4-14 Mill Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5EQ

A varied terrace of five two-storey houses on the south side of Mill Street, Comber, County Down, probably dating from the 1840s. The group is set on a slight incline, with the ground rising to the east. Nos. 6–10 may have been significantly altered or partly rebuilt in the later 19th century. Nos. 4–10 now have modern window frames to the front, and all of the houses have modern extensions to the rear to a greater or lesser degree.

No. 4 stands at the eastern end of the group and is slightly taller than the rest. Its north-facing front façade has an 'Ards' doorway to the left, with a panelled door and spoked fanlight reached by steps. To the right is a window with a PVC frame, with two similar windows to the first floor. The front is finished in lined render and painted. The rear is largely unrendered and has a sash window with Georgian panes to the left on the ground floor, with a modern kitchen extension to the right. Two PVC-framed windows serve the first floor at the rear. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with a single brick chimney stack and a Velux window to the rear. PVC rainwater goods throughout. Internal evidence suggests this house and the property immediately to the north — the present No. 2 — were once a single property; No. 2 was until fairly recently used as a shop.

No. 6 has a doorway to the left on the front façade, with plain pilasters, a lintel, frieze and cornice encasing a modern panelled and glazed door, reached by steps. To the right is a window with a modern frame, with two slightly smaller windows to the first floor. The window cills are slim and modern. The front is finished in lined render and painted. To the rear, the ground floor has a large modern flat-roofed extension. The first floor has two windows, both with modern frames, the right one slightly smaller and positioned at stairwell level. The roof is covered in asbestos slates with a rendered chimney stack.

No. 8 is a small, narrow house — approximately eight feet wide — almost certainly created around 1880–1900 by blocking up a carriage arch and incorporating first-floor room or rooms originally belonging to its neighbour to the south, No. 10. On the front, the ground floor has a partly glazed PVC door to the left with a PVC-framed window to the right. The first floor has a slightly taller window with a similar PVC frame, its cill resting on two small corbels. The front is finished in lined render and painted. To the rear is a modern flat-roofed kitchen extension at ground-floor level, with a single PVC-framed window to the first floor. The rear façade is finished in plain render and left unpainted. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with a rendered chimney stack. PVC rainwater goods.

No. 10 is roughly the same size as No. 6. On the front, the doorway is to the right and is similar to that of No. 6, but with a panelled door and a plain fanlight. To the left is a window with a modern frame, with two similar windows to the first floor. The front is finished in lined render. To the rear, there is a kitchen extension to the left at ground-floor level with a corrugated iron mono-pitched roof. To the right of this, a window with a modern frame sits at ground-floor level, with two similar windows to the first floor, the left one set slightly lower at stairwell level. The rear has a dry dash finish. The roof is covered in asbestos-free slates with a single rendered chimney stack. Metal and PVC rainwater goods.

Nos. 12 and 14 were once separate houses but have been merged into a single dwelling, though their front façades show no outward sign of the internal changes. The front of No. 12 has a Gibbs-like 'Ards' doorway to the left, with a panelled door and fanlight. To the right is a sash window with margin panes, with two similar windows to the first floor. The front of No. 14 is exactly the same arrangement but handed — that is, mirrored — and the entire front façade of both houses is finished in lined render and painted. The rear was once equally uniform but has seen various changes. At the far left of the ground floor, belonging to No. 14, there is a fairly recent flat-roofed bathroom extension, with a window to the right of it and two further windows to the first floor, the left one set at a lower stairwell level. The rear of No. 12 is roughly a handed version of No. 14's rear, except that the stairwell window has been slightly shortened — it was previously abutted by the roof of a now-demolished single-storey extension — and there is a very small flat-roofed porch extension to the right on the ground floor. All rear windows have modern frames. The rear walls are largely unrendered, with brick dressings around the openings. The roof is covered in asbestos-free slates with two rendered chimney stacks. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods.

The historical record of this site is reasonably well documented. The earliest surviving maps of Comber, dating from 1721–22, show dwellings along much of Mill Street, but this particular site — then in the hands of a Francis Griffith — appears as part of the edge of a large field. By the first Ordnance Survey map of 1834, buildings are shown on the site, at least in part. However, the valuation records of the following year indicate that whatever stood there was not of rateable value and was probably not the two-storey terrace seen today. This is supported by deeds held by the owners of Nos. 8, 12 and 14, which indicate their houses date from the 1840s — a date consistent with their appearance and sandstone construction, a building material that became more widely used in Comber from around 1830 onwards.

The dating of Nos. 6–10 is less straightforward. The square-headed doorways on these houses — which No. 8 also had until recently — are similar to other houses in Comber dating from around the 1880s. However, physical evidence suggests that No. 8 was formed by filling in a carriage arch and annexing an upstairs room or rooms from No. 10, meaning the doorways may simply represent late 19th century alterations to an earlier structure. No. 6 may likewise have been an earlier house to which a new door surround was added in the later 19th century, though this is not certain.

Primary sources consulted include Londonderry Papers maps of Comber town and Mill Street held at PRONI (references D.654/M1B/1–4 and D.654/M54/4, 6–7, 12, 15, 24, 28–32, 34), the first valuation for Comber (PRONI VAL 1B/316A p.52), the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 (PRONI OS/1/3/10, Down 10), the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol. 7: Parishes of County Down II edited by Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB, 1991, pp. 28 and 33), deeds dating from the 1840s held by the present owners of Nos. 4, 12 and 14, the first revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858 (PRONI OS/6/3/10/3, Down 10), the second valuation for Comber held at PRONI, and the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901 (PRONI OS/2/3/10, Down 10).