The Old Manse, Belfast Road, Bangor, Co Down, BT19 1UH

The Old Manse is a three-bay, two-storey former manse built circa 1858 and extended circa 1901, situated off the Bangor Road in Ballyrobert. The building is L-shaped in plan with a double gable to the west and a two-storey extension to the rear. A single-storey outbuilding stands to the north.

The roof is pitched with plain and scalloped natural slates on overhanging eaves, topped with terracotta ridge tiles. A diamond four-cluster rendered chimneystack sits on a rendered stepped plinth with decorative octagonal terracotta pots, with further angled square-plan chimneystacks serving the rear extension. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with cast-iron brackets run throughout.

The walling is random rubble with a sandstone cap to the projecting plinth course. The east elevation and rear extension are rendered with ruled-and-lined finish, painted to ground floor level. Windows are predominantly square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sash with stone sills, recessed with yellow brick Gibbs-style surrounds and gothic arches.

The principal elevation faces west with a gabled entrance bay abutted by a projecting Tudor-Revival porch added circa 1901, above which sits a diminutive window. To the south is a larger gabled bay containing a double window with a dividing Doric pilaster at ground floor and a pair of small windows above. The north bay comprises a double window with central dividing pilaster and a slender window to the north wall of the projecting gable.

The porch entrance to the south features a herringbone-sheeted timber door with simple cast-iron hinges and door furniture, flanked by timber-sheeted blind windows on a projecting sill. Three leaded fixed lights appear to the west within a gable displaying decorative black-and-white detailing and quatrefoils in typical Tudor-Revival style, with two further fixed lights to the north wall.

The north elevation is gabled and one window-opening wide, with a ground-floor window of 2/2 timber having thick glazing bars and opening on a hinge. A return to the east contains a large modern timber window, abutted by a single-storey projecting lean-to with a cat-slide roof and timber door with cast-iron hinges and lion-head knocker. The east gable has two openings to the first floor and a single opening to ground floor. The northern extension is two openings wide at first-floor level, with a single opening to the left at ground floor and the rear lean-to abutting to the right. The lean-to itself has two openings. The south elevation comprises a gabled end to the left with overhanging eaves and a paired window to the first floor, with decorative ovolo-moulded sandstone dressing at the corners extending to a canted bay at ground floor. To the right is a paired window and an entrance to a tool shed through a timber door with brick arch surround.

A small outbuilding to the north, originally a stable block, contains two timber doors with cast-iron hinges and latch, with a hay loft above to the right and a replacement window to the left. The west elevation features a large replacement bay window, while the north and east elevations are blank. An enclosed yard to the north is accessed via cast-iron gates.

To the rear, a timber single-storey shed with window opening and latch door, dating from 1905, abuts the rear elevation to the south.

The house stands within grounds of approximately 2.5 acres, with woodland to the north and a large mature garden to the west. Access is via a long tree-lined tarmacadam driveway from the south. The property is bounded to the road by a rock-faced reconstituted stone wall. The entrance wall is curved with gate piers topped by pointed concrete caps and fitted with a cast-iron gate. A wall to the east separates the house from the surrounding farmland.