169 South Promenade ('Widows' Row'), Newcastle, Ballaghbeg, Co Down, BT33 0HA

Number 169 South Promenade is a small, picturesque two-storey house, one of a terrace of 12 dwellings known as 'Widows' Row', built in 1843. The terrace stands on the south-west side of South Promenade at the southern end of Newcastle, County Down.

The terrace was constructed following a fishing disaster in January 1843, when a fierce storm off the coast drowned 46 Newcastle men, leaving behind 27 widows, 118 orphans and 21 dependants. An appeal for funds, supplemented by a substantial donation from the trustees of the Annesley Estate, raised sufficient money to build these 12 small houses for the families of those who perished. Each house originally consisted of just two rooms, one to each floor.

Number 169 occupies a position in the middle of the terrace. The front (north-east) façade is finished in rough cast render, painted, and features a timber-sheeted stable door to the right on the ground floor. To the left is a multi-pane 'vernacular Georgian' window, possibly replaced recently. At first-floor level to the left is a similar multi-pane window set within a gabled half-dormer. The gabled roof features an overhang and is covered in natural slate to the front, with artificial slate to the rear; the rafter ends are exposed. A single rendered chimney stack, shared with the neighbouring property to the south, serves the house. Cast iron rainwater goods are present.

The original rear wall is largely obscured by a large modern flat-roofed extension which rises above eaves level. The front boundary is defined by a low stone wall enclosing a small garden.

Although substantially altered at the rear, the terrace as a whole retains significant original character and detailing, including the gabled half-dormers to each dwelling, the vernacular Georgian multi-paned windows, and the low stone boundary walls to individual front gardens. The listing includes the house and the boundary wall to the front.