West Lodge

West Lodge is a late 19th-century lodge that served the gunpowder works in Chilworth and is now a house. It is built of Flemish bond brick with brick ridge stacks and has a gabled tiled roof.

The building has a single-depth plan consisting of a two-room house with an attached single-room gatehouse. The exterior features a single-storey structure with a one-window gatehouse and a one-window house behind it. The lower gatehouse has a gable end with a canted left corner and two 3/1-pane sash windows, a blocked doorway on the left side, and a chimney at the rear right. The house has gable ends with rough-cast and exposed trusses, single casement windows, a later porch in the re-entrant with the gatehouse, a gabled bay window to the left, and a blind rear.

The interior has not been inspected.

Historically, the Chilworth gunpowder mills operated from the early 17th century until their closure in 1920, making it a significant site in the history of the gunpowder industry in the UK. In 1885, the mills began producing smokeless powder under the management of a German company, Burbach, which invested in new facilities. The gatehouse dates from this period and overlooked the entrance to the eastern part of the works.