8A, 8C & 8D Kearney Village, Kearney Road, Kearney, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QP

8A, 8C & 8D Kearney Village forms a long vernacular terrace block consisting of single-storey dwellings and a two-storey former barn, the latter now converted into a National Trust information centre. The terrace as a whole matches the size and position of a block shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, but the buildings we see today are a mixture of periods: house 8A at the north end and the two-storey barn are original pre-1834 structures that have been renovated in relatively recent times (8A was refurbished in 1985–6), while houses 8C and 8D to the south are 1970s reconstructions built on the sites of earlier dwellings. Only the refurbished buildings are listed, and they share group value with the other listed buildings in Kearney village.

House 8A

House 8A occupies the north end of the terrace and has a large lean-to section added to its gable end. The front (west) elevation is asymmetrical, with an off-centre plain sheeted timber stable door, a sash window to the left of the door, and another sash window to the west side of the lean-to. A similar sash window sits to the right of the door, with a plain sheeted timber door at the far right. The rear elevation has four windows to the main house similar in character to those at the front, with the two to the right slightly larger. A plain timber door leads to the east (rear) of the lean-to, which is surrounded on that side by a low rendered wall. The north face of the lean-to, set against the gable of the main house, has a small window at eaves level. The entire house is finished in roughcast render and painted. The main house has a gabled roof covered in Bangor blue slates, with a stone parapet to the north gable and two small rendered chimney stacks. Rainwater goods are cast iron gutters and downspouts.

Former Barn (now Information Centre)

Immediately to the south of house 8A stands the large two-storey former barn, now in use as a National Trust information centre. The west façade has a single timber door to the left and two large double timber garage-style doors to the right, the right-hand of which is a recent insertion. Between the single door and the barn doors, a rendered flight of steps leads up to a first-floor central timber double door set within a gabled half-dormer. To either side of this door are two windows, each with a louvred upper section and six panes to the lower section. The rear façade has five first-floor windows broadly matching those at the front, and three windows of varying size at ground-floor level. The whole exterior is finished in roughcast render and painted. The roof is gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates, with stone parapets and cast iron gutters and downspouts.

Houses 8C and 8D

The two single-storey houses to the south of the barn are 1970s constructions built on the sites of earlier dwellings. House 8C has an asymmetrical front façade with an off-centre plain sheeted timber door, a window to its left, two roughly similar windows to the far right of the door, and a small four-pane window just to the right of the door. House 8D also has an asymmetrical front façade, with a right-of-centre timber sheeted stable door, three windows to its left and two to its right, all roughly similar in character to those of 8C. The gable end of 8D has a plain timber door to the left. The rear elevations of both 8C and 8D have PVC windows broadly similar to those at the front but of varying sizes, with a PVC conservatory to the rear of 8D. House 8C is finished in plain render; house 8D in roughcast render with a bell-cast finish and a recessed base. Both houses have gabled roofs covered in asbestos slate, with PVC gutters and downspouts and rendered parapets. House 8D has two small rendered chimney stacks; house 8C has one chimney stack without a pot.

Historical Context: Kearney Village

In early medieval times, the townland of Kearney was a possession of the McKearneys, a family possibly distantly related to the O'Neills of Tyrone. During the later medieval period the land passed to the Gaelicised Norman family of the Savages, who appear to have leased much of it to the Smiths, a dependent family of similar origin. A lease of 1643 from Patrick Savage to Patrick Smith refers to what was then one of the most lucrative aspects of Kearney — the mill, mill ponds and watercourses — from which the landlord received a not inconsiderable income. By the later 17th century the Savages had leased much of Kearney to the Ross family of Rostrevor, who remained in possession of the lands throughout the 18th century. A lease of March 1729 provides the first indication of a substantial settlement on the site of the present village. This settlement grew throughout the remainder of the century, with local people employed on nearby farms and at two flax and corn mills, while supplementing their incomes by salvaging the not infrequent shipwrecks and perhaps by smuggling; wrecking may also have taken place.

The village probably reached its greatest extent in terms of population and activity in the 1830s, when there were 33 families, two schools (one Church of Ireland and Catholic, the other Presbyterian), and a ceilidh house. Most of the buildings visible today appear to have been present at that time, but as most were exempt from rating, very little was recorded in the 1836 valuation in terms of house dimensions and occupiers. The only dwellings mentioned are three single-storey houses occupied by Hugh and John McNabb and Widow Hasty, who owned the nearby windmill. The slow decline of Kearney began in the latter half of the 19th century, and by 1900 the population had halved, with many residents seeking more prosperous lives in the towns or emigrating. By 1938 most of the Kearney farms and cottages had passed into the possession of Hugh Orr, who had established a model farm nearby. Decline continued so that by 1945 only three houses were occupied, by a total of seven residents. When the National Trust acquired the village approximately twenty years later — with money raised during the Enterprise Neptune campaign — it was practically a ghost town. Since 1965 the Trust has worked to restore and reconstruct Kearney based on the plan of the village as shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, when the settlement had probably reached its zenith. Most of the houses are now occupied as full-time homes once more, with a few used as holiday residences, and all properties are leased from the Trust. At the time of listing, only one of the original dwellings remained vacant, awaiting imminent restoration.