12 Manse Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4BN

12 Manse Road is the most finely finished of five late Victorian brick-built houses erected in 1888 by Samuel Shannon, who lived in this property. It is recorded as "Fintimara" on the 1901 Ordnance Survey map. The building is of particular merit within its architectural group as it retains its original porch and possesses more ornate interior detailing than its neighbours.

The house is a two-storey structure with attic accommodation, part of a unified architectural group set in a planned communal landscaped setting on the western side of Manse Road. It occupies the left position within a subgroup of three properties (nos. 12, 10 and 8).

The front elevation is three bays wide and constructed of red brick in English garden bond with yellow brick detailing and a chamfered granite base course. The pitched roof is laid with natural slate and features red clay crested ridges and a tiled verge to the left gable. Decorative red brick chimneys, their flues delineated by raised bricks, sit at the left gable and at the junction with no. 10. The eaves are finished with three courses of decorative brick supporting half-round metal gutters.

A dormer window rises above the right bay from just above eaves level, with a pitched natural slate roof, decorative fretted timber bargeboard and tall spiked finial. It contains a pair of two-paned side-hung painted timber casements with painted timber cheeks.

The left bay advances slightly as a two-storey canted form beneath a large gable. Between ground and first floor runs decorative yellow brick detailing, and the left corner is finished with stepped granite quoins. The gable displays timber bargeboard with decorative cartouches and a spiked finial, with a recessed two-paned oculus at its centre.

To the ground floor right stands an advanced one-storey canted bay window with moulded granite cill and flat copped roof. Yellow brick coursing repeats over the window heads. It contains a 2/2 sliding sash to its face and 1/1 sashes to each cheek. The left cheek is incorporated into the original painted timber and glass porch, which abuts the central bay. The porch is a significant feature, with a pair of decorative glazed and panelled doors whose top glazed panes are decorated. The timber spandrel is carved. Panelled and glazed frames with turned timber mullions separate each panel and frame the door. The upper glazed transom is modern, replacing an earlier roof, though the earlier roof served previously as a balcony supported on cast iron brackets decorated with Gothic motifs. The original walls within the porch are white painted.

To the right bay at first floor, above the canted bay, is a 2/2 sliding sash window, and a glazed French window opens onto a balcony. The balcony extends over the canted bay roof and is enclosed by alternate decorative cast iron balustrades and plain metal posts supporting a timber handrail.

The left bay contains a two-storey canted bay window abutting the advanced gable. Recessed brick panels dressed with yellow brick—two to the front and one on each cheek—punctuate the first floor. The canted bay is two storeys with walls, cills, windows and roof matching the right bay.

The right gable forms the party wall with no. 10. The left gable is cement rendered. To the left gable at ground and first floor are single 2/2 sash windows, and in the attic gable are two small 1/1 sliding sashes. Abutting to the left is the right cheek of the rear right return, which is cement rendered with a modern timber and glass door at ground floor and a 2/2 sash window to first floor. A satellite dish is attached to this elevation. Plastic rainwater goods serve the rear roof.

The rear elevation is cement rendered and comprises three bays, the central bay being narrower. The right bay is abutted by a two-stage return; the first stage is two-storey and gabled with a chimney on the ridge gable, while the second stage has been rebuilt with a flat felted roof. The central bay has a shallower return that rises higher to three storeys, topped with a flat roof over a service stair projection on its left cheek. The left bay is plain. Ground floor windows and doors throughout the returns are modern hinged casements, as are those to first floor.

At the front of the property, a common landscaped lawn with driveways dissecting the site extends across the group, though this property's plot is larger and continues further south. A boundary wall in granite rubble with embattled coping encloses the whole site, with square gate piers to Manse Road, though the gates themselves are missing.

To the rear, a common carriageway serves mews buildings. The mews comprise a two-storey block constructed in two stages with a pitched roof, artificial slate to the left and natural slate to the right, slated verges and corbelled eaves supporting cast iron gutters. The walls are rubble stone. At ground floor, only one set of original carriage doors remains; the other three have been replaced with modern up-and-over doors. First floor features sheeted timber doors, though vents have been infilled with various modern windows.