The Curatage, 6 The Square, Hillsborough, Co. Down, BT26 6AG

The Curatage is a mid-terrace house of two bays and two storeys, built around 1780 and standing on the east side of The Square in Hillsborough. Though disguised by early twentieth-century remodelling, its layout and interior features reveal 18th-century origins. The building has evolved considerably over its lifetime, with significant refurbishment in the 1980s, yet its overall composition remains substantially intact. It sits within a historic terrace and contributes importantly to the heritage character of the area, forming part of the setting for the former Market House and Hillsborough Castle to the west.

The house is rectangular on plan, facing west, with twin-gabled returns. It is remodelled around 1930 and extended and refurbished around 1980. The pitched natural slate roof carries black clay ridge tiles and a pair of rendered profiled chimneystacks with octagonal clay pots. Cast-iron guttering runs along plain rendered eaves and a cast-iron downpipe drains water to the street. The rendered walling is painted with a slightly projecting plinth course and rusticated quoins. Square-headed window openings have painted masonry sills and replacement bipartite timber sash windows.

The two-bay two-storey front elevation is dominated by a central door opening with hood mouldings applied to all ground floor openings. The windows are replacement 4/1 timber sash units with central mullions. The door itself is vertically-sheeted timber with brass furniture, with a rectangular overlight containing leaded coloured glazing, opening onto a concrete step to the street.

The north side elevation is abutted by the adjoining house No. 5. The east rear elevation is abutted by a twin-gabled projection and includes a two-storey gabled extension to the north half and a glazed conservatory to the south half, both with largely roughcast cement rendered walling and replacement multi-pane timber casement windows. The south side elevation is abutted by adjoining house No. 7, which has a carriage arch with rubble and redbrick wall providing access via a large timber gate to the rear garden.

The rear garden is hard landscaped with an original rubblestone carriage house, extensively refurbished and converted into a double garage with pitched natural slate roof. A passageway between the garage doors opens onto a further large garden with mature trees, beyond which lies Hillsborough Fort.

Documentary evidence indicates no houses stood on this side of The Square in 1777, but by 1788 a schematic representation shows a row of houses on this site, confirmed in greater detail on an estate map of around 1800. That map names the building as the residence of 'Carlisle' and shows it as rectangular on plan with a return that was added during the lifetime of the map. The Townland Valuation (1828-40) lists the dwelling as the residence of James Bradshaw, a house with offices and yard valued at £9 16s, with dimensions provided. The Bradshaw family operated a brewery elsewhere in the town.

By Griffith's Valuation (1856-64) the house had become a public house called The Swan Inn, occupied by Isabella Megahey and leased from the Marquis of Downshire. The valuation stood at £18 with rent of £20. An 1866 street directory identifies Isabella Megahey as a grocer and spirit dealer. David Crothers took over at an unspecified date in the early 1860s, apparently as Isabella's husband. Following Isabella's death, James McLughan occupied the house by 1878. McLughan was the grandfather of Marshall McLuhan (1911-80), the influential media theorist and English professor who coined the phrases "the medium is the message" and "global village". William McClughan, Marshall McLuhan's grandfather, emigrated from Hillsborough in 1846.

From 1886 the house was let in two separate parts. Rooms on the upper floor were let to the Trustees of the Masonic Body, presumably as a lodge, valued at £4. The masons occupied these rooms until 1900. The remainder of the house, with outbuildings, yard and small garden, continued to be occupied by James McClughan until 1888 and was valued at £8. By 1890 the house had become the property of the Boyd family—Mrs Boyd in 1890, Elbary Boyd in 1900, and Maria Boyd in 1902.

By 1914 the house was being used as the residence of curates of the parish church and has since been known as The Curatage. The curates in residence were Rev. W R Creighton (1911-14), Rev. Robert N Morrison (1914-21), and Rev. F G Magill (1922-4). This use proved short-lived and by 1926 the house was vacant. Shortly afterwards it was taken over by Samuel R Stewart. In 1985 the house was extended to the rear, and in 1994 a glazed roof was added to the yard. It continues in use as a dwelling house.