Glenganagh Cottage, 36 Bangor Road, Groomsport, Bangor, Co Down, BT19 6JF

Glenganagh Cottage is a one-and-a-half-storey two-bay detached cottage built around 1880 as part of improvements to the Glenganagh Estate. It is located east of Bangor Road on the outskirts of Groomsport, in the townland of Ballymacormick.

The cottage is symmetrical in plan with a rectangular footprint. It features a projecting gabled porch to the front, a lean-to extension to the north, and a rear lean-to extension. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles, and has a replacement brick chimneystack at the centre of the ridgeline. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods sit on projecting eaves with exposed rafter ends. The walls are painted smooth render.

The principal north-west elevation comprises a central projecting porch flanked by a single window. The porch has decorative bargeboards and a timber-sheeted door with decorative cast-iron strap hinges and knocker. Windows throughout are replacement timber casements with projecting masonry sills. The north-east elevation has a window to the attic and is abutted at ground floor by a lean-to extension with timber-sheeted doors to its west and east elevations. The south-east rear elevation is abutted by a lean-to extension with a window to the right and a glazed and timber-sheeted door to the left, and features an early brick chimneystack and flue with tall pot on the north-east wall. A more modern conservatory of no architectural interest abuts this elevation further. The south-west elevation has a window to the attic.

The cottage stands east of Glenganagh Estate, bounded to the road by a white-washed rendered rubble stone wall with rubble stone coping and a wrought-iron latch gate. A paved area lies to the front, bounded to the south by a mature hedgerow. To the north is a tarmacadamed entrance to the rear of the property and a small garden with mature trees. A gravelled yard to the rear overlooks rural farmland.

The cottage first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901, as part of the Glenganagh estate, which was at that time occupied by prosperous merchant Samuel Kinghan. Kinghan had moved to Glenganagh around 1880 and made a number of improvements to the house and grounds, including a gate lodge designed by James Hanna, vineries, and a fernery. The present cottage appears to have formed part of these improvements, creating additional service accommodation for the estate.

The cottage enters valuation records in 1886 at £2 10 shillings, leased by James Boal from James Perry, who in turn leased Glen Cottage from Samuel Kinghan. In the 1901 census James Boal is listed as a general labourer, living with his wife and daughter who worked as a dressmaker. The cottage at that time consisted of three rooms and had two windows to the front façade. Subsequent occupiers included John Hamilton from 1903 and the McIlroy family from 1909. In the 1911 census, Thomas McIlroy, a gardener from County Tyrone, is listed as occupier living with his wife and two daughters. By this time the accommodation had expanded to six rooms, indicating that additions or improvements had been carried out. Annie Harris is noted as resident in 1924, and from 1933 the cottage was occupied by John Thomas Harris, the gardener to Mr Kinghan of Glenganagh, with the immediate lessor being William S Kinghan, Samuel's son. It was occupied rent free. The valuation rose from £2 10 shillings to £6 10 shillings, and a garden had been added to the property. Ground floor accommodation comprised a sitting room, bedroom, kitchen and scullery, with two bedrooms upstairs.

Extensive alterations, including replacement fenestration throughout, have compromised the architectural and historic interest of the cottage.