Old farm house, Quarry Farm, 78 Ballydrain Road, Castle Espie, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 6EA

Old farm house at Quarry Farm, 78 Ballydrain Road, Castle Espie, Comber, County Down

This was a single storey farm house, possibly dating from 1724, which stood on a site to the east of Ballydrain Road, approximately 2 miles south-east of Comber. The house was demolished around 1990.

The farm house formerly bore a datestone inscribed '1724 Hugh Dickson', though when the building was surveyed in December 1973, this stone was no longer physically attached and had been placed alongside the main entrance, making it uncertain whether it originally belonged to the surveyed building or an earlier structure. However, documentary evidence confirms a house matching the plan of the demolished structure existed on this site in 1834 and belonged to the Dickson family, presumably descendants of Hugh Dickson. The farm remained within the Dickson family until 1966.

At the time of the 1973 survey, the structure was described as a single storey cottage with an attic projection at the rear and main building divided into two sections. The northern addition had a slated roof and gable end wall of rough cast and whitened render, with a cast iron door on the west face. The main cottage had a corrugated asbestos roof with gable ends, rendered and white painted walls, and brick chimneys. The west front featured three drop hung sash windows with horizontal astragals and a doorway positioned between the second and third windows, with a panelled door and plain fanlight. The building's condition was recorded as fair to poor, and by that date it was being used as a garden store. It appears the original farm house had been vacated around 1911-12 in favour of a new, larger two storey house built a few yards to the west.

The site and neighbouring quarry lands were sold in 1966 to Mr. McCleery, who subsequently sold the holding in 1978 to Paddy Mackie, who transformed much of the land into a wildfowl and wetland conservation centre. The former farm house was demolished around 1990. The site is now occupied by the Castle Espie Wetlands and Wildfowl Conservation Centre complex. A new two storey building has been constructed on the site in the style of a traditional farm house, incorporating Georgian paned sash windows, but with an off-centre front entrance, a bay window, and render intended to simulate rubble construction. This new building houses the caretaker's residence and offices. The former farm outbuildings to the east and north sides of the farmyard have been renovated and extended to serve as a visitor centre, shops, and stores.