Hall, 2A The Square, Greyabbey, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2QA

Hall, 2A The Square, Greyabbey

A relatively plain, Georgian-looking single storey gabled hall of possible early to mid-18th century construction, probably built between around 1725 and 1735. Roof timbers exposed during recent renovations were marked with a date of 1725. The building may originally have formed part of a larger structure that incorporated the two larger two storey hipped roof buildings immediately to the northeast and southwest, and is said locally to have begun life as a coaching inn.

The symmetrical front facade faces southeast into the square at the south end of Greyabbey village. The principal elevation is finished in lined render with paint used to simulate 'in and out' dressings to the windows. It features a central timber panelled door with a radial semicircular arch fanlight, enclosed within an 'Ards' surround with plain pilasters and a surround with simple keystone to the arch. Tiled steps lead to the door. To each side of the doorway are two semicircular arch-headed window openings containing sash frames with Georgian panes. A tall red brick chimney rises to the southwest.

The rear of the building has been extended in modern times, around the 1950s, with a galvanised corrugated iron roof and a series of modern metal windows, including one set within a very large opening to the left. The rear is finished in roughcast. The roof is pitched with concrete pantiles.

The building may have been one of the 'handsome brick houses covered with slates' referred to by Walter Harris around 1744. At that time, the road to Newtownards ran through what is now the western entrance to the Rosemount estate, passing directly past the side of the building itself, where a small steep lane now exists. In the 1820s this road was redirected further up Main Street. Local tradition suggests the single storey centre section once served as a school—an infant school is mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of around 1835 as being in 'a room at the west end of the village'. By the later 19th century, the central section served as a courthouse, with judges' rooms in the two storey section to the northeast. The northeast section is now a separate property (No.2B The Square), while the central portion currently serves as a parish hall.

The property is attached to No.2B to the northeast, which is a two storey building with a hipped roof now separately owned as a dwelling house.