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

Number 171 South Promenade is a small, picturesque two-storey house, one of a terrace of 12 dwellings known as 'Widows' Row'. The terrace stands on the south-west side of South Promenade at the southern edge of Newcastle, County Down.

The terrace was built in 1843 following a devastating fishing disaster. In January that year, a fierce storm off the coast claimed the lives of 46 local fishermen, leaving behind 27 widows, 118 orphans and 21 dependants. An appeal was launched to support the bereaved families, and substantial funding from the trustees of the Annesley Estate enabled the construction of these 12 small houses. Each originally consisted of two rooms, one to each floor.

The front north-east facing façade features a timber-sheeted stable door to the left of the ground floor, with a multi-pane 'vernacular Georgian' fixed light window to its right. The first floor has a similar multi-pane window set within a gabled half-dormer. The façade is finished in rough-cast render and painted. The roof is gabled with an overhang, covered in natural slate to the front and artificial slate to the rear, with exposed rafter ends. A single rendered chimney stack, shared with the neighbouring property to the north, rises from the roof. A mixture of cast iron and PVC rainwater goods serve the building. A low rubble wall encloses a small garden to the front.

The original rear wall is obscured by a substantial modern two-storey flat-roofed extension that rises above eaves level. This extension, like similar additions to most properties in the terrace in recent years, has substantially altered the rear of the building, though the terrace as a whole retains significant original character and detailing in its front elevations.