6b Cunningburn Road, Cunningburn, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 2AR

This property forms part of a picturesque grouping of dwellings situated in a hollow approximately one mile north-west of the Mount Stewart estate. The group comprises converted mill-related buildings and structures associated with corn milling and flax scutching, many of which have been recently renovated while preserving their original exteriors, though interiors have been sympathetically altered.

Number 6b is part of a long flax scutching mill of circa 1860, attached to the rear of a lean-to former engine house at the south-west of the former water mill. The building is gabled and single storey, and was largely reconstructed recently.

The front south-east façade features a left-of-centre timber and glazed door with two timber casement windows to the left (matching the style of the former corn mill). To the right of these are two similar windows, then a pair of French doors, with a further casement window to the far right. All openings are finished with brick flat arches. The rear contains a gabled projection with French doors in its north-west brick-built gable. The north-east face of the projection has a narrow eight-pane window; a similar window faces south-west. To the left of the projection is a casement window (as front), with a smaller eight-pane window to its right. To the right of the projection is a glazed door, followed by a casement window and a large flat-arched 'car' opening to the far right, which leads to the front and is fitted with gate-like timber double doors. Brick dressings finish the rear openings. The pitched roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with five Velux windows and a brick chimney stack to the rear. Cast iron rainwater goods are present. The rear of the building is built into a bank, within which are rooms that once held machinery associated with a tall square brick chimney stack on the higher ground directly behind. This room is now renovated and used mainly for storage. The bank face was originally finished in rubble but is now mostly rendered and slightly terraced or stepped.

The grouping has documented history from a map of 1777 in the Londonderry Papers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which identifies the lands of Cunningburn as part of the estate of Alexander Stewart, then owner of the Mount Stewart estate and father of the future Marquis of Londonderry. The map records the thatched cottage, the corn mill (built in 1776 under miller W. Harris), and what appears to be the kiln house. By the 1830s, the corn mill had a water wheel 12 feet in diameter and 2.5 feet in breadth, with a water fall of 5 feet. Contemporary records noted insufficient water supply in summer months. The flax scutching mill and its associated engine house with tall chimney were constructed after circa 1858, likely in the 1860s during the period of increased linen production following the downturn in cotton production caused by the American Civil War. The flax mill ceased production in 1894 and the corn mill in circa 1932. During the Second World War, the water flow to the mill pond was halted, and the complex subsequently served as animal housing before gradually falling into neglect. Much of the grouping was converted into dwelling houses from the late 1980s onwards. The former corn mill of 1776 remains the most noteworthy building in the entire group, while the thatched cottage is probably the oldest structure on the site, likely predating the mill.