Gate lodge to former Ballybeen House,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small, single storey Classical gate lodge (at the entrance to the former Ballybeen House), on the S side of the Hillsborough Road, c.2.5 miles W of Comber.

Front (W) facade is symmetrical. In the centre is a small portico with two Tuscan columns supporting a frieze, cornice and blocking course with central panel to front. Respondent pilasters at ‘rear’ of portico. Segmental arch headed doorway within portico with glazed and panelled door with many small panes to glazing.

To either side of the doorway is a large-ish segmental arch-headed window with ‘casement’ style frame with glazing similar to door. Above each window is a moulded panel with double festoons/swags thereon.

To the N and S facades is a window as front with similar panel above.

Attached to the rear is a large extension with a shallow mono-pitched roof. To each face of the extension is a modern window to each face along with a panelled door to the N face.

The facade is finished in lined render and painted. The original section of the facade is topped with a cornice and parapet. Shallow base. The original section of the lodge has a hipped Bangor blue slated roof with central rendered chimney stack. Large Velux window to S face of roof. PVC rw goods.

Historical information

This gate lodge was built to serve the main drive to Ballybeen House some time between 1834 and 1858, probably (judging by its style), perhaps closer to the former date rather than the latter. The extension to the rear is more recent (?c.1950s-60s).

Ballybeen House itself was a large gentleman’s residence situated on a rise to the south of the Hillsborough Road. The original house appears to have been built by the Birch family, possibly in the mid to late 1700s and may originally have been named ‘Birch Hall’. It appears to have remained in this family but was destroyed by fire early in the early 1900s.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
2 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.35.
3 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
4 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863.
5 George Henry Basset ‘Co. Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886), p.282.

Secondary sources
1 J.A.K. Dean ‘The Gate Lodges of Ulster- A Gazetteer’ (UAHS 1994), p.62.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Single storey Classical gate lodge (to the former Ballybeen House) of c.1840, with hipped roof and Tuscan columned portico to front. To the rear is a large modern extension.