Castle Toppy, 114 Crawfordsburn Road, Ballyskeagh Low, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 4UJ

Castle Toppy is a substantial, one and a half storey farm house, likely dating from the 1860s, situated on a hill approximately two miles north of Newtownards, Co. Down. The house enjoys a commanding view of the surrounding landscape.

The front, south-facing facade features an ‘Ards’ doorway centrally positioned, with a timber door and a plain semicircular fanlight, approached by three steps. To the left of the doorway are three recently installed casement windows with small, ‘Georgian’-like panes, and a further two similar windows are located to the right. The east gable has a central ground floor window in a similar style, with two small six-pane windows above. A crude plaque is affixed to the upper left corner of this gable, bearing the inscription ‘D DEMPSTER 1869’, accompanied by two crosses and a depiction of a horse. At the rear, to the left, is a window matching those at the front, with another to the far right. Between these windows is a small, single-storey lean-to projection featuring an eight-pane window to its north-facing facade and a timber-sheeted door to the east. Above the lean-to is a small six-pane window consistent with those at the front. Attached at a roughly right angle to the far right of the rear elevation are tidy gabled outbuildings, which enclose the yard to the west. The west gable has a window similar to the front on the upper level, and a single ground floor window to the left. The walls are finished in lined render, the roof is pitched with Bangor blue slates, and there are three concrete brick chimney stacks. The window frames throughout the house have been recently replaced; originally, the larger windows were sash windows with horizontal glazing bars.

Old Ordnance Survey maps from 1834 and c.1858-60 show buildings on this site, but none precisely match the current house's positioning, suggesting a post-1860 construction date. This is supported, though not verified, by the 1869 date on the east gable plaque.