Gate lodge to former Ballyalolly House,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small single storey hipped roof gate lodge of c.1790s (originally built to serve Ballyalloly House), set on the NW side of the Ballymaleddy Road, c.2 miles W of Comber.

This lodge is a small symmetrical building with canted ends and a steeply pitched roof and generally Classical in appearance, however, it has been greatly extended at the rear in recent years.

The front (SE) façade has a central panelled doorway with ‘spoked’ elliptical arch fanlight. To either side of the door is a small sash window with Georgian glazing bars. The ‘front’ faces of each of the canted sides each have a similar sash window, the ‘back’ faces each have a small window with a modern frame made to resemble those to the front (though the window to the NE side is smaller). The front façade proper and the canted sides are ‘separated’ by panelled pilasters.

To the rear is a large single storey hipped roof extension with various modern window openings and a timber lean to conservatory to the SW side.

The entire façade is finished in rough cast and painted. The roof is hipped and covered in Bangor blue slates. Single rendered chimney stack to original section. PVC rainwater goods.

There is another pre 1834 gate lodge to Ballyalloly House on the Hillsborough Road to the south east. It is much simpler in appearance to the above and is now modernised and greatly extended.

Historical information

The original Ballyalloly House was a large three storey hipped roof Georgian dwelling, probably built in c.1790 by a Colonel Annesley (undoubtedly a relation of the Annesleys of Mount Panther etc.). At some point after this the house appears to have been in the hands of a Belfast banker named John Hamilton, but by the time of the first valuation (1834) it was owned by David Ker (of Montalto, Ballynahinch). The 1863 valuation states that the property was leased to a James Warnock. By 1886 the house was either owned or leased by a Mr. Martin, but was demolished in 1935 by Captain Herbert Dixon (Lord Glentoran), who had a new residence built to designs by Blackwood & Jury.

This gate lodge is shown on the OS map of 1834 and on that of 1858 and may have been built at the same time as Ballyalolly House itself. A small return appears to have been added during the first half of the 20th century, probably when Ballyalloly was being rebuilt in 1935. At this point also all of the original detail may have been removed. A larger extension was added to the rear in 1992.

There is another pre 1834 gate lodge to Ballyalloly House on the Hillsborough Road to the south east.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
2 PRONI VAL1B/316C, p.66 1st valuation Comber parish 1834.
3 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp.35.
4 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
5 PRONI 2nd valuation Comber parish c.1863.
6 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), pp.61-62.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Small attractive single storey hipped roof gate lodge originally built to serve the former Ballyalloly House. The lodge is generally Classical in style and may date from c.1790s. A large extension was added to the rear in 1992.