Cromore Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical single-storey sandstone gate lodge to Cromore House (HB03/07/011A); built c.1875 to designs of Charles Lanyon and located to the west side of Cromore Road southeast of Portstewart. Rectangular plan with portico to front.

Hipped natural slate roof with leaded ridges and hips; moulded kneelers to portico; central sandstone chimneystack with overhanging saddleback coping on bracketed overhanging eaves and flues projecting from gables. Vestigial plastic rainwater goods on overhanging bracketed eaves. Walling is sandstone ashlar on a projecting plinth; painted rubble stone with red brick dressings to rear elevation. Windows are covered with metal sheeting, with projecting masonry sills to rear.

The principal elevation faces south and has a window opening to either side of twin-arched central portico. Portico has round-headed openings with plain impost mouldings and painted balustrade to east and west openings. Central entrance (with metal sheeting) flanked by pilaster responds. Cornice to ceiling.

The west elevation is three window openings wide.

The north (rear) elevation has entrance door to right of centre with metal flanked by two windows at left and one at right.

The east elevation has three window openings, centrally grouped.

Setting:

Situated to the right side of the entrance to Cromore House with east gable facing original gate screen with rusticated sandstone gate piers having pyramidal caps and cast-iron spear-headed gates and railings. The site is overgrown, with ivy and overgrowth to north and east; mature trees to west.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Sandstone ashlar
Windows: Metal sheeted
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

The single-storey gate lodge, located at the main entrance to Cromore House (HB03/07/011A) in the townland of Ballyleese North, was constructed c. 1875; the gate lodge was not depicted on the Ordnance Survey maps of the region until the third edition in 1904 which recorded the building as a square-shaped building located at the eastern perimeter of the Cromore estate. Cromore’s gate lodge was erected between 1874 and 1876 when the building was first recorded in the Annual Revisions which jointly valued it with the gentleman’s house at £87; prior to the erection of the lodge, Cromore House and its outbuildings had been valued at £85, therefore the lodge was valued at approximately £2. The layout of the building was not altered in the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps; neither did the value of the lodge fluctuate by the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929.

Dean states that the first gate lodge at Cromore House was located to the original south-west main entrance to the estate. From the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1830) the gate lodge appeared to have been ‘a little Georgian pill-box lodge’, however it was demolished by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map in c. 1860. John Cromie, who had made numerous alterations to Cromore House in 1834, formed a new entrance avenue to the house from the eastern perimeter of the estate in 1856, giving access to the new railway station that had been opened in the same year. Although numerous sources, including Dean, state that the lodge was constructed c. 1857 at the entrance to this new pathway, it is certain that the lodge had not been added by the second edition of the Ordnance Survey map (c. 1860); it was not until c. 1875 that the current lodge was erected. Cromore’s gate lodge strongly resembles the Italianate formula lodges erected by Charles Lanyon, suggesting that the building was designed by Lanyon, the principal architect and engineer of the Victorian period in Ulster, during his late career (1813-1889) (Dean, pp 113-114).

Girvan, writing in 1972, states that ‘the gate lodge, [like Cromore House is] also in sandstone, is Italianate with a two-arch porchway and outsized gabled chimney.’ The gate lodge was listed in 1977 (the year after Cromore House); however the building fell vacant after the Montague family sold the estate in the late-20th century. Whilst Cromore House became utilised as University of Ulster accommodation, the former gate lodge remained unoccupied despite attempts to turn it into licensed premises; this application was refused primarily due to the proposal ‘for an overly large extension, which would have been out of keeping with the listed building in terms of scale and form, as well as the potential impact on the Cromore House Demesne’ (UAHS, Buildings at Risk, p. 87). Cromore Houses’ gate lodge continues to lie vacant and is currently inaccessible, the entrances and openings covered with metal sheeting.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/3/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/3/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map c. 1860
3. PRONI OS/6/5/3/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1922-32
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/5/3 – Townland Valuation Map c. 1830
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/ 539A-B – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/10 – Griffith’s Valuation 1857
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17A – Annual Revisions 1859-1863
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17B – Annual Revisions 1874-1876
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17C – Annual Revisions 1877-1887
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17D – Annual Revisions 1888-1894
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17E – Annual Revisions 1895-1905
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17F – Annual Revisions 1906-1917
14. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17G – Annual Revisions 1918-1929
15. Ordnance Survey Map – 12-4 (1966)
16. First Survey Record – HB03/07/010 (1973)
17. First Survey Image – HB03/07/010 (1973)

Secondary Sources

1. ‘Buildings at Risk: Vol. 8’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2008.
2. Bence-Jones, M., ‘A guide to Irish country houses’ London: Constable, 1989.
3. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
4. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

A symmetrical single-storey sandstone gate lodge with twin arch portico to Cromore House (HB03/07/011A); built c.1875 to designs by Charles Lanyon and located to the west side of Cromore Road southeast of Portstewart. Architectural detailing is well-preserved, with diminutive proportions dominated by a relatively unusual style of chimneystack; original joinery may also survive underneath metal sheeting covering the openings. The original proportions are intact and despite a slightly dilapidated appearance, much of the character is preserved, making this a good surviving example of an increasingly rare building type. Also of interest due to its connections with Cromore House (HB03/07/11A) giving it important group value, and as a good example of the work of prominent local architects Lanyon and Lynn. Visible from the main road into Portstewart town centre, Cromore Lodge makes an important contribution to the architectural character of the area.

General comments

This record has been renumbered as part of the Cromore House group. Formerly known as HB03/07/010.
Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.