Kearney Village, Portaferry, Co Down, ** See General Comments **

Kearney Village, Portaferry

Kearney is a small village or clachan situated on the south-east coast of the Ards peninsula, approximately three miles south-east of Portaferry. It consists of single and two-storey cottages and houses arranged in an informal layout, mostly in vernacular style. The village is of considerable age, certainly dating to the 18th century and probably originating in the 17th century. Many houses predate 1834, though some are recent reconstructions or conversions of former farm buildings.

The National Trust acquired almost all properties in the village in 1965 and has since repaired, renovated and reconstructed many of the houses. Some barns and stables have been converted to living accommodation, offices and a visitor centre. However, some recent reconstructions (houses numbered 8C and 8D) have asbestos roofs and PVC windows, gutters and downspouts. House No. 12, apparently the oldest in the village, has a modern but relatively harmonious extension to its rear. Overall, the village is pleasant and neat, largely traditional in appearance, though it now lacks the vitality it once possessed as it is no longer founded on an economic base.

Historically, the townland of Kearney was held by the McKearneys in early medieval times, followed by the Gaelicised Norman family of the Savages in the later medieval period. By the later 17th century the Savages had leased much of Kearney to the Ross family of Rosstrevor. A lease from March 1729 provides the first indication of a substantial settlement at the present village site. The settlement grew throughout the remainder of the 18th century, with residents employed on local farms and by two nearby flax and corn mills. Many supplemented their incomes by salvaging shipwrecks and possibly through smuggling and wrecking. The village probably reached its greatest extent around the 1830s, when it contained 33 families, two schools (Church of Ireland and Catholic, and Presbyterian), and a ceilidh house. Most buildings visible today were present at this time. The 1836 valuation records only three single-storey houses, occupied by Hugh McNabb, John McNabb and Widow Hasty (who owned a nearby windmill). Decline began in the latter half of the 19th century; by 1900 the population had halved as residents moved to towns or emigrated. By 1938 most farms and cottages had passed to Hugh Orr, who established a nearby model farm. By 1945 only three houses were occupied by seven residents in total. When the National Trust acquired the village in 1965 using funds from the Enterprise Neptune campaign, it was practically a ghost town. The Trust has since restored and reconstructed Kearney based on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, representing the settlement at its zenith. Most houses are now occupied as full-time homes or holiday residences, leased from the Trust, with only one original dwelling currently vacant awaiting restoration.