Sexton’s House, Christ Church (C of I), Newry Street, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4DN

Sexton's House, Kilkeel

A small and attractive two-storey house with attic, built in 1928 on the east side of Newry Street at the south-east corner of the grounds of Christ Church. The building is executed in a restrained Arts and Crafts style with Scottish rather than Irish character, featuring small window openings and high-quality finish throughout.

The house was designed by the Belfast architects Blackwood and Jury, whose involvement is confirmed by church accounts from 1926–27 recording a £20 architectural fee. The building represents a rebuild on the site of an earlier house, possibly also used by the church sexton. The property's valuation increased significantly in 1928, from £2 to £5 10s 0d, reflecting the new construction.

The walls are constructed entirely of ashlar granite. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with a raised and coped left verge, cast-iron skylight on the rear pitch, and half-round rainwater goods.

The street front features an open-sided porch in the left corner with a Tudor arched head formed by two granite pieces and containing a wrought-iron pedestrian gate. The door to the house, set at the far end of the porch, is a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with nine glazed lights. The right cheek of the porch is lined in render and blank. The left cheek contains an arched opening to the churchyard.

To the right of the porch are three grouped rectangular steel casements at ground floor, each measuring 2×4 panes and separated by mullions but sharing a common head and cill. Similar windows at first floor measure 2×3 panes. All have swept-stooled granite cills.

The left gable faces the churchyard and contains a Tudor-headed doorway at ground-floor right, its head formed by four pieces of ashlar granite. At first floor are three 2×3 paned steel casements, and at attic level a pair of similar windows.

The right gable abuts an adjacent building, into which this property's chimney ties.

The rear elevation is lined in render and abutted to the right by a lower two-storey return with pitched natural slate roof and raised granite-coped verge. The remaining wall to the left has a modern top-hung painted timber window at ground and first-floor levels. A single-storey lean-to shed abuts the rear wall. The return's left cheek contains a sheeted timber door at ground-floor left and a double-glazed plastic window to the right, with a pair of small steel casements at first floor. The rear yard wall matches the front elevation and contains a sheeted timber door.