20 Ballymacreelly Road, Ballymacreelly, Killinchy, Co. Down, BT23 6RP

A partly thatched, long single-storey vernacular farmhouse of probable pre-1834 origin, set at the end of a lane approximately 2 miles west of Killinchy village. Despite a small, unattractive flat-roofed kitchen extension and some PVC window frames, the building has retained much of its original character and internal layout, though some detailing has been altered.

The front south-east facade features a timber-panelled door with three-pane sidelights and a stone step. To the right is a window now fitted with a PVC frame, and to the immediate left of the doorway is a similar window. To the left of this are two sash windows with Georgian panes. The south-west gable has a central window with a PVC frame, apparently inserted in recent times. The north-east gable has a similar window. At the rear, to the left, is a small lean-to toilet section with a small PVC window. Immediately to the right of this is the larger flat-roofed kitchen extension with two large modern windows to the rear and a timber-sheeted door on the south-west face. Immediately to the right of this door, on the rear facade of the main house, is a PVC window. The facade is mainly finished in roughcast, though the south-west side of the rear facade is unrendered and whitewashed.

The roof is gabled, with thatch covering the south-west half and Bangor blue slates covering the north-east half. Four rendered chimney stacks rise above the thatched section, with a brick stack to the north-east gable. Metal rainwater goods are present throughout.

To the immediate south-east of the house stands a large collection of mainly two-storey, rubble-built outbuildings. Unattractive waste ground lies to the rear.

A building is shown on this site on Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and 1858, which probably corresponds with the present structure. The house does not appear in the first valuation returns of circa 1835, but in those of circa 1861 it is listed as being in the possession of Robert Auld, an ancestor of the present owners. The building appears to have undergone alteration during the twentieth century with extensions added to the rear, and again more recently with the installation of PVC windows.