"ROSE COTTAGE" and walling

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached asymmetrical four-bay single-storey with attic rendered former gate lodge, built c.1840. Rectangular on plan facing south on a corner site enclosed by original rendered stone walling.

Hipped natural slate roof with rolled lead ridges and a single rendered chimneystack with terracotta pots. Cast-iron guttering to timber box fascia to overhanging eaves and cast-iron downpipes. Painted rendered walling with painted rendered plinth course and rusticated quoins. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement timber sliding sash windows with angled horns and partially exposed sash boxes.

Four-bay single-storey front elevation with off-centre square-headed door opening. Replacement timber sliding sash windows with geometric glazing bars and replacement half-glazed timber panelled door. Door opens onto concrete step to small front area.

Two-bay single-storey west side elevation set at a lower level than the garden having replacement 3/6 timber sliding sash windows.

Rear elevation has randomly placed openings including two diminutive window openings below eaves (attic storey) with replacement side hung timber casement windows. A further ground floor window opening has replacement timber casement window and a square-headed door opening to the right has a replacement half-glazed timber panelled door. Door opens onto concrete paved rear yard.

East side elevation has a single window opening to the left, glazed as per front elevation.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Render
Windows Replacement sliding timber sash

Setting:
Located on a corner site at the junction of Middlepark Road and a concrete paved private road enclosed by low rendered walls with rubblestone coping and replacement steel pedestrian gate hung on two rendered piers. A detached garage to the rear, built 1989 with lawns to the west.

Historical information

No. 43 Middlepark Road, a single-storey four-bay dwelling also known as Rose Cottage, was constructed between 1832 and 1857 as the gate lodge to Mount Edwards House. The UAHS guide for the Glens of Antrim described Mount Edwards House as ‘a building of more antiquity than architectural merit.’ In 1819 Mason’s Parochial Survey of Ireland noted that Mount Edwards House was occupied by a Mr. Samuel Boyd Esq. and described it in the following terms: ‘It is one of those old snug farm-houses that were built by gentlemen who got grants of tracts of land, in former days, from the Antrim family; they now make estates of some value; Mr. Boyd’s ancestor was the holder of one of these. Since he has occupied it, great improvements have been made in gardening, planting, fencing and liming the farm, convenient and excellent out-houses erected, and an intention expressed to rebuild the house’ (Mason, p. 17). Brett suggested that Rose Cottage was erected in c. 1825 as part of the improvements undertaken by Boyd, however this is incorrect as the gate lodge was not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for the area in 1832 (UAHS, p. 31).

The gate lodge to Mount Edwards House was constructed between 1832 and 1857 after the site had been acquired by General Alexander Cuppage (d. 1847). The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1830-38) described Mount Edwards House as a single-storey ‘plain, old house [which was] not in very good repair’ (OSM, p. 48). The Cuppage family were prominent local landowners who were responsible for raising Mount Edwards by a storey and for the construction of the gate lodge at the entrance to their estate. The gate lodge was first recorded on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 which depicted the building along its current rectangular layout. The map also shows that Mount Edwards House originally possessed a pair of lodges; the second lodge was located opposite Rose Cottage but was replaced with a modern two-storey house in the late-20th century. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1859) set the total rateable value of Rose Cottage at £1 and 5 shillings and noted that the building was leased by the Cuppage family to a Ms. Margaret McKenzie.

The McKenzie family continued to reside at Rose Cottage until c. 1889 when a Mr. Robert Emerson took possession of the site. The Emerson family were employed as farmers by the Cuppage family and remained at Rose Cottage until at least the 1970s. The 1911 Census described the gate lodge as a 2nd class dwelling which consisted of four rooms and possessed a large number of outbuildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery and a barn. Thomas Emerson purchased the building outright from the Cuppage family by the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which increased the value of the former gate lodge to £2 and 10 shillings. Emerson continued to be recorded as both occupant and owner by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the value of Rose Cottage stood at £4 and 10 shillings.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim noted that Mount Edwards House had been reduced in stature to a simple two-storey farmhouse ‘distinguished from others in the district only by its substantial depth in relation to its width’. Rose Cottage was subsequently listed in 1980. Dean has described the surviving gate lodge in the following terms: ‘standard single-storey, hipped roof. Three-bay [sic] with nice octagonal lattice glazing bar pattern to windows’ (Dean, p. 23). The NIEA HB Records note that Rose Cottage underwent an extensive renovation in 1989 which included the construction of the modern garage to the north side of the property, the replacement of the cottage’s natural slate roof and timber fascias, the installation of cast iron rainwater goods and the addition of new timber sliding sash window frames throughout. The modern garage extension was designed to fit in with the adjoining dwelling (designed in a sympathetic style complete with quoins) and is the only major alteration to have been made to the site. During the Second Survey Rose Cottage continued to be utilised as a private dwelling (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
5. PRONI VAL/1/A/1/20 – Townland Valuation Map (c. 1830)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/40A-B – Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1859)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/19A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/13A – Annual Revisions (1923-29)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/4 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. William Shaw Mason: Statistical Account or Parochial Survey of Ireland (1819)
12. Ordnance Survey Memoirs, Co. Antrim IV, Vol. 13 (1830-38)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB05/01/023 (1971)
16. NIEA HB Record – HB05/01/023

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings and areas of architectural importance in the Glens of Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Detached asymmetrical four-bay single-storey with attic rendered former gate lodge, built c.1840 as a gate lodge to Mount Edwards House (now demolished) . This former gate lodge retains its original composition with largely appropriate replacement detailing employed throughout. The elegant proportions and decorative glazing endow this building with a mid nineteenth-century charm enables it to stand out from the surrounding buildings. The boundary walling adds to its interest.