outside the miller's house was purchased by its present owner in the late 1980s, who has since undertaken the conversion of much of the grouping into dwelling houses. At the time of writing in February 1998, only the former corn mill remained to be fully converted, with the owner hoping to complete this shortly.