Gate lodge at Finnebrogue House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Picturesque free style red brick gate lodge (to Finnebrogue House) of c.1885-6 by W. J. Gilliland with various steeply-pitched gabled bays, Westmorland slate roof, tall prominent chimneystack, string courses and decorative brick / terracotta mouldings. To the rear there is a gabled two story jettied extension in rubble, brick and slate cladding, (added in two stages in c.1980s and c.1996), and to the south is an equally recently added gabled timber conservatory. The gate lodge is set at the main entrance to the Finnebrogue ‘estate’, on the N side of Finnebrogue Road, roughly a mile N of Downpatrick.

The asymmetric front elevation faces rough E. The elevation is dominated by a large two storey gabled bay. To the right (N) side the bay merges with a single storey hipped roof porch, topped with a decorative (slightly Tudoresque) balustrade. To the porch there is a semicircular headed doorway with bevelled architrave (in shaped brick) with (brick) drip moulding over. The doorway is filled with a semicircular headed door whose upper half is glazed. [This door is a recent replacement- previously the door was of the regular rectangular variety with a semicircular fanlight, however recently the level of the hallway floor was raised slightly, making it necessay to change the door as well.] To the left of the doorway (on the gabled bay proper) is a plain sash window with bevelled stone cill (which is flush with the rest of the façade). Above window level is a moulded string course (which carries on to the porch. There is another string course above this (which merges with the top of the porch balustrade). To the upper floor of the gable is a window as before. The gable is finished with a decorative eaves moulding with moulded kneelers.

To the left of the large gabled bay is the short E face of a small single storey gabled projection (whose gable faces S- see below), here there is a single plain sash window, as before only smaller. To the right of the gabled bay is the E face of a large single storey gabled bay (whose gable faces N), this face is blank.

The S elevation is also symmetrical. To the far left hand side is a very shallow single storey bay with a small sash window. To the first floor directly above this the façade is slate cladded (this is part of the recently added extension) and had a gabled half-dormer with small plain sash window. To the ground floor to the right of this is a (relatively) large single storey timber conservatory, which was also added recently. This is in painted timber with slated gabled roof. To the right of this is a narrow plain sash window, with a such smaller window directly above to the first floor. To the right again is a tall single storey gabled bay with a pair of tall plain sash windows to the gable, and a single shorter plain sash window to both the short E face and the short W face. To the gable of the bay there is a decorative moulded terracotta course, small slit opening, moulded brick eaves and a slated roof. Across the S elevation are several moulded string courses at first floor level.

To the far left hand side of the asymmetric N elevation is the N face of the porch, which contains a small plain sash window. To the right of this is a large single storey gable with a group of three tall plain sash windows, with small slit vent opening to the gable along with decorative moulded terracotta eaves. To the right of the bay is a single storey hipped roof section with a small plain sash window to left. This section originally started out as a much smaller projection with a mono-pitched roof, which faced into the enclosed rear yard (it actually leaned-to the N wall of the yard). It was heightened etc. recently as part of the enlarging of the property to the rear.

The rear elevation is also asymmetrical. To the left hand side is the single storey hipped roof section described immediately above. To the N face of this there is an opening to left which looks as though it was once a doorway but now acts as a window, with fixed light pane to top and timber sheeting below. To right of this is a timber sheeted door with small glazed panel. To right of this the ground floor of the hipped roof section merges with the ground floor of a large two storey portion which makes up the bulk of the recently added extension. To the ground floor of this there is a double sash window with a larger double sash window set with the into the first floor gable. The gable itself, which is slate clad to all faces, is jettied, oversailing the ground floor façade by a significant amount. The ground floor of this elevation is in an untidy mixture of snecked rubble and brick (the brick belonging to the original portions of the walls).

Outside of the rear elevation (and the conservatory) the façade of the property is in red brick with moulded verges and decorative terracotta and a base course and cills in stone. The roof appears to be largely covered in Westmorland slate with a similar slate as cladding to the extension. Small metal skylights to S side of roof. The main roof has decorative terracotta ridge tiles with finials to the gables. There is a tall brick chimneystack with corbelling. The rw goods are metal with square downspouts, moulded guttering and decorative hoppers.

To the E side of the lodge is the main drive to Finnebrogue House, with entrance gates a few metres to the SE.

Historical information

This house was built in c.1885-6 by Robert Perceval-Maxwell to serve as the gate lodge for the repositioned main entrance to the Finnebrogue House estate. Some sources (most notably J.A.K. Dean’s ‘The gate lodges of Ulster…’) state that the lodge was designed by William J. Fennell, however, original plans of the building (dated August 1885) are signed by architect W. J. Gilliland [photocopies of these are held within the Monuments and Buildings Record].

The building was extended at the rear some time after 1976, when the (originally largely open) yard was built over, with the jettied first floor portion to the rear, and the conservatory to the south, added after 1995.

Prior to the mid 1880s the entrance to the Finnebrogue estate was set slightly to the west of the present gateway. The stone gate pillars belonging to the original entrance, (which may be late 17th or early 18th century), can be seen to the rear of the house.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI T.1023, D.1556, D.2480, D.3244, D.3817, D.4218 Perceval-Maxwell Papers, 1606-1969
2 PRONI OS/6/3/30/1 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 30, 1834 [This map and the revised map of 1858 both show the original entrance to the estate.]
3 PRONI OS/6/3/30/2 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 30, 1858
4 PRONI VAL.12B/18/13a-d Annual valuation revision books, 1864-79, 1880-97, 1898-1911, 1912-29
5 Monuments and Buildings Record Photographs of plans of the gate lodge at Finnebrogue House, 1885
6 PRONI OS/6/3/30/3 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 30, c.1901
7 PRONI OS/6/3/31/3 6in OS map, Co Down, sh 31, c.1901

Secondary sources
1 Mark Bence-Jones, ‘(Burke’s) Guide to Irish country houses’ (updated edition, London, 1988), p.
2 J.A.K. Dean, ‘The gate lodges of Ulster- a gazetteer’ (Belfast 1994) pp.75-76 [Dean states that the lodge was designed by William J. Fennell.]
3 Anthony Malcomson, The Perceval-Maxwell Papers- Introduction (1998) [Available at PRONI]

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
V. Authorship

Evaluation

Good example of a picturesque free style red brick gate lodge (to Finnebrogue House) of c.1885-6 by W. J. Gilliland with various steeply-pitched gabled bays, Westmorland slate roof, tall prominent chimneystack, string courses and decorative brick / terracotta mouldings. It has group value with the adjacent gate screen, the main house and the other listed buildings on the estate.

General comments

In the first survey this record was numbered HB18/18/005B.