Ardnaveigh Cottage, 25A Steeple Road, Antrim, Co Antrim

Ardnaveigh Cottage is an early to mid-19th century cottage, likely constructed between 1820 and 1839, originally serving as a gate lodge to Birch Hill House. The building retains some original exterior features, but has been extended in a modern style, resulting in the loss of some original details and the overall character of the original building.

The cottage is single-storeyed, with roughcast walls and a slated roof featuring ornamental cusped timber bargeboards on both the front and rear gables. Modern flat-roofed extensions have been added to the south and east sides of the building. The main entrance faces west, and the original cottage includes a small canted bay on the front gable, with a stone roof and lozenge-paned glazing. Two three-light windows with similar lozenge-paned glazing are set within square-headed openings on the north elevation and are topped by label mouldings. A tall, square, rendered chimney rises from the centre of the ridge. The extensions are constructed with white painted brickwork and white painted roughcast, with timber fascias, and the main entrance is a modern glazed and panelled door, featuring leaded glazing to sidelights and a fanlight.

The cottage stands facing the main road and is set back within its own grounds, which include grassed lawns and trees to the rear. A rubble stone wall forms the front boundary, with an open gateway leading to the driveway. The building was built as a gate lodge to Birch Hill House, later renamed Ardnaveigh. Although the precise date of construction is unknown, it appears on an Ordnance Survey map from 1857 and is thought to have been built as part of improvements to the estate carried out by Thomas Montgomery in the 1830s. Birch Hill House itself was built around 1785 by a Mr. Bristow, and was later demolished around 1943 after a fire, leaving only the stableyard and offices which are now separated from the former gate lodge by a new road. Part of the building touches the area of monument no. ANT50:8.