2 Kearney Village, Kearney Road, Kearney, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1QP

A single storey vernacular cottage of probable pre-1834 origin, situated on the north edge of Kearney Village, approximately three miles south-east of Portaferry. The building now includes a large gabled rear return added in 1993-4 and a small gabled projection to the west end.

Architectural Character

The front south-facing facade is asymmetrical in composition. To the left of centre stands a timber stable door with a small sash window to its left and another similar window to its right. Further to the right are two double sash windows, with the second window slightly taller than the first. The east gable of the main house is blank. A small gabled projection is partly attached to the left side of the west gable, featuring a double sash window on its south facade and a single window on its west gable. The rear facade of the main house has a plain timber door with steps to the left, with a single window to its right. To the right of this window is the gabled return, which has two windows on both its west and east faces.

The entire facade is finished in roughcast and painted. The gabled roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with stone parapets to all sections of the house. Two rendered chimney stacks rise at the gables of the main house. Cast iron gutters and downspouts complete the detailing.

Historical Development

The building appears on the 1834 Ordnance Survey Map without the western projection or rear return. During the early nineteenth century, it served as a schoolhouse accommodating both Catholic and Church of Ireland pupils. The western projection is shown on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1860. The substantial rear return was constructed in 1993-4, at which time the entire house underwent renovation.

Village Context

Kearney Village has considerable group value as part of a historically significant settlement. In early medieval times, the townland was held by the McKearneys, possibly distantly related to the O'Neills of Tyrone. During the later medieval period it passed to the Gaelicised Norman Savages, who leased much of it to the Smiths. By the later seventeenth century, the Savages leased Kearney to the Ross family of Rosstrevor, who maintained possession throughout the eighteenth century.

A lease from March 1729 provides the first indication of a substantial settlement at the present village site. This grew throughout the remainder of the century, with residents employed on local farms and the two nearby flax and corn mills, supplementing their income through salvaging shipwrecks and possibly smuggling. The village likely reached its greatest extent in the 1830s, when it contained 33 families, two schools (one combined Catholic and Church of Ireland, the other Presbyterian), and a ceilidh house.

The village's decline began in the latter half of the nineteenth century. By 1900, the population had halved. By 1938, most of Kearney's farms and cottages had passed to Hugh Orr, who had established a nearby model farm. By 1945, only three houses were occupied by seven residents total. When the National Trust acquired the village in 1965 (with funds from the Enterprise Neptune campaign), it was virtually a ghost town. Since then, the Trust has worked to restore and reconstruct Kearney based on the 1834 Ordnance Survey Map plan. Most houses are now occupied as full-time homes or holiday residences, leased from the Trust.