47 Bridge Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5AT

This is a small, two-storey terrace house likely dating from between 1780 and 1799. It is situated on the south side of Bridge Street in Comber, County Down. The front (north) facade has a glazed and panelled doorway to the left, featuring a semicircular fanlight encased within fluted pilasters and a moulded archivolt. To the right of the doorway is a window with a modern frame and lattice work, a style replicated across all windows in the building. Above are two further windows. The facade is finished with lined render and painted.

A large, two-storey gabled return is situated behind the main house to the rear, set at an angle and appearing to be a fairly recent addition. This return has a small upper-level window, a large timber-sheeted store door on the ground floor, and a single-storey shed extension with a mono-pitched roof. A window is located on the upper level of the western face of the return, with a recessed section to the left containing a ground floor window. The eastern face of the return is blank. The exposed rear facade of the main house, to the west of the return, has windows to both the ground and first floors. Both the rear facade and the return are finished in plain cement render, mostly unpainted. The roof of the main house is covered in natural slate, while the return has asbestos-free ‘slate’ tiles. The main roof features hounds’ tooth ridge tiles and a yellow brick chimney to the west. A mixture of cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present.

This part of Bridge Street was shown as vacant on a map of Comber from 1722 but is depicted as occupied on subsequent maps. It is likely the property dates from the late 18th or early 19th century and corresponds with the building shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, then the residence of John Hamilton. The door surround may have been added later, possibly around 1830-1840.