Gate Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-storey gate lodge similarly styled to main house but plainly detailed. Roof is hipped and tiled over exposed rafter tails with half-timbered projecting gable over corbel blocks. Roughcast chimneystack with moulded caps. Walling is roughcast over a projecting plinth finished with stone chamfered string. Windows are timber casements with projecting stone sills. Timber entrance door to right side with canopy over supported on paired stone brackets. Porthole window to north side of porch. Single storey kitchen extension to rear.

Historical information

The house bears a date stone of 1901 and is shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900-02. It enters valuation records at the same period (1902) as a house, offices, gate lodge and land valued at £143.15s, occupied by Vincent Craig and leased from the Marquis of Dufferin. Valuer’s notes of 1902 give a plan and dimensions for the house and gate lodge and state the cost as ‘about £5,000’.

The house was designed by Vincent Craig, elder brother of Lord Craigavon, for himself. Craig moved to England in 1911 and sold the house to Herbert Brown, a Belfast linen merchant, who is listed as the occupier in 1913. According to Brett, Brown in turn sold it in 1927 to the Mitchell family. In 1933 William Charles Mitchell is listed as the occupier and at this time the accommodation comprises; thirteen bedrooms, three receptions, a kitchen, scullery, two pantries and two bathrooms.

The house was then rented until 1947 to Captain Sam Duffin who then passed it to “new owners who have ever since used it (and still use it) to accommodate overseas visitors, for hospitality, and for training and conferences, for all of which purposes it is admirably suited; though they have managed to retain its domestic character, with many fine pieces of Edwardian furniture...The house was refurbished and in parts redecorated in 1993 under the supervision of Michael Priest of London”. (Brett, p.126)

References:

Primary Sources

1.PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
2.PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
3.PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
4.PRONI VAL/12/A/3/19 – Annual Revisions Valuers’ Notebook (1902)
5.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
6.PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930)
7.PRONI VAL/3/D/4/4F/6 – Valuer’s RV Binder (1933-57)

Secondary Sources

1.Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A single-storey gate lodge to the north-west of Rathmoyle (HB23/16/030A). Built 1901 to designs by Vincent Craig as part of the house complex but more plainly detailed than Rathmoyle itself. Rathmoyle is one of the best complete houses of its type, retaining its original setting, and is also a good example of the work of a prominent local architect.

General comments

Please note part of this record was originally recorded under HB23/16/030, the record has been split and the Gate Lodge now has the suffix C.