9-11 High Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5HJ

Relatively plain pair of two storey terrace shops on the north-west side of High Street, formerly houses of possibly pre-1834 origin, much altered in recent years.

Number 9, positioned to the north-east, has a south-east facing front façade with a panelled door to the left on the ground floor, featuring a semicircular fanlight. The doorway is encased with plain pilasters and a moulded archivolt with keystone, with the fanlight unusually resting on the pilasters. To the right is an enlarged shop window with a recently installed three-light frame and timber sign board above. The first floor carries two sash windows with plain moulded surrounds. The front is finished in uneven plain render and painted. At the rear, a fairly modern single storey flat-roofed extension occupies the centre and right, with a small modern-framed window on the main rear façade to its left. Above the extension at stair landing level is a window with modern frame, and a similar window sits at first floor level to the left. The rear façade is plain rendered, with the extension built in unrendered brick. The gabled roof is covered in natural slate with two small cast iron skylights to the rear and a rendered chimney stack without pots to the north-east. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present.

Number 11 is smaller than its neighbour. Its front façade has a modern glazed door to the right on the ground floor with semicircular fanlight, encased similarly with plain pilasters, moulded archivolt and keystone. To the left is an enlarged shop window with a shallow elliptical head and timber sign board. The first floor has a single window with modern frame. The front is finished in uneven plain render and painted, with two recently added projecting signs to the right. The ground floor rear façade is completely covered by a modern single storey extension in concrete brick with a mono-pitched roof. Directly above are two windows set at slightly differing levels with modern frames. The rear is plain rendered. The gabled roof is covered in natural slate with no chimney stacks. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present.

Historical records show the site was occupied in 1722 and appears on all subsequent available maps. The 1834 valuation returns record two houses on this site with dimensions matching the present properties—the north-east one (present No. 9) then in the hands of Mrs Porter, and its neighbour belonging to James Larrymore. This suggests both houses may date from pre-1834, possibly around 1800, though subsequent alterations make this difficult to confirm. By 1861 No. 9 had been converted to serve as a dispensary run by William Kennedy, while No. 11 was home to William Withers. When first surveyed in December 1975 both were still dwelling houses; they are now shops. Note that High Street was known as Cow Lane during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.