Turnpike House, Shane's Castle Park, Antrim, Co Antrim

This is a two-story, three-bay house with a single-story wing, built sometime between 1840 and 1859 as part of the Shane's Castle estate. It is rendered with a gabled form, and the single-story wing is constructed from basalt rubble. The main entrance faces northwest.

The main block’s roof is covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with red brick chimneys, each featuring corbel courses and modern chimney pots, positioned on each gable. The walls are smooth and rendered, with raised vertical strips at each end. A projecting eaves course is present, along with cast iron gutters and a downpipe, and a PVC soil pipe. The ground-floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sash windows with 6 over 6 glazing and horns, set in plain reveals with projecting stone sills. The first-floor windows are similar but with 3 over 6 glazing. The entrance features a rectangular timber door with glazed and panelled sections. A gable on the left-hand end is blank, featuring walling similar to the rest of the house, and overhanging gables with timber bargeboards. The rear elevation is similarly rendered, but without the raised end strips; it also features a slated roof and cast iron rainwater goods. Some front windows are sashed as described, while others are later, larger rectangular metal casement windows with top-hung vents.

The single-story wing, attached to the right-hand gable, is constructed of basalt rubble with red brick flat arches over window openings. It has a slated roof matching the main house, sashed windows similar to those in the main block, a rebuilt red brick chimney, and a sheeted timber door facing the front.

The house is situated within the demesne of Shane's Castle, in a rural area facing onto a lane within the estate. It is set back from the lane, with a small hedge-enclosed front garden and a rough grass garden at the rear. Extensive, well-wooded parkland surrounds the property.

The building was initially constructed by the O'Neill family and first appeared on an Ordnance Survey map in 1858 as ‘Old Turnpike House,’ retaining that name on the 1921 Ordnance Survey map before being renamed ‘Turnpike House’ on maps from the 1970s.