56-58 Mountstewart Road, Ballycastle, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2AX

This is a picturesque, rubble-built house, dating to the 1860s and 1870s. Originally comprising two properties, it now functions as a single dwelling. It sits on the north side of Mountstewart Road, near the Mount Stewart demesne, approximately three miles northwest of Greyabbey. The house is part of a small group of similar estate workers’ dwellings.

The main, gabled house features an overhang and two symmetrically arranged, rendered chimney stacks. All roofs are slated, incorporating a mix of cast iron and PVC rainwater goods. The front elevation is symmetrical, featuring a central gabled porch with sandstone quoins. A timber-sheeted door is positioned on the east side of the porch, with a former doorway to the west now blocked. A three-light PVC casement window, featuring simulated diamond leaded lights and a trefoil tympanum, is set within the front gable side of the porch. Two similar windows flank the porch on either side. The east and west gables of the main house each have a large four-light casement window at attic level, designed in a matching style. A large, two-level, flat-roofed extension, rendered and featuring PVC windows, extends to the rear, along with a large gabled PVC conservatory attached to the west side. Windows mirroring the front elevation’s style are located on either side of the rear extension. The rear of both the main house and the extension are rendered.

According to a neighbouring property owner, the house and its neighbours were constructed in the 1860s by the Mount Stewart Estate, likely as estate workers’ dwellings. It is believed that these two properties were combined into a single dwelling in the late 1960s, when the significant rear extension was added.