GATE LODGE OF WILMONT

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Red brick late Victorian gate lodge with painted brick dressings and toothed quoins, built between 1862 and 1901 and marking the southernmost entrance to Lady Dixon Park. Single storey with attic, natural Welsh slate roof, heavy overhanging eaves with decorative bargeboards and chimneys to gable ends, possibly to designs by Thomas Jackson. Symmetrical, and largely rectangular on plan, facing south with substantial extension to north, added c1998 to designs by Harry Bunker, which mirrors the original gabled form with connecting duo pitched roof set at 90 degrees and having a platform ridge. The extension doubles the footprint of the original gate lodge and a former small return was demolished to make way for its construction.

Set within an extensive 134 acre parkland demesne, now a public park, on the W side of Upper Malone Road, known today as Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park after the then owners who gifted the park to Belfast Corporation in 1959. The gate lodge has group value with Wilmont House, the former stable block and walled garden (HB26.16.005A, C & D respectively) and although no longer within the current boundary, the former estate workers’ dwellings of Wilmont Cottages (HB26.16.007) mark the NW corner of the park and relate to the style and character of the gate lodge. Further information on planned landscape features and descriptions of various scheduled monuments available from NI Heritage Gardens Inventory (ref AN-068).

The original gate lodge is gabled with natural Welsh slate roof and deep overhang at eaves and verge; decorative bargeboards to east and west ends supported on curved brackets and feature a large-scale scalloped profile (trefoil-like) with carved roundels at eaves, ridge and purlins, all highlighted in black and white. Replacement timber sheeting to eaves soffit and smooth render to verge, all painted white in contrast to black eaves and bargeboards. Square-based two-stage chimneys rise from external chimneybreasts; these appear to have been rebuilt in red brick with yellow brick diamond motif and string courses below a splayed chimney cap in reconstituted stone and circular pot. This suggests that painted base plinth, quoins, window and door surrounds at main red brick walls below are of yellow brick. Ridge flashed in lead with roll-top at apex; small black clay ridge tile to far east and west sides, beyond chimneys.

MATERIALS -
ROOF: Natural Welsh slate.
RWG: Aluminium: ogee gutters and circular section downpipes.
WALLS: Red brick in Flemish bond with painted brick dressings.
WINDOWS: Slim profile double-glazed sliding sashes, segmental arched 2/2 panes (S) with timber slips; and round arched timber framed casements to gable ends (unless otherwise stated).

Note: Extension materials are all modern and are not included in this description.

South Elevation -
Symmetrical, with central entrance door flanked by windows, as described above. All openings are segmental arched with stop-chamfered reveals. Projecting base plinth has chamfered top edge. Door is four-panelled and timber framed, with slim profiled double glazed upper panels and plain fanlight – it appears to be a modern replacement.

East Elevation
Gable, with toothed quoins returned from N and S elevations at outer corners. Projecting chimneybreast placed centrally with matching quoins to lower half, tapered to meet attic window surround with projecting band of four-courses painted brick between ground floor and attic. Base plinth continued from south elevation. Slit window to left (S) of chimneybreast at ground floor - timber framed fixed light, single glazed and divided vertically into three panes. Painted cill to match windows at main façade, but with plain jambs and soldier coursed brick head.

West Elevation
Mirror form of east elevation, without ground floor window.

North Elevation
Abutted by modern extension, with slight recess to mark change between new and old. Along east and west sides, the recess appears lower and reads as a shadow before the modern gabled form projects at the far north.

Gate lodge surrounded by precast concrete brick pavers to west, with mature planting and shrubs to side of path along the south and east sides. Front garden bound by low level timber picket fencing. Driveway entrance to west, with modern brick retaining wall continued along north end of site. Modern brick gate pillars and gates set adjacent to the gate lodge mark the southern entrance to Lady Dixon Park, leading to a public car park and the former stables and outbuildings, now a converted to a modern café, offices and storage for park maintenance vehicles.

Historical information

[For history of Wilmont estate see HB26.16.005A]

This lodge was built sometime between 1862 and 1901. Unfortunately its construction is not recorded in the valuation books (not an uncommon occurrence with demesne-related structures), but, like the present outbuildings, it is believed to have been added to the demesne by Robert Sturrock Reade shortly after he acquired the property in 1879. The identity of the architect is uncertain. Thomas Jackson is believed to have worked on the designs for Wilmont House itself and the now demolished northern (‘Belfast’) lodge for the previous owner James Bristow in c.1855-60, and this building shares some stylistic traits with both; however, as yet no documentary evidence has come to light to confirm Jackson’s involvement with any of these.

The lodge was listed in 1980. The rear extension (to plans by Harry Bunker, architect) was added c.1998-99 and rooflights installed in 2012. The building continues in use as a private residence.
To the immediate south of the lodge is a metal gate screen, which was erected c.2005. Photographic evidence shows that the original gate screen at this entrance was of timber construction.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/8/15A-M (1862-1928)
2 OS maps, 1857, 1901, 1920-21, 1931, 1939, 1963, 1972

Secondary sources
1 Black Eileen, “Wilmont, Dunmurry: A profile” in ‘Lisburn Historical Society Journal Vol.4’ (1982)
2 Dean, J.A.K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster a gazetteer’, (Belfast, 1994), p.31
3 Scott, Robert, ‘A breath of fresh air, the story of Belfast’s parks’, (Belfast, 2000) pp. 111-115, 178-179
4 Rankin, Kathleen, ‘Linen houses of the Lagan Valley’ (Belfast, 2002), pp.126-35;
5 Simon, Ben, ‘If trees could talk, the story of woodlands around Belfast’, (Belfast, 2009), pp. 37, 54, Appendix 3-4

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Red brick late Victorian gate lodge with painted brick dressings and toothed quoins, built between 1862 and 1901 and possibly the work of Thomas Jackson. Single storey with attic, natural Welsh slate roof, heavy overhanging eaves with decorative bargeboards and chimneys to gable ends. The original structure is symmetrical, largely rectangular on plan and faces south with a substantial extension to north, added c1998 to designs by Harry Bunker, architect, which mirrors its gabled form. The gate lodge marks the southernmost entrance to the former Wilmont demesne (ref AN-068 NI Heritage Gardens Inventory), currently named Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park after the then owners who gifted the park to Belfast Corporation in 1959. It has group value with Wilmont House, the former stable block and walled garden (HB26.16.005A, C & D respectively) and although no longer within the current boundary, the former estate workers’ dwellings of Wilmont Cottages (HB26.16.007), which mark the NW corner of the park, relate to the style and character of the gate lodge and are likely to be contemporary. Collectively, they form an important set piece within the Upper Malone area of Belfast.

General comments

Previously numbered as HB26/16/006