5 The Almshouses, Seaforde, Naghan, Downpatrick, Co Down, BT30 8NX

Number 5 The Almshouses is a small, single-storey house with a hipped slate roof and gabled porch, forming part of a picturesque terrace built in 1828, possibly designed by English architect Peter Frederick Robinson. The terrace was erected at the request of Mrs Forde of Seaforde House and originally comprised six almshouses and a small petty sessions court house, with this property being the former court house at the south end of the group.

The building holds considerable group value alongside the other structures in the terrace and throughout the Seaforde estate. It is situated on the east side of Newcastle Road at the village centre, with a large lawn to its west front enclosed by a low rubble wall.

The west-facing front façade is rendered, painted, and symmetrical, with a granite base course. A relatively large gabled porch with slated roof and exposed rafter ends projects forward from the centre. The porch has a timber-sheeted door on its south face and a substantial mullioned and transomed window on its gabled front. This window comprises three smaller upper lights with lattice panes containing four vertically arranged panes each, above three much larger lower lights, with a granite hood moulding above. Windows flank the porch to left and right, matching the porch gable window but narrower. The north face of the porch return features a similar narrow window.

The rear elevation centres on a large single-storey return with a hipped slate roof. This return, finished in rough-cast render with a smooth recessed base, contains a timber-sheeted door with a four-pane fanlight on its south face, with two eight-over-eight Georgian pane sash windows to the right. The return's gable features a window matching the front façade in size but with three tall lights of Georgian panes, surmounted by a hood of similar style to that on the front. Eight-over-eight sash windows flank the return on the main rear façade. The main roof displays exposed rafter ends. Two large six-sided granite chimneys with coping stand to the north and south; the northern chimney was originally shared. Metal rainwater goods and a paved yard are present to the rear.

The terrace originally housed six widows receiving charity, with each dwelling consisting of just two small rooms and an outside toilet. The petty sessions court house operated from 1828 until the mid-20th century, while the almshouses remained occupied until around the same period. By 1970, the entire block had become largely vacant. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 recorded the dwellings as contributing greatly to the ornament of the village.

Hearth Housing Association acquired the group from the Forde estate in the early 1970s. Between 1977 and 1980, the terrace underwent comprehensive restoration by Hearth and the National Trust. The former court house was converted into two dwellings in 1977 (of which this is one), while the remainder of the terrace was renovated in 1979-80. During these works, each pair of the original almshouses was amalgamated to form a larger property. Large, sympathetic single-storey extensions were added across the grouping, each incorporating kitchen and bathroom facilities.