4 Purdysburn Village, Ballycowan, Belfast, County Down, BT8 8LJ

No. 4 Purdysburn Village is a single-storey end terrace cottage built around 1830, located in Purdysburn Village to the north of Ballycoan Road in Ballycowan, County Down. It forms the western element of a group of three houses of similar style and detailing, with the central building being a symmetrical one-and-a-half storey block and a matching single-storey L-plan end terrace at the east (No. 5).

The building is constructed of smooth rendered walling with a pitched natural slate roof featuring blue and black clay ridge tiles. Deep overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends are supported on painted timber corbels, and painted bargeboards decorate the gables. A single redbrick chimney stack with two decorative clay pots rises from the west gable. Rainwater goods are replacement uPVC u-profile.

The principal north elevation is symmetrical, containing a central timber-sheeted entrance door flanked by a single window on each side. Windows throughout are painted lattice casements set within square-headed openings with plastered reveals and painted projecting masonry sills. The east gable is abutted by the one-and-a-half storey block (No. 5). The rear elevation contains a replacement timber glazed door at the left (west return) and three equally spaced replacement uPVC windows at the right. The west gable is abutted at the right by a single-storey return with pitched natural slate roof, with the exposed section remaining blank. The single-storey return on the north elevation contains one window, with the west gable blank. The building retains many original features externally, particularly the original lattice glazed windows at the north, and remains largely unchanged from its original form and layout except for some minor alterations and replacement windows and doors at the south.

The building was originally constructed to house farm labourers working on the adjoining Purdysburn Estate. It first appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for the Parish of Drumbo (1834) as one of a terrace of three cottages. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1833 record that Purdysburn Village was located at the south wall of the Purdysburn Estate, then occupied by landlord Narcissus Batt. The village was predominantly Protestant, with 120 out of a population of 125 persons of the Protestant faith. The 1844 Parliamentary Gazetteer notes that Purdysburn Village originally consisted of 28 single-storey cottages, with an 1886 directory recording about 30 houses occupied chiefly by farm labourers. The Purdysburn Estate had lain vacant before being purchased in 1811 by Narcissus Batt, and it is possible the village was constructed around 1825, although this cannot be confirmed. Purdysburn House continued to be occupied by the Batt family until its sale in 1895, when it was established as a lunatic asylum. In the mid-1970s the village came into the possession of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, which expanded the site with the construction of 19 new cottages.

No. 4 Purdysburn Village is one of two single-storey cottages that abut No. 5, the village's former post office. Together with numbers 1 to 11, it is one of the original labourers' cottages associated with the Purdysburn Estate. The building continues to be occupied and is in good repair, possessing many surviving original features.

The cottage has group value with No. 5 (HB19/23/024B) and No. 6 (HB19/23/024C) and other estate terraces on the street (HB19/23/022 and HB19/23/023), which as an intact group make a significant contribution to the character of Purdysburn Village.

The setting comprises a small enclosed garden to the north and south, enclosed by timber fence. Vehicular access is at the east and pedestrian access is possible also at the south-east through an area of modern development. The terrace is part of Purdysburn Village, located to the north of Ballycoan Road, within the designated Purdysburn Area of Village Character.