42 Shore Road, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1JZ

42 Shore Road, Portaferry

This is a well-detailed two and a half storey terrace house of probable mid-19th century construction, substantially altered during the Edwardian period. The front façade, which faces roughly west, is asymmetrical in composition. The ground floor contains the entrance doorway to the left of centre, featuring a timber panel door with sidelights enclosed by plain pilasters and an entablature with cornice supported on decorated brackets. A plain sheeted timber door leading to the lane way stands to the left of the house door, with a double sliding sash window positioned to its right. The first floor has two similar sliding sash windows, slightly shorter in proportion. The second floor contains two single sliding sash windows with semi-circular arch heads, each set within gabled half dormers with decorative barges and finials. A dentilled ogee gutter course sits below the second floor windows, with similar gutters at the eaves fitted with cast iron down spouts running to the lower gutter course. The front façade is finished in line render and painted, with low relief panelled pilasters to either side of the elevation.

To the rear, a two storey return exists, largely open at ground level with the upper level partly supported on a large cast iron column. Recently renovated out houses occupy the rear, and an unusual water pump is located at the rear of the property. The roof is gabled, finished with Bangor blue slates, and features a yellow brick chimney with bracketed corbelling to the east side.

Historical Context

The site is recorded on Patrick O'Hare's map of Portaferry dated 1799, at which time it was in the possession of Robert McNabb. Local tradition holds that Reverend William Steel Dickson, the former minister of Portaferry Presbyterian Church and a United Irishman, lived in this house or one on this site and used the adjacent lane for escape when pursued by government troops. The 1838 valuation plan is difficult to match precisely with modern maps, but it is possible the site was then occupied by an older two-storey house belonging to John McDowell; if so, the present building represents either a later rebuild or the same dwelling subsequently raised in height. The rear of the house appears to have been extended during the late 19th or early 20th century. Photographic evidence suggests the half dormers were added sometime after 1910. The house was purchased by Reverend Patrick McKillop in 1939 and was subsequently used as the residence of the curate of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Ballyphilip.