Gate Lodge at Port Nelligan

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical two-bay single storey gate lodge, built c.1900 and situated along the Monaghan Road, Middletown, at the entrance to Portnelligan. Simple rectangular plan.

Hipped natural slate roof with leaded ridge; hip covering gone, replaced with temporary metal capping and modern hip tiles. Central bi-partite lozenge brick chimneystacks supported on a plinth and having corbelled capping. Overhanging timber eaves on paired profiled brackets; no rainwater goods. Walling is limewashed Flemish bonded brick with stone base course to rear. Horned timber 1/1 sash windows, bi-partite, painted masonry cills to front, no cill to rear.

Principal elevation faces east and has a central door with a window to either side. Ledged and sheeted timber door covered to front with a hardboard panel. Painted timber door frame on plinth blocks, with remains of a gas lamp affixed.

Sides are blank. Single window to rear elevation.

Setting:
Set slightly back from the public road in a rural area, at the head of a long mature entrance entrance avenue leading to Port Nelligan, a substantial eighteenth century farmhouse. The lodge is surrounded by mature beech trees and within an alcoved entrance comprising curvilinear ashlar sandstone walling with roughly dressed stone coping. Modern steel gates to plain piers.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Limewashed brick
Windows: Timber
RWG: None

Historical information

Historical records suggest that the gate lodge at Portnelligan, a single-storey building located at the northern entrance to Portnelligan House (HB15/11/003A), was constructed in c. 1860. Information from the current owner suggests that the gate lodge was built some time later, but there is little evidence to support this, as it is of a relatively simple form, devoid of much detailing, and has undergone some minor alterations during the 20thC. Cartographic evidence shows that a gate lodge has stood on the site of the current building since at least 1860, but it is difficult to ascertain whether the current lodge dates from that time, or was subject to reconstruction. Dean's date of c.1840 is unlikely to be accurate.

The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps for the Middletown area records that the site was vacant in 1835; in that year Portnelligan possessed a gate lodge that was located at the southern entrance to the estate (now demolished). A gate lodge was constructed on the current site to the north of Portnelligan between 1835 and 1860. The second edition Ordnance Survey map (1860) depicted the square-shaped lodge along the same ground plan and layout as the current lodge.

Between 1863 and 1972 the valuation sources set a single rateable value for Portnelligan house, its outbuildings and lodges; as a result it is not possible to determine the individual value of the gate lodge. The valuation sources may give an indication whether the lodge was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century. The gate lodge recorded on the 1860 map was constructed for the Tenison family who resided at Portnelligan between c. 1860 and 1898. The value of Portnelligan and its associated buildings stood at £27 10s. in 1898 but was reduced to £20 in 1908. In that year a Mr. Joseph Eaken occupied Portnelligan and presumably carried out some development of the estate which would subsequently affect its value; it is possible that the gate lodge was reconstructed at this time although there is no evidence that specifically refers to a rebuild.

In 1994 Dean described the gate lodge at Portnelligan as ‘a single-storey three-bay lodge noteworthy for its pretty diagonally-set pair of brick chimneys on a hipped roof … once in fixed brick, now whitewashed over. The two surviving square piers have ball finials, the original gates are missing’ (Dean, p. 42). The ball finials described by Dean have been lost although the square piers still remain to keep a modern gate in place.

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/2/15/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1835)
2. PRONI OS/6/2/15/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (1860)
3. PRONI OS/6/2/15/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map (1906)
4. PRONI OS/6/2/15/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1955)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/43B - Griffith’s Valuation (1863)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/10/35A-E – Annual Revisions (1865-1929)
7. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
8. NIEA Listing Query Files – HB15/LQ059

Secondary Sources
1. 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
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A simple symmetrical two-bay single-storey gate lodge and screen walls, located at the entrance to Portnelligan, a substantial eighteenth century farmhouse west of Middletown. The building post-dates the house, probably constructed around 1860, and is simply constructed using traditional materials, enlivened by a double-cluster brick chimneystack and profiled eaves brackets. The lodge has group value with the listed house (HB15.11.003A), and also constitutes an interesting composition in its own right, retaining most of its historic fabric and detailing and set amidst a backdrop of mature beech trees behind curvilinear entrance walls which add to the lodge's interest.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age and S - Authenticity also apply.