45-47 Windmill Street, Ballynahinch, Co. Down, BT24 8HB

45-47 Windmill Street, Ballynahinch

A substantial two-storey gabled block of probable late 19th-century origin, dating from around 1880 or possibly later, now containing a public house and office. The building occupies the south side of Windmill Street, just east of Ballynahinch. It comprises two distinct properties: No.47 to the left occupies roughly one-third of the façade, while No.45 to the right is considerably larger and now functions as the public house.

No.47 retains some original character. To the ground floor is a panelled door with a plain fanlight, flanked by two windows with modern frames. Above is a modern signboard with raised lettering. The first floor has two windows with segmental-headed openings, though the frames are modern. The north gable is blank with a single-storey lean-to extension to the ground floor stretching southwards to join the east face of a rear return. Behind No.47 stands a large two-storey gabled return, with blank west and east faces. The gable of this return contains a squat modern ground floor window and a first-floor window with an original opening but modern frame. The façade and gable of No.47 are finished in painted lined render with tiling to ground floor level, moulded quoins to the front, and pebbledash to the return. The roof has natural slate with non-asbestos slates to the lean-to and return.

No.45 has been substantially remodelled for its conversion to a public house. The ground floor front façade features a panelled door with segmental-headed fanlight at the far left, followed by large bowed windows flanking a central doorway with three-pane fanlight. These bowed windows each contain twelve panes, some with lattice lights. To the right is a smaller window with modern frame. A large public house signboard with raised letters spans the ground floor openings, with spotlights above. The first floor has four windows with segmental heads and modern frames, between and around which are flag poles, a wrought iron bracket for a sign, and an internally illuminated PVC public house sign. The entire façade is rendered and painted with some sections of the render lined, moulded quoins to the front, and panels painted between the first floor windows. The west gable is blank and has a lean-to section attached to the ground floor, extending rearwards into a very large modern single-storey gabled extension that covers much of the rear elevation. A small lean-to section stretches from the extension's east face, abutting the return at the rear of No.47. The original rear façade is only visible at first floor level where a small window with modern frame appears to the left. The main roof is covered in natural slates with two Velux windows to the rear and two painted brick chimney stacks. PVC and cast iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

Historical development records show that the south side of Windmill Street was shown as almost entirely vacant on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, with only a few houses at the western end where the street opens into The Square. By 1858 the street had been completely developed with an almost unbroken terrace. This block may have been present by 1858, but its segmental-headed windows and believed brick construction suggest a date of around 1880 or later. When first surveyed in August 1974, both Nos.45 and 47 were shops with apartments above. No.45 had become a public house by 1978, and both properties underwent substantial extensions during the 1980s-90s.

The building has been much altered and extended. The façade of No.45 underwent remodelling with the addition of bowed windows and a large modern extension to the gable and rear. No.47 lost its former shop front and has a large lean-to extension to its gable and rear. Two chimney stacks are present: one rendered and one painted brick (the latter serving No.45).