6-8 Church Street, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1LS

A three-storey terrace house with shop, probably dating from around 1850 or later, located on the west side of Church Street just north of Portaferry town centre, County Down.

The building is now a derelict and severely dilapidated shell with the interior entirely gutted and floors removed. The front façade faces east and is asymmetrical. The ground floor contains two nearly square shop windows on either side of a shop door, with a separate doorway to an apartment at the far right. Window and door frames have been removed, and boards now cover the window bays and doorways. A moulded entablature sits above the shop front, where broken render reveals a heavy timber beam beneath. A moulded hood crowns the apartment doorway. The first and second floor windows, each comprising two lights with moulded surrounds, are also boarded over. The front façade is rendered and painted. The rear elevation is obscured by extensive ivy growth. The roof is gabled and covered with fibre cement slates. A yellow brick chimney without pots stands to the south, while metal guttering and a PVC downpipe are fitted. The plan is slightly squinted on the north side. The interior has been completely gutted with all floors and partitions removed.

Historical records suggest there has been a building on this site since at least 1799, when Patrick O'Hare's map shows a property owned by James McMullan. Valuation returns from around 1838 record an old two-storey building on the site in the hands of Hugh McDowell. The present building may represent a raising in height of the 1838 house, though physical evidence for this is unavailable. The date of the shop front is also uncertain; if original, it would suggest the present building likely dates from the later 1800s. Samuel Bailie is recorded as the resident in 1863. The property was abandoned in 1976 following damage from a nearby bomb explosion. The building is within a conservation area.