PAROCHIAL HOUSE, 22 CASTLE ST., KILLOUGH, Downpatrick, CO.DOWN

An attached four-bay two-storey-over-basement late 18th-century house, possibly designed by Charles Lilly, located on the east side of Castle Street in Killough. The building comprises a symmetrical composition with a rectangular main block, lower flanking monopitched wings, and twin projecting single-storey porches at either end. The north wing extends further east with a perpendicular service wing.

The roof is pitched natural slate with rendered chimneystacks to the gable ends of the main block and service wing. Original ogee profile cast-iron gutters and downpipes run throughout, with a uPVC soil vent pipe to the rear. The flanking wings have monopitched roofs, while the service wing extension is double-pitched.

The walling is ruled-and-lined rendered with a slightly projecting contrasting plinth and a projecting masonry platband between floors, painted only to the principal elevation. Windows are generally 6/6 timber sliding sashes, except where otherwise noted. First floor and outer ground floor windows are set in plain square-headed reveals with recessed aprons and painted masonry cills throughout. The central three ground floor windows are set in round-headed recesses.

The principal elevation faces west and is three windows wide at first floor; the ground floor is five windows wide in total, comprising three windows to the main block (the central window is false) and one window to each flanking wing. The platband between floors extends across the flanking wings, with their respective eaves finished with plain raking bands returning to the main block in the form of half-pediments, each containing a roundel window.

The north porch projects into the street line as the principal access. It features a shallow rebated segmental opening with impost mouldings containing an original timber door with beaded muntin, eight fielded panels, and original cast-iron door furniture. The opening is framed by a pair of Ionic half-pilasters with acanthus motif to the capitals. Above is a moulded lintel architrave with a plain fanlight. A sandstone threshold is accessed by a wide granite platform with twin cast-iron bootscrapers, reached by two granite steps. Rendered brick dwarf walls with granite coping enclose either side, terminated by a pair of octagonal granite piers. The south porch is identical but retains a pair of urns at roof level; its door is a 20th-century timber replacement and was not inspected.

The north gable is abutted by the monopitched flanking wing, further extended by the service wing, with an exposed blank section. Windows to the north elevation are uPVC casements throughout, including mid-20th-century picture windows to the east end of the service wing. A segmental opening on the right side leads to a former basement kitchen, now accessed by concrete steps with timber sheeted doors. The extreme right end is abutted by a single-storey former meat store adjoining the rear wall of the porch. The east end of the service wing is abutted by a single-storey lean-to rubblestone extension with a single uPVC window with brick dressings. The south elevation of the service wing is blank.

The rear (east) elevation has four equally-spaced openings to each floor of the main block; those at ground floor are timber French windows with plain transom lights over. To the left, the lean-to flanking wing has a plain timber fire door and a small fixed four-light window at high level; it is centrally abutted by the garden boundary wall. The south gable is abutted by the lean-to south flanking wing, itself fully abutted by the adjoining parish hall, with an exposed blank gable.

The house is street-fronted in the centre of Killough village, with mature trees lining the pavement directly in front. The composition extends north along the street with a range of lofted outbuildings forming one side of a parallel outbuilding complex, and south by an early 20th-century parish hall. The street frontage of both outbuildings and hall has been rendered and painted to match the main house.

The outbuildings are constructed of random rubble stone and brick with vestigial lime wash. The west building has a pitched slate roof with angled ridge tiles; its street elevation features a central square-headed coach door with modern timber sheeted replacement doors, a six-light fixed window to the left, and a boarded window to the right. The yard elevation has two timber sheeted coach doors at ground floor, the central one with a large semi-circular brick relieving arch over it; to the right is a round-headed opening with a rudimentary spoked fanlight. The loft contains two timber sheeted loading doors. The east range has a monopitched roof with terracotta ridge tiles and three door openings including a segmental-headed opening, two doors, and a four-light window with crown glass, all with timber sheeted doors. The east garden-facing wall is blank except for a timber ledged door between the yard and garden, covered by an extension of the monopitched roof.

The yard surface is generally tiled, with an area of original cobbles at the north end. To the rear is a large enclosed garden; the boundary wall to the north and east is rubble stone, while that to the south is rendered over brick and has a timber door leading to the 'Priest's Field', an L-shaped plot to the rear that bounds the shoreline at the east.