Brookvale, 179 Abbey Road, Ballyfrenis, Millisle, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 2DH

Brookvale is a formal, two-storey farmhouse dating to the 1880s, situated at the end of a short lane to the southeast of Abbey Road, approximately 1.5 miles southwest of Millisle. The east-facing front facade features a modern, centrally positioned panelled and glazed door with large sidelights and an elliptical fanlight, contained within a large elliptical arch with a simple surround and keystone. To the left of the doorway is a sash window set in a segmental arch headed opening with a similar surround. A matching sash window is positioned to the right of the doorway. The first floor includes two outer pairs of similar, but smaller, windows, and a single central window with a modern frame. The north gable incorporates a sash window to the right on the ground floor, featuring a surround with a flat arch head. The south gable has a modern window opening with a modern frame on the ground floor, and another modern window, potentially within an original opening but lacking a surround, to the right on the first floor. A two-storey gabled return projects roughly to the centre of the rear facade. This return’s north facade has two first-floor sash windows, and a large modern window on the ground floor. The return gable is blank. A flat-roofed extension, fairly recently added, is attached to the ground floor of the return and the left side of the rear of the main house, featuring a large modern window on its south facade. A sash window is present on the right side of the rear facade of the main house, on both the ground and first floors. The entire facade is finished with rough cast rendering, accented by chamfered quoins on the front and main gables. An eaves course extends as a band on the main gables. The roofs of the main house and the return are pitched and covered with Bangor blue slates. The main house has two brick chimneys, while the return gable has one. The rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron and PVC.

A building is depicted on this site on Ordnance Survey maps from 1833/4 and 1858-60, but the present house is of late Victorian origin, likely constructed in the 1880s. Historical records include Valuation records from the 1830s, Ordnance Survey maps from 1833/4 and 1858-60, and Griffith’s Valuation from 1863, all held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).