186 Whitechurch Road, Ballyferis, Ballywalter, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2JZ

186 Whitechurch Road, Ballyferis

This is a large two-storey vernacular farmhouse situated off a farm track west of Whitechurch Road, approximately two miles north of Ballywalter in County Down. The building probably dates from the early 19th century, with evidence suggesting it may have assumed its present form around the 1840s.

The main structure is constructed in rubble with a mud core and rendered throughout, with brick dressings to window and door openings and evidence of brick patching to parts of the walls. The roof is pitched with Bangor blue slates and stone parapets, topped by four rendered chimney stacks on the main elevation. A gabled return to the rear, largely constructed in brick with some rubble and render, features Bangor blue slates and one brick chimney stack. Cast iron rainwater goods survive in part.

The front north-west elevation is asymmetrical, with a left-of-centre front doorway fitted with a timber panelled door (possibly mid-19th century) and plain fanlight. To the left of the doorway is a sash window with Georgian panes, with two further similar sashes to the right. The first floor has four comparable but slightly smaller sash windows. The render below the window immediately left of the doorway has deteriorated to reveal brick infill within the rubble walling, suggesting this window may once have been a doorway.

The north-east gable contains a small boarded-up window opening on the ground floor and a larger sash window with vertical astragals slightly right of centre on the first floor. To the rear, the main house has two boarded-up ground-floor windows on its left side; the larger of these also shows brick infill indicating it was formerly a doorway, positioned directly in line with the suggested front doorway. Above this window is a sash window matching that on the north-east gable. To the right of the return is a small first-floor sash window with Georgian panes.

The south-west gable features a small flat-roofed bay-like projection left of centre on the ground floor, reportedly used historically to capture additional light for needlework.

The north-east side of the return has a timber-sheeted back door to the extreme left and a small, unusual multi-pane window to the right. The return's gable contains two very small partly-boarded upper windows and a narrow six-pane window on the ground floor. The south-east side of the gable has a sash window with Georgian panes to the right, with evidence of a now brick-infilled window to its left.

At each corner of the front façade are high walls enclosing the front lawn, with elliptical arch pedestrian entrances in each wall close to the house. The northern wall curves away from the building. A large millstone stands in the centre of the front lawn.

The current owner reports a date of circa 1760. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map shows the property minus the rear return. No evidence contradicts an 18th-century origin, and the presence of a mud core suggests a building of considerable antiquity. However, the overall window and door arrangement indicates the property may originally have been single-storey or part single-storey, with the roof subsequently raised, the return added, and the interior renovated, possibly around 1840-50. The house has been unoccupied since the early 20th century.