15 Main Street, Kircubbin, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2SS

A two-storey Victorian manse house built in 1860, displaying a somewhat Georgian appearance whilst remaining substantially intact externally with much of its original layout and simple features preserved.

The building is a large, formally gabled house set back from Main Street on the north side of Kircubbin village. The front elevation faces east and features a central timber-panelled double door flanked by two Tuscan columns, surmounted by a lintel with a radial elliptical arch fanlight above. The door, fanlight, columns and associated elements are all contained within a semi-circular arch architrave with simple pilasters and moulding to the arch. To the left of the doorway are two sliding sash and case windows with horizontal and vertical astragals and simple surrounds; two similar windows appear to the right. The first floor has five evenly spaced windows matching those of the ground floor in style but with slightly different surrounds, except for the third window from the centre, which is tripartite. All first floor windows sit upon a cill course with two curved brackets positioned below each. The front facade is finished in lined render with chamfered quoins and painted finish. The north gable is lined render and blank, whilst the south gable, also lined render and blank, has a single-storey garage attached.

The rear elevation features a central two-level gabled return with various modern timber windows of differing sizes and multiple panes, and a plain timber-sheeted door to the south side of the return. To the left of the return on the main house is a tripartite window matching the front to both ground and first floors, with a single window to the ground floor on the right side and a single sliding sash and case window to the first floor. A ground floor window to the left of the return is covered with a metal grille. The roof is pitched with Bangor blue slates, whilst the pitched roof of the return is finished in asbestos slates. Stone parapets border the main roof with cement render parapets to the return. Four rendered chimney stacks rise from the main house, with three cast iron skylights to the rear of the roof. Cast iron gutters and downspouts serve the building. The house is surrounded by a rendered wall with large trees in the front garden.

Historical Development

The site formerly held a market house marked on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map as an L-shaped building. This market house was constructed about 1795 at the expense of Robert Ward, Right Honourable, but by 1834 was noted as being in poor repair and expected to fall into ruin. The site was purchased by Reverend James Rowan in 1860, and this manse was erected in the same year to serve the Presbyterian church. Rowan acquired additional land to the rear of the property in 1872, which he added to the manse grounds. The building underwent substantial renovation circa 1915, and the gabled return was added circa 1920.