Mill House, 10 Portaferry Road, Bootown, Greyabbey, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2RU

Mill House is a long, two-storey gabled house of probable 18th century origin, situated on the north east side of Portaferry Road, roughly half a mile south east of Greyabbey. The building has been lengthened over the years and extended at the rear. The property takes its name from a water mill which originally stood a short distance to the south east and was powered by a mill race that flowed past the rear of the house. The mill is recorded on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs. The nearby Ballybryan windmill, built as an auxiliary to the water mill, appears on Taylor and Skinner's map of 1777, indicating the water mill and house were present in the 1770s. In the later nineteenth century, after the mill had been abandoned, the dwelling appears to have served as a local police barracks, with a cell at the rear.

The very long, plain rectangular house displays evidence of its complex construction history in its architectural details. The front south west elevation is asymmetrical and finished in lined render, now partly covered in creeping plants. The rear is finished in roughcast. The roof is pitched with Bangor blue slates, with four brick chimneys positioned to the north west side of the main house roof and one to the gable of the return, a distribution which suggests different periods of construction.

The front elevation reveals the building's composite nature. A flat roofed porch with timber panelled front door and fixed light window with Georgian panes sits to the left of centre. To the left of the porch are three sash windows with Georgian panes on the ground floor, two immediately to the right of the porch and a further one much further to the right. The first floor contains ten similar windows but smaller in scale. A distinct gap between the sixth and seventh first floor windows is repeated at ground floor level, and from the seventh window onwards the window openings are marginally higher than those to the left. This spatial arrangement suggests the section to the left, containing the first six first floor windows, is the original dwelling house, while the section to the right was originally a store. The concentration of all four chimney stacks to the north west and none to the south east supports this interpretation.

The south east gable features a canted oriel window to the first floor with similar window frames to the rest of the building.

At the rear, the arrangement is complex. To the far left of the south east section, a flight of stone steps ascends to a timber and glazed door at first floor level, providing access to the south east section which, originally a store, is now largely occupied by a self contained flat. Near the base of these steps is a fixed light six pane window. To the right of the steps is a large sliding timber sheeted double door with a timber and glazed rear door and small sash window. Above at first floor are two sash windows with Georgian panes, with two smaller windows of six and four panes respectively. To the right extends a full height gabled return with a single storey lean to kitchen extension on its south east facade, featuring a large modern window and plain timber sheeted door. The upper level of the return has two gabled half dormers, each with a sash window, shaped barges and finials. The gable of the return is blank. The north west facade of the return has a tripartite sash window with Georgian panes to the first floor. To its right, where the return intersects the main house, is a small lean to with a small window opening. Above this lean to, at first floor of the main house, is a narrow sash window, much as those to the front but considerably narrower. To the far right on the first floor of the main house are two small sash windows.

Attached to the north west gable is a small single storey store with a corrugated asbestos roof, intersected by a high rubble wall, with a further row of stores attached on the other side of the wall. The water goods are a mixture of cast iron and PVC.

The building has undergone alterations at various times, including rear extensions and the conversion of the south east section to a self contained flat. The layout of the dwelling itself may have been altered on several occasions. The current owner has suggested the building may be of 17th century origin, a statement which may contain an element of truth but cannot yet be verified. Whatever its precise date, it seems probable that the original dwelling section was that to the north west, with the south east portion, possibly originally single storey, serving as a store for corn and flour.