Burns Cottage, 6 Ballycoan Road, Purdysburn, Ballycowan, Belfast, County Down, BT8 8LL

Burns Cottage is an attractive detached two-bay, one-and-a-half-storey house built around 1840, located on the north side of Ballycoan Road at Purdysburn. The house stands at the entrance to Purdysburn Village, a former workers' village constructed to provide accommodation for servants of Purdysburn House and Estate.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing south, with a single-storey extension at the east built around 1840 and a single-storey extension at the south added around 1990. The roof is pitched natural slate laid in diminishing courses with blue and black clay ridge tiles. A single rebuilt brick corbelled chimneystack with two octagonal clay pots sits atop. Deep overhanging eaves and timber bargeboards with exposed rafter ends support U-profile replacement uPVC rainwater goods.

The walls are constructed in Flemish bond red brick. Windows throughout are vertically divided lattice lights, contained within chamfered smooth rendered banding with projecting moulded hoodmoulds and label stops. The principal gable elevation faces east and is abutted at the right by a single-storey lean-to extension projecting beyond the line of the east elevation. The exposed section at the left is blank, with a window at centre at first floor. The left (west) elevation contains two windows. The rear (north) gable contains a single window at ground and first floor. The right (east) elevation is abutted by the single-storey lean-to extension on the left, with a blank exposed section and a low lean-to boiler house to the internal angle.

The south single-storey extension has an artificial slate roof with exposed rafter ends supporting U-profile uPVC rainwater goods and timber eaves boards. Walling is new stretcher bond brick, with windows being original relocated lattice lights contained within new square-headed openings with brick voussoirs supported on steel lintels and painted masonry projecting sills. The east single-storey extension, built around 1820, appears to have been re-roofed at the same time as the south extension was added. An original window on the north cheek appears to be contained within a new opening. The east elevation is rubble construction.

The evolution of the house is apparent through these extensions, but the plan form of the original 1840s house remains largely intact. The appealing traditional characteristics of the façade, including proportion and style, are largely intact and the house contributes significantly to the architectural heritage of the local rural landscape.

Historically, the house first appears on the second edition of the Ordnance Survey for the Parish of Drumbo in 1858, where it is depicted as an oblong building. It is now known as Burns Cottage, though this name never appeared on Ordnance Survey maps. Purdysburn Village was located at the south wall of the Purdysburn estate, which was occupied by Narcissus Batt when the Ordnance Survey Memoirs were compiled in 1833. The 1844 Parliamentary Gazetteer records that Purdysburn Village originally consisted of 28 single-storey cottages occupied chiefly by farm labourers. The Purdysburn Estate had lain vacant before being purchased in 1811 by Narcissus Batt. Records indicate that Thomas Hopper constructed three gate lodges at the estate around 1825, and it is possible the village was constructed at a similar time, though this cannot be confirmed. Field inspection suggests a build date of around 1840, supporting the theory that this dwelling was constructed at the same time as the other cottages in the village. Purdysburn House continued to be occupied by the Batt family until it was sold in 1895, when it was established as a lunatic asylum.

The house is located at the junction of Purdysburn Village and Ballycoan Road on a split-level site. It is bounded at the west by rubble walling and hedging. The north-east elevation is raised above a communal parking area for residents of Purdysburn Village. The cottage remains in residential use and continues to be occupied.