Manor House NW extension, Manor House, High Street, Donaghadee, Co Down

Manor House NW Extension, High Street, Donaghadee

A range of single and two-storey stable and outbuildings of nineteenth-century date, forming a group with the Manor House itself.

The northwest extension to the Manor House is a long single-storey gabled building, probably originally constructed as a stable block and now only partially used as storage. It extends from the northwest end of the Manor House along the northeast side of High Street, terminating where it meets the gable of a two-storey house further along the terrace.

The front southwest facade features a slightly projecting bay left of centre, which contains an elliptical arch-headed carriage entrance with timber-sheeted double doors. The render forms channel-jointed voussoirs around the arch, with channel jointing and rustication extending across the rest of the bay. The bay is topped with a parapet, squat pilasters, and a panel frieze. To the right of this bay are seven tall window-like recesses. At the far right, the extension merges with a short single-storey section of the Manor House proper, which retains a sash window with Georgian panes. To the left of the entrance bay are two window-like recesses on either side of a semicircular arch-headed door-like recess with moulded in-and-out voussoirs. A channel-jointed pilaster stands just to the left of the entrance bay. The front facade is finished in lined render and painted throughout, except for a section at the far right which is rough-cast like the main house. A parapet tops the entire front facade.

At the rear, the ground level is lower and the building rises to two storeys in height. The rear elevation is finished in rough-cast and features a series of large doorways (many now without doors), a pedestrian door, and some small windows. The upper floor contains an assortment of sash windows, louvered openings, and a small four-pane roundel window positioned above the carriage arch. The gabled roof is covered with Bangor blue slates. Three rendered chimney stacks rise from the building; the southeastern stack is notably taller than the others and is fitted with pots. Cast iron rainwater goods are present.

To the rear and parallel to the front block stands a two-storey range of outbuildings constructed in random rubble blackstone with gable ends and a Bangor blue slated roof. The elevation facing the main house has various door and window openings dressed in red brick, with all doors and windows being original painted timber. To the right of this block is a single-storey outbuilding with a hipped roof, employing similar materials and detailing to the previous outbuilding.

The building was probably originally constructed as a stable block with utility rooms, though the exact date of construction remains uncertain. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map shows the site apparently fully occupied, mainly by houses, with a gap between the northwest end of the Manor House and the rest of the terrace. Only a very small portion at the southeast end of the current block appears to have existed at that point. The revised map of 1858–60 shows a similar arrangement. This suggests that the extension, as it appears today, likely dates from the latter half of the nineteenth century, possibly added or extended at the same time as the rear extension to the Manor House itself, around 1870.