9 Cunningburn Road, Cunningburn, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 2AR

Cunningburn Mill is a group of houses picturesquely situated in a hollow roughly 1 mile NW of the Mount Stewart estate. Some of the houses are converted mill related buildings and almost all have been renovated/converted recently. This house is situated on the opposite side of the narrow lane from the thatched house. From the lane it appears to be one storey, but the ground drops sharply to the S of the lane thus revealing two storeys. The front N facade (which faces into the lane and appears one storey) has a ‘lean to’ projection to the left which contains a timber stable door. To the right of the projection (on the ‘main’ wall) is a sash window with ’Georgian’ panes. The W two storey gable has a similar sash window to the left on the upper level and a glazed door to the left of the lower level. The rear has two glazed doors to the ground floor, with two similar door-like windows to the upper level and a small sash window to the far right. The E gable has two small sash windows (as before) to the upper level with a now blocked doorway to the ground level. The bottom half of this gable was largely covered with earth until recently and is currently ongoing renovation. The house is constructed in random rubble and unrendered. The roof is gabled and pitched and covered in Bangor blue slates with stone parapets. There are two small brick chimney stacks and two small Velux windows to the front and one large and one small Velux window to the rear. This house has been renovated recently and work is still continuing on tidying up the exterior as well as the interior. There is a well with stone steps and rubble faced walls to the NE of this property. There are the remains of a rubble built WC to the SE. This whole grouping has been transformed within the last decade or so, all due to the efforts of the present owner (1998), who bought much of the complex in the late 1980s, when it was largely derelict. Though many of the buildings have been adopted to the needs of modern dwellings, this has been achieved in an unpretentious, unobtrusive fashion and all have largely retained their original facades. The former corn mill is the centrepiece of the whole group and is at present in the process of conversion to a dwelling, and from what the writers could observe, will match the style of the other buildings in terms of, windows, doors, roof and general facade finish. The partly thatched cottage (House No.1) is perhaps the second most important building in the grouping, however, its traditional front facade is not matched by its much altered and now untidy rear facade. As a whole this grouping is of listing quality, but, the corn mill and the cottage are of significantly greater value than any of the other structures. Thus, it could be said that as far as the Cunningburn Mill Group is concerned, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.