Unicarval, Ballyrainey Road, Unicarval, Comber, Co Down, BT23 5JU

Unicarval is a large two-storey former farmhouse, possibly built around a late 17th-century predecessor and substantially constructed around 1740, then significantly extended, renovated and probably re-roofed during the Edwardian period, with further alterations likely dating from around the 1990s. The house stands at the end of a tree-lined drive off the Ballyrainey Road, approximately one mile north of Comber, surrounded by a large collection of outbuildings. The complex interior layout reflects the building's long evolution, and the whole is finished throughout in roughcast render. All roof sections are gabled and covered with Bangor blue slates, with overhanging eaves showing exposed rafter ends at each gable. The chimney stacks are rendered and fitted with decorative clay pots.

The original front facade faces northwest and has an distinctly 18th-century character, though its window arrangement is notably asymmetric and somewhat cluttered in appearance. The entrance is an elliptical arch-headed doorway positioned slightly right of centre, fitted with a timber panelled door, sidelights, and a fanlight with tracery. The doorway opening has a simple moulded surround, and the door is encased with a moulded transom and pilaster jambs. To the left of the doorway are four irregularly spaced sash windows with Georgian panes; two similar windows appear to the right. The first floor has eight similar but smaller sash windows, each positioned directly above a ground-floor opening.

The northeast gable has a single-storey hipped-roof extension containing two windows, similar in style to those on the front facade but considerably smaller. The gable itself has one similar window to the left at first-floor level. The southeast face of this hipped-roof extension has a glazed door, while its northwest face is formed by the rear of a tall rubble wall set flush with the main front facade. This wall contains an elliptical arch-headed carriage gate giving access to the rear.

The southwest gable features a large canted bay at ground-floor level, almost conservatory-like in character. At first-floor level there are two sash windows with Georgian-style panes to their upper sashes only. This gable merges into a large two-storey return that is predominantly Edwardian in feel. At ground-floor level the return has two canted bays with mullioned and transomed windows, one of which has had a former window converted to a door. Both bays share a single lean-to-style roof covering. Above the bays are four sash windows matching those on the main southwest gable. The return culminates in a second gable matching the first but with a much smaller canted bay.

The rear of the main house has a modern-looking lean-to section at ground-floor level with very large modern casement-style windows. At first-floor level there are three small sash windows with Georgian panes, the middle one being a double window. At the far right of this rear facade, flush with the northeast gable, is a tall rendered wall with a curved top. The northeast facade of the return has a very large modern three-light window at the far right, extending the full height of the facade and lighting the staircase. Immediately to the left is a projecting full-height gable whose ground floor has a doorway closely matching the main front entrance but without the moulded surround; to each side of this doorway is a very narrow sash window with Georgian panes to the upper sash. The first floor of this gable has two sash windows matching those on the front facade. To the left is a further gable set back in line with the far right of the facade. Its ground floor has a timber-sheeted door flanked by a sash window on each side with Georgian panes. The first floor has two further sash windows with Georgian panes, the right-hand one being a double window.

Attached to the end of the return is a long row of single- and two-storey rubble-built gabled outbuildings. Single-storey outbuildings to the northeast of the house have sandstone walls with sturdy plain dressings to their openings.

The history of the property is well documented. The townlands of Unicarval, Ballylisbredin, Castlebegg and Ballycastlebegg were acquired by John Cumming from Lord Clanbrassil in 1673 for £552 and a annual payment of a boll of oats. On the death of John's son (also named John), the estate was divided among his brothers, with the two younger siblings, Thomas and William, jointly taking Unicarval and Castlebeg. William Cumming apparently became the sole owner of Unicarval at some point around the mid-18th century, with family papers held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland suggesting the year 1747. The exact date of the present house's construction is uncertain; local tradition places it at around 1740, though a substantial house clearly existed on the site in the late 17th century, as evidenced by a lease of 1696 in which the rent for the house and its accompanying three acres amounted to the considerable sum of £3 12s 2d, along with other farm produce specified as two bolls of well-cleaned barley, eighteen good fat hens, nine days' work of a man and horse, or in lieu of each hen fourpence and for each day's work twelve pence.

In 1798, shortly before the outbreak of the Rising, Unicarval House was raided by local insurgents searching for weapons. The then owner, Captain John Cumming (son of the above-mentioned William) and an officer in the Yeomanry, was killed in the incident; contemporary reports describe his body as having been badly mutilated by the attackers.

The Cumming family remained in possession of the house until the later 1830s when, according to local tradition, they mortgaged the whole estate to raise bail money for a friend who subsequently absconded, leaving the family no option but to sell. The estate was sold to William Strean and George Ferguson, who in turn sold it to George Allen of Comber in 1849. Allen is recorded as proprietor of Unicarval in the valuation records of 1863. What became of the house between that date and the early 20th century is not entirely clear. The current owner, as recorded in 1998, states that it became the residence of Lord and Lady Dixon in the early part of the 20th century. It was most likely during this period that the house was substantially renovated: the return — much of which may previously have served as an outbuilding — was enlarged, and the entire building was re-roofed, accounting for the distinctly Edwardian character of the return with its canted bays and exposed rafter ends.