Glenside Lodge, 68 Ligoniel Road, Belfast, Co Antrim BT14 8BY

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay single-storey stucco-fronted former gate lodge, built c.1859, with pedimented entrance portico and flat-roofed rear extension. Rectangular on plan facing west and located within its own mature site on the south side of Ligoniel Road.

Hipped natural slate roof with synthetic ridge tiles, lead valleys and central rendered profiled chimneystack with terracotta pots. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on moulded and bracketed overhanging eaves. Painted channel-rusticated stucco walling with plinth course and clasping corner pilasters. Square-headed window openings with moulded architrave surrounds and diamond-faced keystones framing original paired horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows without horns.

Three-bay front elevation with pedimented Doric entrance portico. Square-headed door opening flanked by Doric pilasters with responding Doric columns supporting entablature and bracketed pediment housing painted shield depicting an axe-yielding lion.

Single-bay side elevation, detailed as per front elevation.

Rear elevation abutted by single-storey flat-roofed extension and small rear yard enclosed by ruled-and-lined rendered wall.

South side elevation not seen.

Setting:
Located on a mature site on the south side of Ligoniel Road enclosed by tall hedgerow and accessed via short bitmac driveway opening onto the road via pair of timber gates hung on octagonal rendered piers with moulded plinths and splayed red brick walls.

Roof: Natural slate
RWG: Cast-iron
Walling: Painted stucco
Windows: Timber sash

Historical information

No. 68 Legoniel Road, a single-storey former gate lodge located in the townland of Ballysillan Lower, was constructed between 1857 and 1859. The gate lodge was not depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) but was included in Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which noted that it acted as the gate lodge for the residence of John Emerson, a local flax spinner. The valuer noted that Emerson’ dwelling (now demolished but originally known as Glenside House) was jointly valued with the gate lodge at £35. Later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps show that Emerson’s flax manufactory (also now demolished) was known as the Ballysillan Flax Spinning Mill. The extensive mills were located on land to the west of the gate lodge and were valued at £235 in 1859.

Emerson continued to reside at Glenside House until his death in 1873 when his widow Anne Emerson took possession of his property until 1891. In that year Glenside was occupied by Dr Charles James Milligan, a local Physician and surgeon, who converted the house into a private medical asylum. In 1897 Glenside Lodge and its gate lodge were valued separately for the first time. In that year the lodge was valued at £5 and was occupied by a Mr Alexander Simpson. By 1901 the lodge was jointly occupied by Thomas Campbell and W. Bickerstaff who were employed as gardeners (UTD).

By 1901 the Ballysillan Flax Spinning Mills had been acquired by the Doagh Flax Spinning Co. Ltd. Formed in 1870, the company was managed by John Ferguson Wilson who took possession of Glenside House in 1908. In that year the gate lodge was occupied by Louisa Boyd, a widow whose children were employed in Wilson’s flax mill as yarn weavers and reelers. The 1911 census building return described the gate lodge as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of four rooms (in contrast to Wilson’s 1st class dwelling of 12 rooms). The Boyd family continued to reside at Glenside Lodge until the 1920s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the lodge was occupied by a Mr. John Moffat, who was employed as a driver (UTD), and had been individually valued at £7 and 10 shillings. Moffat remained as occupant of the gate lodge by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) which increased the value of the lodge to £12 and noted that the building remained leased by the Doagh Flax Spinning Co. Ltd.

Glenside Lodge was listed in 1987. The NIEA HB Records note that the former gate lodge underwent a restoration in 1991 when its chimneys were repaired and new chimney pots added. In 1998 the building underwent a further renovation which included the reslating of its roof in natural slate, the installation of new cast iron rainwater goods, the installation of a number of new sliding sash windows and the construction of the single-storey flat-roof extension to the south-east side of the building. Dean, writing in 1994, described No. 68 Ligoniel Road as ‘a perky little Neo-Classical building now forlorn, shorn of its big house, park and avenue. Single-storey, symmetrical and stuccoed … just visible in the deep-set tympanum a crest, a rampant lion wielding a battle-axe, identifies the lodge as having been built by the Emerson family’ (Dean, p. 16). The former gate lodge required further repair work in c. 2008 after having fallen into a state of disrepair. In that year the roof was reslated and a number of broken windows repaired (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/60/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/60/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920-31)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/60/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920-38)
5. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/21B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/8A-F – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/M/1-7 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/22 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/33 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. First Survey Record – HB26/39/005 (1986)
13. First Survey Image – HB26/39/005 (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB26/39/005

Secondary Sources
1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

A well proprtoned and detailed detached symmetrical three-bay single-storey stucco-fronted former gate lodge, built c.1860, with pedimented entrance portico. A well-maintained former gate lodge demostrating many architectural details commonly used in the construction of gate lodges during the mid to late nineteenth-century. Originally the lodge for Glenside House, built by the industrialist John Emerson owner of the Ballysillan Flax Spinning Mill, the building retains its original garden and screen wall. It constitutes a good example of its type and is the only surviving remnant of the Emersons estate in the area.