2 The Almshouses, Seaforde, Naghan, Downpatrick, Co Down, BT30 8NX

A small, single-storey house with a gabled porch, part of a picturesque terrace of 1828, possibly designed by English architect Peter Frederick Robinson. The terrace was originally built at the request of Mrs Forde of Seaforde House to contain six almshouses for elderly residents, along with a small petty sessions court house at the south end.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836 describe the dwellings as contributing greatly to ornament the village, with the almshouses occupied by six widows receiving charity. Each house originally consisted of just two small rooms with an outside toilet. The court house ceased to be used in the mid-20th century, and the almshouses themselves became largely vacant by around 1970.

In the early 1970s, Hearth (later Hearth Housing Association) acquired the group from the Forde estate. The National Trust converted the former court house to two dwellings in 1977, and Hearth subsequently renovated the remainder of the terrace in 1979-80. During this process, each pair of former almshouses was amalgamated to form a larger property (of which this building is one), and the court house was split into two separate dwellings. A large, sympathetic single-storey return was added at the same time to the rear of the whole grouping, containing kitchens and bathrooms.

The terrace is idyllically positioned on the east side of Newcastle Road at the centre of the village of Seaforde. To the west front is a large lawn enclosed by a low rubble wall. The front façade faces west and is symmetrical, rendered and painted with a granite base. At the centre is a relatively large gabled porch with slated roof and exposed rafter ends. The porch has a timber-sheeted door to its south face and a relatively large window to its front (gabled) face. This window has mullioned and transomed lights with three smaller upper lights of lattice panes containing four vertically arranged panes, and three much larger lower lights. Above the window is a granite hood moulding. To the north face of the porch return is a similar but narrower window; a doorway formerly existed here prior to the amalgamation of the houses around 1979-80. To the left and right of the porch on the main façade are windows matching the porch window style.

To the centre of the rear elevation is a relatively large single-storey return with slated roof, finished as the front elevation but with a rendered recessed base. The south face of the return has two timber-sheeted doors with four-pane fanlights (the right-hand door appears to lead to a shed). To the gable is a window similar in size to the front but with three tall Georgian-paned lights, with a granite hood above similar in style to the front. The north face has an 8/8 Georgian-paned sash window, with similar windows to the main rear façade on each side of the return.

The main roof is hipped with slate covering, as are the roofs to the return and porch. The main roof has exposed rafter ends. Two large six-sided granite chimneys with coping are positioned to the north and south, shared with adjacent properties. Metal rainwater goods are present. A paved yard lies to the rear.

The building has group value with the other buildings in the terrace and with the other Seaforde estate buildings.