West gate lodge, Rosemount House, 4 The Square, Greyabbey, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2QA

West Gate Lodge

This gate lodge, built around 1860, stands at the south-west or 'Town' gate of the Greyabbey estate. It is a one and a half storey rubble-built structure in the 'picturesque Georgian' style, with a distinctive cruciform roof that creates a gable end on each elevation. The lodge replaced an earlier gate lodge of around 1815, situated a short distance to the south-east, which became redundant in the 1820s when the main road to Newtownards was rerouted over a causeway beyond the western edge of the estate.

The pitched roof is mainly covered in Bangor blue slates, with felt applied to the rear south-west gabled section, and features an overhang. Two yellow brick chimneys rise from the south-west and north-west elevations.

The front north-east elevation is asymmetrical. A large gable dominates, with a gabled porch projecting to the left. The porch entrance features a semicircular arch with a timber panelled door and semicircular radial fanlight above, set within an arched opening. Small semicircular-headed window openings with Georgian panes light the north-east and south-east elevations of the porch, with brick dressings to the arch heads. The porch roof is pitched and slated with Bangor blue, featuring an overhang and finial to the barges. To the right of the porch on the main facade are two larger semicircular-headed sash windows with Georgian panes, with a smaller matching window above on the first floor. Brick dressings frame all openings. To the far right, the main wall of the Rosemount estate is attached, featuring two simple square pillars and simple wrought iron carriage gates.

The north-west gable elevation is blank. The south-east gable is also blank, though evidence of a former first-floor window survives; a rubble-built lean-to adjoins the ground floor here. The lean-to, which is rendered, has small windows to its north-east and south-west elevations and is topped with a corrugated asbestos roof.

The south-west gable, which faces directly into the schoolyard of the neighbouring Greyabbey Primary School, has been faced with modern brick. A tall sloping wall encloses the yard at the rear of the lodge to the right of this gable.

The lodge is listed with its associated gates, railings, and pillars.