4 Kearney Road, Knockinelder, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QB

4 Kearney Road, Knockinelder, Portaferry

A large and well-proportioned formal two-storey house dating from circa 1820s, set on the north side of Ballyblack Road overlooking the south-east Ards coastline, approximately 3 miles south-east of Portaferry.

The building's front façade faces roughly south and is generally symmetrical. The ground floor features a PVC door at the centre, framed with simple pilasters, entablature and cornice, and a plain projecting block above the cornice. To each side of the doorway are two four-pane timber windows, with five similar windows on the first floor. The west gable has a single window to the right on both ground and first floors, matching those on the front. The east gable retains the remains of a wall from a former adjoining small single-storey store, with a small roundel window to the left on the first floor.

The rear of the building comprises a large two-storey flat-roofed return with an off-centre timber-sheeted door to the north face and a small modern timber bathroom window to the right on the first floor. The west face of the return has a modern timber square fixed light window at the centre of the ground floor and a similar but taller and narrower window to the right on the first floor, with a comparable arrangement on the east face. The rear of the main building to the left of the extension has a timber casement window on the first floor and a similar window on the ground floor to the right, with a taller fixed light timber window to the left. The right side of the rear of the main building has a timber casement window on the first floor and a square fixed light timber window on the ground floor.

The front façade and gables are lined render and painted, with V-jointed pilaster-like quoins to the front. The rear is finished in rough-cast render and painted. The gabled roof is covered with Bangor blue slates with stone parapets and an eaves course. Gutters comprise a mixture of cast iron and PVC, with cast iron down spouts. Three rendered chimney stacks with assorted pots are present, with the middle stack set off-centre. Small outbuildings stand to the rear. An underground chamber to the west at the rear is reputed to have once been used by smugglers or shipwreck looters.

Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and all subsequent maps show a house on this site. Valuation returns from 1838 match the dimensions of the building as it stands today minus the extension, indicating the house was present at that date. The valuers noted it was relatively new at that time, graded 'A', and likely dating from circa 1810–30. It was then the home of Ellen Curran and remained in the Curran family when the second valuation was carried out in 1861. The rear return does not appear to be original, though it is shown on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1860. The 1838 valuers deducted 2 shillings for every pound of rateable value to compensate for the property's nearness to the road and exposure to sea breeze.

The interior has undergone some alteration in recent times with rooms amalgamated and an old doorway in the kitchen reopened. Windows to the front and sides of the main house are all timber sliding sash double-glazed, with all others top-hung; sill depths have been increased to match the original. All rainwater goods are powder-coated cast aluminium.

Since 2006, two single-storey pitched-roof extensions with rendered finish and natural slate to match the main building have been added to each side. A double garage extension has been added to the right. To the rear, the previous flat-roof extension has been given a pitched roof in natural slate, and a large painted timber conservatory has been added to the rear of this extension. The garden wall directly in front of the house is original but has been added to at each side with similar detailing. A former single-storey dwelling to the west has been replaced with a two-storey pitched-roof studio attached to the main house via the single-storey extension to the front.