Lower Lodge, Gate-Piers And Gates

Lower Lodge, gate-piers and gates is a former lodge to Hope End, dating from the early to mid-19th century, possibly designed by J C Loudon, with an extension added around 1975. The building is rendered and features a hipped slate roof with bargeboards. It has an octagonal plan, which is abbreviated in the 20th-century extension at the rear and side. The lodge is a single-storey structure. The road front includes an angled bay on the left side, containing 2, 4, and 2-light ogee-headed leaded casements. The eaves are raised as gables over the outer casements, while the central angled bay has a canopied lead hood. The octagonal shape continues in the return to the left, beyond a wall that connects the gate-piers; this wall now has an archway leading to a glazed 20th-century entrance lobby on the side. The octagonal gate-piers are capped and linked to the lodge by a moulded string, featuring recessed quatrefoiled panels, a design echoed in the wrought iron gates. Inside, the roof of the octagon has very heavy hip beams, and there are unusual remote-controlled catches for two original casements: one in the lobby and another in the front room.