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

The Old Manse is a three-bay two-storey former manse built around 1858, possibly to designs by Benjamin Ferrey, and extended around 1901 to designs by Henry Hobart. Constructed in random rubble stone with Gothic and Tudor-Revival detailing, it was built to serve Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church. The building represents a good example of its type, characterised by well-proportioned design and period-appropriate detailing, with much of its historic fabric surviving.

The manse is L-shaped on 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 pitched roof features plain and scalloped natural slates on overhanging eaves with terracotta ridge tiles. A diamond four-cluster rendered chimney stack with decorative octagonal terracotta pots sits on a rendered stepped plinth; further angled square-plan chimneys serve the rear extension. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with cast-iron brackets are fitted throughout. The walling is random rubble with a sandstone cap to the projecting plinth course; the east elevation and rear extension feature ruled-and-lined render, painted to ground floor level.

Windows are predominantly square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sash with stone sills, recessed within yellow brick Gibbs-style surrounds topped by gothic arches. The principal elevation faces west and features a gabled entrance bay with a projecting Tudor-Revival porch added around 1901, above which sits a diminutive window. To the south is a larger gabled bay containing a double window with a central dividing Doric pilaster at ground floor and a pair of small windows at first floor. The north bay houses a double window with central dividing pilaster and a slender window to the north wall of the projecting gable. A porch entrance to the south has a herringbone-sheeted timber door with simple cast-iron hinges and door furniture, flanked by timber-sheeted blind windows on a projecting sill. The west elevation features three leaded fixed lights and a gable with 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; the ground floor window is a 2/2 timber design with thick glazing bars on a hinge opening. A return to the east features a large modern timber window, abutted by a single-storey projecting lean-to with a cat-slide roof and timber door bearing cast-iron hinges and a lion-head knocker. The east gable has two openings at first floor and a single opening at ground floor. The extension to the north measures two openings wide at first floor, with a single opening to the left at ground floor, abutted by the rear lean-to to the right. The lean-to contains two openings. The south elevation features a gabled end with overhanging eaves on the left with a paired window at first floor. Decorative ovolo-moulded sandstone dressing ornaments the corners, extending to a canted bay at ground floor. To the right are 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 served as a stable block with two timber doors bearing cast-iron hinges and latches, and a hay loft above to the right. To the left is a replacement window. The west elevation features a large replacement bay window, whilst the north and east elevations are blank. An enclosed yard to the north is accessed via cast-iron gates. A timber single-storey shed dating from 1905, with a window opening and latch door, 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. A long tree-lined tarmacadam driveway provides access 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 a cast-iron gate. A wall to the east separates the house from surrounding farmland.

The manse appears in Griffith's Valuation (1856-64) listed as a house and land valued at £8 10s, later raised to £13, with the occupier named as Reverend John Quartz and the property leased from Lord Dufferin. The valuer described it as a 'neat cottage', and a sketch of its original appearance survives in 'A Light for the Road' by McConaghy. Building work began in autumn 1858 on land owned by Lord Dufferin. The architect's plan was provided through Lord Dufferin's intervention, and Benjamin Ferrey, who was working for Dufferin during this period, may have been the designer. Around 1900, following the accession of Reverend William Dickson to Ballygilbert, the manse underwent extensive remodelling, with the addition of GO3 and the Tudor-Revival porch GO1. This remodelling appears to have been designed by Henry Hobart, who also designed the church hall. Successive Presbyterian ministers used the building as their manse until 1973, when rising maintenance costs prompted the decision to sell it and purchase another house in Helen's Bay.