House Yards at Mourne Park, Newry Road, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4SD

This collection of three interconnecting yards lies to the north of the main house at Mourne Park, formed by single-storey outbuildings arranged in a south-north sequence. Each yard is accessed from a lane running along the outside of the west wall.

Yard 1

The first yard sits immediately north of the main house, enclosed to the west by the kitchen. The western entrance gateway comprises a pair of tall coped ashlar granite posts hung with large corrugated metal doors. Beyond this is a further set of low modern wrought metal gates on metal posts. The yard is paved with uneven granite cobbles.

The east block, aligned north-south and defining the yard's eastern side, has a pitched natural slate roof hipped to the south with half-round metal rainwater goods. Three coped ashlar chimneys rise from the ridge: one to the left end and two to the right when viewed from the west. The yard-facing west wall is unpainted lined render. Its right third is abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed extension linking it to the back of the main house. The remaining wall has four windows, each a paired timber casement with dressed granite sill. A porch with a flat roof, modern eaves board and plastic guttering has rendered walls containing a pair of six-panelled doors with stop-end chamfering to the left and a paired casement window to the right. Its right cheek abuts the main house and its left has a paired casement window.

The south elevation of this block fronts the garden to the right of the main house, with its south-west corner abutting the house corner. A projecting rectangular bay fills most of this elevation. The walls either side are of squared and coursed granite rubble, while the bay itself is ashlar granite with moulded eaves and a blocking course above. The bay contains a pair of French windows at centre with a step up, flanked by sidelights with transoms over. The east-facing rear wall is squared and coursed rubble granite with traces of harling. It has seven openings, all with cement-rendered jambs. Five contain paired panelled and glazed French windows. The second and third openings from the left have two-pane bucket openers.

The north block is aligned west-east, abutting the east block to the right with its left end fronting the access lane. It has a pitched natural slate roof hipped to the left and tied into the east block roof to the right. At the centre of the ridge sits a square louvred vent with a pyramidal lead roof and weathervane. A cast-iron skylight is set in the rear pitch. A single rendered chimney rises from the wall head at the rear left. The south wall fronting the yard is line rendered with a central opening featuring a tall semicircular head (high enough for someone on horseback to pass through), leading to the second yard. Symmetrically arranged on either side are two three-over-three windows, a door and a three-over-three window, then a door at the end. The left gable is uncoursed rubble and blank. The north rear elevation facing Yard 2 is uncoursed random rubble with plastic guttering. It has a central doorway with a tongue-and-groove door to its right and a similar one at the right end. At left is a cast-iron window with a central opening section. The right wall is a party wall with the east block.

Yard 2

This yard is enclosed to the south by the north block of Yard 1. Its gateway to the south-west comprises a pair of coped ashlar granite piers supporting large corrugated metal gates. The remaining sides are enclosed by linear outbuildings.

The east block is aligned north-south with a pitched natural slate roof slightly lower than the ridge of the east block on Yard 1. A skylight is set in the east pitch at the north end. The walls are uncoursed granite rubble to the east and coursed rubble to the yard. All openings on its west yard-facing wall have dressed granite post-and-block jambs and granite voussoired flat heads. A door sits at the centre with a window and door symmetrically arranged on each side. The windows are cast iron with opening middle sections and the doors are tongue-and-groove sheeted. The rear east-facing elevation has a pair of brick-dressed three-paned cast-iron windows to the left end, all sharing a continuous sandstone sill and head. At the extreme right is a doorway flanked by two two-pane casements, to the left of which is a larger three-pane casement. These openings have cement-dressed jambs and concrete sills.

The north block is aligned west-east, linking the east and west blocks. Four bays wide, the two central bays are two storeys high and the others single storey. The middle section has a shallow hipped roof with overhanging eaves, and the end sections have pitched roofs which tie into the flanking blocks; all are covered in natural slates. The right front pitch has a cast-iron skylight to the yard. Half-round rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The south elevation to the yard is coursed dressed granite blocks with symmetrically placed openings. The lower blocks to left and right each have a single three-over-three sliding sash window to the outer side and tongue-and-groove sheeted doors to the inner side. The central bays are abutted at ground floor by a large corrugated metal monopitched roof supported on three plain metal posts. The ground floor has four segmental-headed openings, each containing a pair of wooden doors. At first floor are a pair of semicircular openings to the centre with dressed granite voussoirs, each containing a three-over-three segmental-headed sliding sash window with glazed sidelights. Flanking these to left and right are single three-over-three sliding sash windows with flat voussoired heads and granite sills. These upper openings align with those below. The rear north wall of the two-storey block is uncoursed random rubble with two three-over-three sliding sash windows. It is abutted by a single-storey lean-to with a corrugated iron roof and mass concrete walls. This lean-to has two sheeted doors and, to the left, a two-by-two window.

The west block is aligned north-south, single storey with a hipped natural slate roof and half-round metal gutters. Its east wall facing the yard has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door to the right with dressed granite jambs and a flat voussoired head. To its left are three large rectangular doorways with ashlar granite jambs containing pairs of large tongue-and-groove sheeted doors (missing to the left). Its south wall is uncoursed rubble with a single cast-iron window matching those in the east block. Its west rear wall has two three-over-three sliding sashes, both to the left end (the left one smaller than the other).

Yard 3

This yard is long and narrow, enlarging at the north-east corner to accommodate dog kennels. It is enclosed to the north by a high rubble wall, to the east by a wall and outbuilding, and to the south by the north block of Yard 2. At the west end is the entrance, comprising a pair of corrugated metal gates hung from ashlar granite piers.

The east block is aligned north-south with a hipped natural slate roof and cast-iron skylights—one to the front pitch and two to the rear east pitch. Half-round gutters are fitted. The west elevation to the yard is coursed random rubble granite containing a pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors, a single door at the right and a modern one-over-one window at the left. Its south gable is contiguous with the east block of Yard 2. The rear east elevation has squared and coursed granite rubble walls with a three-paned casement featuring a cement-dressed surround and concrete sill. The wall continues at right as the boundary wall to the yard and contains a plain wrought iron gate. The north gable contains a narrow sheeted door.

The north block is aligned west-east and single storey in the enlarged north-east corner of the yard. It has a hipped natural slate roof and coursed random rubble walls with half-round metal gutters. There is a doorway to the right end of the south elevation to the yard. Ruinous dog kennels with a corrugated monopitch roof, concrete block walls and wrought metal gates abut the remainder of this façade. The yard's rubble boundary wall forms its rear wall and gables.