35 Thorny Hill Road, Ballymacreelly, Killinchy, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 6ST

35 Thorny Hill Road is a largely original single-storey thatched house built in 1784 by James Anderson, as recorded on a date stone on its front façade. The house sits on a bank on the north-west side of Thorny Hill Road, just over 1 mile south-west of Killinchy village in Co Down.

The south-facing front façade has a right-of-centre panelled door with four-pane sidelights and an elliptical arch fanlight with radial tracery. To the left of the doorway are three unevenly spaced sash windows with Georgian panes (8 over 8), with a similar window to the right. A small inscribed panel to the left of the doorway reads "BT BY JAMES ANDERSON A:D: 1784". The east gable features a small off-centre sash window at attic level and a large sash window with horizontal astragals on the ground floor. The west gable has a small sash window left of centre on the ground floor. The entire main façade is finished in rough cast and painted white.

A long single-storey rear lean-to section extends across the entire rear façade, with a timber-sheeted door to the left of centre, a modern casement window to its left, two further casement windows to the right of the door, a narrower window with a small hopper opener, and another casement window. The western section of the rear lean-to appears to have been added recently and has a slightly shallower roof pitch than the rest.

The main roof is thatched in flax with three rendered chimney stacks and stone rendered parapets. The lean-to section has Bangor blue slate roofing and PVC rainwater goods. The house is surrounded by a large collection of rubble outbuildings to the west and south, which appear contemporary with the original house. The southern outbuilding contains remnants of grain chutes. To its east is a single-storey extension containing a boiling house and a small room with a double-seater dry closet. A rendered wall with a simply decorated Victorian-looking wrought iron gate fronts the property on the roadside.

Structural evidence suggests two stages of building: the original 1784 dwelling forming the symmetrical three-opening-wide eastern section, with the structural bay to the west and rear lean-to added later. The 1835 valuation records dimensions of 55 feet by 19 by 8 feet, with an addition of 28 by 8 by 5 feet, showing that by that date most of the present house was already in place. The late Georgian style of the doorcase suggests it may have been altered around 1810. The late Victorian period saw some internal alterations to detailing, and the rear lean-to was extended around 1980.

The 1835 valuation records the occupant as James Anderson (likely a relation of the builder), with a rateable value of £5–9–0. The property also included a single-storey barn, car house, fowl house, piggeries, and a one-and-a-half to two-storey store. An 1861 valuation lists a James Anderson as occupant with James Cleland as the immediate lessor, and a rateable value of £8.

This house is a fine example of an eighteenth-century single-storey vernacular dwelling which, despite minor alterations at various periods, has largely retained its overall form, internal layout, and thatched roof.