Marlborough House, 64 Killough Road, Ballymote middle, Downpatrick, Co Down, BT30 8BL

Marlborough House is a large, fine double-pile gentleman's residence of the 1740s, situated at the end of a drive approximately 1½ miles south of Downpatrick. The house comprises a main block of two storeys with attic and basement, together with a substantial two-storey return to the rear, which was probably built largely in the late 18th century.

The symmetrical front façade, facing roughly west, is finished in lined render with in-out beveled quoins and is painted. At its centre rises a full-height gabled bay. The main entrance is set to the ground floor of this bay, approached by a broad flight of steps. The doorway features a panelled door with v-channeled side pilasters, topped by a cornice and a broken pediment on brackets. This encloses a semicircular fanlight with gothic tracery. The door is flanked by large eight-pane sidelights with cornices. Directly above, on the first floor, is a Palladian window with sash frames in Georgian panes (1/2, 12/6, 1/2), which has a plain surround with brackets to the sill. To each side of the bay, there are two sash windows per floor with Georgian panes (6/6), fitted with late Victorian moulded labels. At basement level are two windows to each side, similarly detailed but without labels. The basement lightwell is enclosed by simple wrought iron spear-head railings with open ironwork end piers.

The double-pile south façade is blank and largely clad in rough-hewn slates. To the ground floor is a single-storey rendered projection with a part gable, part shed roof, containing a doorway to its east face and a small window with modern two-pane frame to its south face.

The north façade is rendered and unpainted. Two tall projecting chimney breasts dominate this elevation. The ground floor has two windows (sash, plain), with two further windows directly above (sash, Georgian panes 6/6). At basement level to the left is another sash window (2/2).

The large rear return projects significantly. It consists of two sections built at different stages. The larger, older section to the right (north) is joined to the left (south) by a newer section which is currently being enlarged with a new gabled roof and floor, replacing a flat water tank added probably in the early 1900s. The east face of the left portion has a sash window (2/2) to the ground floor, another (4/4) to the first floor, and a small window opening to the uppermost floor, currently without a frame. The east face of the larger portion has a four-pane window at basement level, a large tripartite sash window to the ground floor (2/2, 6/6, 2/2), and a single sash window (4/4) to the first floor.

The rear façade of the main building block is largely finished in unpainted render. At basement level are two small two-pane windows. To the left of these, set at an intermediate level between basement and ground floor, is a timber-sheeted door. The ground floor has two plain sash windows, with two further windows to the first floor. Directly above the door is a small stair landing sash window with margin panes, with another landing window above this. The gabled roof is currently being reconstructed; the finished section is slated. Four brown brick chimney stacks, possibly mid-20th century replacements, project from the roof. Velux windows face into the roof well and are not visible from ground level.

Single and two-storey outbuildings are positioned to the rear, some sections altered in recent years. To the front of the drive is a curving gate screen with thick square panelled piers and rendered and lined walling. The main vehicle gates have been removed, but a wrought iron spear-head pedestrian gate remains.

The house appears to have been built in the early to mid-18th century, possibly by the Nevin or McNevin family, though Taylor's and Skinner's 1777 road map marks it as the property of Lord de Clifford, then landlord of Downpatrick. If Lord de Clifford did not reside there himself, the property was in his ownership in the later decades of the 18th century, when in 1799 he leased it to James Crawford, a former agent and local businessman. Crawford later purchased the house and sold it in 1816 for £1,500 to Richard Stitt. By around 1838, when valuers inspected the building, much of the present structure was already in place, including the rear return, all sections of which were noted as 'old'. The Stitt family occupied Marlborough until approximately 1900, when it was acquired by an ancestor of the present owner. The origins of the name remain somewhat mysterious; the current owner believes it may refer to the marl soil of the surrounding area, though it is possible the name derives from the Duke of Marlborough, whose popularity endured throughout the early to mid-18th century.