3 Blackstaff Road, Clough, Downpatrick, County Down, BT30 8SN

Single storey vernacular gabled cottage, dating from approximately 1850, located on the south side of Blackstaff Road in the small village of Clough. The building is of definite architectural and historic interest.

The cottage sits on the south side of the road with an asymmetrical north-facing front façade. The main entrance, positioned left of centre, features a four-panelled front door with a margined fanlight above. To the left is a sash window with 6/6 panes, and to the right are two similar windows. The west gable is blank, whilst the east gable contains a narrow sash window positioned right of centre, with a further pair of windows grouped to the left. A small first-floor window opening with a modern frame sits left of centre on the east gable. A modern flat-roofed conservatory or sun room merges with the left side of the cottage.

The rear south elevation features a flat-roofed extension with a small central modern window at its centre. The extension has a high parapet forming an upstand that encloses a small roof terrace. A small gabled dormer containing an access door faces directly onto the roof terrace, with a Velux window to the rear. To the right of the extension are two small windows with modern frames, and further right is the south face of the conservatory or porch. To the left side of the rear is a covered stone-lined well.

The walls are finished mainly in smooth painted render, with the front façade in lined render. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slate. Each gable is finished with rendered parapets, and there are rendered chimney stacks on each gable, with a similar stack on the ridge right of centre.

A building is shown on this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, though it is uncertain whether this is substantially the same structure seen today. Valuation records from 1836 indicate the earlier building contained two dwellings. The present house may have been based around a remodelling of the 1830s building. The current owner believed the house dated from approximately 1850 and that it was originally built as a residence for the master of a school which stood to the rear and is now one of the outbuildings. No school is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1858, though the positioning and appearance of the rear structure suggest it was always an outbuilding. The building appears to have been extended at the rear in the early to mid-twentieth century, with further extensions added in more recent years, around 1990, comprising the conservatory and roof terrace. Large modern extensions and modern window frames are present to the rear.

To the rear stands a long outbuilding with a lean-to extension to the south side.