Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/17/018

Address :
3-5 Comber Road Balloo Killinchy Co Down BT23 6PA

Townland:
Balloo

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
186/4

IG Ref:
J4977 6071

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Large, two storey house and shop whose late Victorian / Edwardian appearance with outer bays and canopy covered entrance may disguise an earlier building. The property now contains a house and shop and is set on the E side of the Comber Road (near Balloo cross-roads), less than half a mile W of the village of Killinchy. Front W facade has two outer bays with a flat roofed ‘canopy’ between with decorative ball finials. To the right of centre on the ground floor (under the canopy) is the entrance to the shop with timber panelled double doors. To the left of the entrance is a large six pane fixed light window. To the left of this is a small entrance porch (to the house) which is also attached to the left hand outer bay. This porch has a timber door with fanlight, to the front, and to tall two light windows to its S (inner) face. Between this porch and the large shop window is a built in (wall) post box, with an enamel post office notice above (of c.1900-20). To the first floor directly above the canopy are three sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. The left hand bay is five sided with a hipped roof, and sash windows (as previous) to the three front bays on each floor. The right hand bay is three sided (i.e. square) with a hipped roof and twinned sash windows (as before) to the first floor and a large fixed light six pane window (as under canopy) to the ground floor. Attached to the N gable is a high rendered wall with modern-ish arch and tympanum, all c.1920s. To the ground floor of this gable (behind the wall) is a single storey lean to with timber sheeted door to right on N face and sash window (as front) to short E face. The rear façade appears to have been added to on several occasions. To the left is a two storey gabled return which has a long (slightly shorter) two storey store section attached to its E gable. To the first floor of the N façade of the two storey return is a sash window as before, whilst at ground floor level a long single storey flat roofed section has been added, which also stretches across much of the ground floor of the store section. To the right of the two storey return is another full height gabled extension, built at a right angle to the return with gables parallel with those to the main house. This section has a large metal window to the ground floor on its E façade and a sash window to the first floor. To its N gable there is the rear door with a small (boarded up) window at first floor level. To the right of this extension (on the rear façade of the main house) is a sash window (as front) to the ground and first floor. The front façade is finished in lined render and is painted. Plinth and eaves course to front. The square bay has quoins. The rear is finished in rough cast and unpainted. The main roofs are gabled and all roofs have Bangor blue slates. Three yellow brick chimney stacks. Yellow clay parapets to N. Large two storey outbuildings to rear.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

Documentary evidence suggests that a building has existed on this site since at least 1810, and that this was originally leased to Dr. David Moorhead (d.1835). As such may have incorporated a surgery or dispensary. A long structure, which would appear to also encompass the footprint of the present no.1 Comber Road, is shown on the OS map of 1834. The first valuation of 1837 notes that at that point the property to the north end of this structure, which would seem to equate to the present nos.3-5, was then in the possession of a James Watson and consisted of a slate-roofed ‘house shop’ measuring 31½ft x 23½ x 15 with ‘office [i.e. outbuilding] and loft’ of 26 x 22½ x 14, as well as an ‘old office’, (presumably the long rear return shown on the OS map), whose dimensions are not recorded. These figures indicate that just over half of the main front block of nos.3-5 was originally a dwelling, and that the rest was an outbuilding, and that the height of the latter was slightly lower than its neighbour. Shortly after this date (probably c.1838-39) the property is recorded as in the hands of Hamilton Watson. According to the valuations, by 1861 the ‘house (shop)’ and its attendant outbuildings were being leased by Samuel W. Hewitt from Samuel Murland of Annsborough, who had bought the freehold in 1851. The valuation revisions indicate that Mr. Hewitt was succeeded at some point before 1868 by Anna (or Anne) Russell, who along with her husband David, appear to have been returning tenants, as the sale documentation of 1851 lists them as the occupants at that date. David seems to have died relatively shortly after they took up residence again, and Anna, who ran a spirit merchant’s from the premises, held the lease until 1873 when it was acquired by William McCann. William, a local grocer, reopened the shop as a grocery store, later adding the role of post office to this. He would appear to have carried out significant changes to the building within a few years of moving in, for the rateable value was increased from £6-10-0 to £12-0-0 in 1877. It is possible that it was at this point former outbuilding section was incorporated into the house, creating much of the main front block we see today. The valuations also mention a ‘new store’ in 1880, which probably indicates that the barn to the north side of the site was completed in this year. In 1892 further improvements were carried out, which the builder’s invoice shows included ‘building an extension to [the] dwelling house…[and] plastering front and gables in cement’; this could be a reference to the addition of the canted bay to the front, although it is not certain. Further works took place in c.1903 when it is thought that the rear two-storey kitchen and bathroom projection was built, along with the screen wall / archway to the north. William McCann purchased the freehold in 1905, and after his death the following year the property passed to his son, Hamilton McCann. In 1911 Hamilton added the square bay and veranda to the front, and made some internal changes, all to designs by Belfast architect, Charles Aicken; a lean-to extension was added to the north gable around this time also. There have been subsequent additions to the rear return and most recently a large flat-roofed section has been built within the rear courtyard. Both shop and house remain in the ownership of Hamilton McCann’s descendants. References- Primary sources 1 OS maps, 1833, 1859, 1902, 1920, 1975 2 PRONI VAL1B/335 (1837) 3 PRONI VAL2B/3/33 (1861) 4 PRONI VAL12B/18/14A-E (1864-1930) Secondary sources 1 Information supplied on behalf co-owner (July 2020)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Ostensibly late Victorian/Edwardian two storey house and shop with projecting bays, which may represent a remodelling of an earlier, perhaps even a pre 1834, building. The interior layout is complex, especially to the upper floor.

General Comments

Date of Survey

26 July 1998