Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB24/08/011 B

Address :
9 Cunningburn Road Cunningburn Newtownards Co Down BT22 2AR

Townland:
Cunningburn

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
20/12/1976 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
Mill

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
Yes

Vernacular:
Yes

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
149/5

IG Ref:
J5349 7126

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

Cunningburn Mill is a group of houses picturesquely situated in a hollow roughly 1 mile NW of the Mount Stewart estate. Some of the houses are converted mill related buildings and almost all have been renovated/converted recently. This house is situated on the opposite side of the narrow lane from the thatched house. From the lane it appears to be one storey, but the ground drops sharply to the S of the lane thus revealing two storeys. The front N facade (which faces into the lane and appears one storey) has a ‘lean to’ projection to the left which contains a timber stable door. To the right of the projection (on the ‘main’ wall) is a sash window with ’Georgian’ panes. The W two storey gable has a similar sash window to the left on the upper level and a glazed door to the left of the lower level. The rear has two glazed doors to the ground floor, with two similar door-like windows to the upper level and a small sash window to the far right. The E gable has two small sash windows (as before) to the upper level with a now blocked doorway to the ground level. The bottom half of this gable was largely covered with earth until recently and is currently ongoing renovation. The house is constructed in random rubble and unrendered. The roof is gabled and pitched and covered in Bangor blue slates with stone parapets. There are two small brick chimney stacks and two small Velux windows to the front and one large and one small Velux window to the rear. This house has been renovated recently and work is still continuing on tidying up the exterior as well as the interior. There is a well with stone steps and rubble faced walls to the NE of this property. There are the remains of a rubble built WC to the SE. This whole grouping has been transformed within the last decade or so, all due to the efforts of the present owner (1998), who bought much of the complex in the late 1980s, when it was largely derelict. Though many of the buildings have been adopted to the needs of modern dwellings, this has been achieved in an unpretentious, unobtrusive fashion and all have largely retained their original facades. The former corn mill is the centrepiece of the whole group and is at present in the process of conversion to a dwelling, and from what the writers could observe, will match the style of the other buildings in terms of, windows, doors, roof and general facade finish. The partly thatched cottage (House No.1) is perhaps the second most important building in the grouping, however, its traditional front facade is not matched by its much altered and now untidy rear facade. As a whole this grouping is of listing quality, but, the corn mill and the cottage are of significantly greater value than any of the other structures. Thus, it could be said that as far as the Cunningburn Mill Group is concerned, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The earliest information the writers have uncovered concerning this grouping is a map dated 1777 from the Londonderry Papers at PRONI. This map states that at this stage the lands of Cunningburn were part of the estate of Alexander Stewart, the then owner of the Mount Stewart estate and father of the future Marquis of Londonderry. The map shows the thatched cottage, the corn mill and what appears to be the kiln house. There is another house shown slightly to the NW of the kiln house, which may correspond to the site of a building which was demolished in fairly recent times or to the site of the present single storey building to the NW of the tall chimney, now used as a store. The corn mill had been built by Alexander Stewart the year before this map was drawn up, and, as the date stone implies was then under the supervision of miller W. Harris. Some distance to the north of the grouping at this stage there was a flax mill, which was also powered by the ‘Cunning Burn’, as was the corn mill. The next map of the complex dates from 1829, it shows the same buildings as that of 1777, as does the first OS Map of 1834, however, by this date there was a windmill further to the NW and another corn mill to the south west of the townland, near the coast of Strangford Lough. By the 1830s we also know that possession of the corn mill and the flax mill further to the north of the townland had passed to one John Cooper and that the corn mill had a wheel 12 feet in diameter and 2.5 feet in breadth, and that the fall of water was 5 feet. It was also noted in the 1830s OS Memoirs, that ‘there is not a sufficiency of water in the summer season and the little there is said to be frequently cut off before it reaches the mills’. It was probably because of this insufficiency that the windmill to the NW had been built, wind power acting as an auxiliary to water power. The revised OS Map of c.1858-60 shows the that the house on the opposite side of the lane from the thatched cottage had been built by this stage. Just to the south east of the kiln house there was another building at this stage also. This particular structure survived into fairly recent times and is remembered by older local residents as once serving as a shop. Interestingly the flax scutching mill and store (with the associated engine house and tall chimney) to the rear of the corn mill, had not been built by this time, thus dating this entire section to post c.1858. This section may date from the 1860s, a period when linen production increased, mainly due to the down turn in cotton production as a result of the American Civil War. The flax mill ceased production in 1894 and the corn mill in c.1932 and during the Second World War the flow of water to the mill pond (directly behind [N] the thatched cottage), was halted. After this date much of the grouping served as animal houses and gradually fell into neglect. Much of the complex was purchased by the present owner (1998) in the late 1980s who since then has set about converting much of the grouping to dwelling houses. At this point (February 1998) only the former corn mill remains to be fully converted, but it is hoped that this will be completed soon. References- Primary sources 1 PRONI Londonderry Papers D.654/M24/1 ‘A Map of several farms in the townland of Cunningburn, Parish of New-town Ards, County Down, part of the estate of Alexander Stewart Esq...by David Geddas..January 27 1777’. 2 PRONI Londonderry Papers D.654/M24/6 ‘Map of the lands and mills of Cunningburn...November 1829...by David Geddas’. 3 PRONI Londonderry Papers D.654/D24/1 Deed of partition concerning three mills in Cunningburn- John Cooper, Thomas Robson, William Cooper- 2 October 1830. [See also D.654/D24/2 Mortgage for £1,000, John Echlin and George Hamilton to Patrick Savage- 11 March 1763.] 4 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Edition, 1834, Down 11. 5 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p. 104. 6 PRONI VAL 1B/34 1st valuation, Newtownards c.1835. 7 PRONI Ordnance Survey Maps, 1st Revision, c.1860, Down 11. 8 PRONI 2nd valuation, Newtownards, c.1863. Secondary sources 1 A.J. Hughes and R.J. Hannan 'Place-Names of Northern Ireland Vol. Two, County Down II- The Ards', p.228. 2 Trevor McCavery 'Newtown- A history of Newtownards' (Dundonald, 1999), pp.41, 78,138.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building H+. Alterations enhancing the building J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

One of a picturesque grouping of dwellings many of which are recently converted former structures associated with corn milling and flax scutching. All of these buildings have largely preserved their original exteriors, but their interiors have been altered although this has been carried out in sympathy with the original feel of the structures.

General Comments

Date of Survey

05 February 1998