House [Hunting lodge] at Mount Stewart, Mount Stewart, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2RU(?)

Small single-storey picturesque hunting lodge of circa 1810, situated in a clearing within a wooded area in the north of the Mount Stewart estate, approximately 2 miles north-west of Greyabbey. The building is designed in the Gothick style, resembling a diminutive fortified structure or 'toy fort'.

The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates with decorative barges and a finial. The front south-facing facade is symmetrical, with two slightly projecting outer bays, each containing a pointed arch window with casement frame and a boarded quatrefoil opening above. The outer walls of these bays are slightly battered. The recessed inner bay contains a gabled timber projecting porch with diagonally sheeted double doors featuring pointed arch sidelights and a quatrefoil window in the gable apex. The porch sides are also clad with diagonal timber boarding, and a quatrefoil opening matching those of the outer bays sits above. The top of the facade is castellated with stone pyramidal pinnacles at the corners and inner edges of the outer bays. The roof of the main lodge sits behind this castellated parapet and is only visible from the rear north side.

The east and west facades each feature a similar arrangement to the outer front bays, with castellations and pinnacles. Each side has a yellow brick chimney stack rising from the castellations. The north edges of both the east and west sides merge into walls; the east wall adjoins a small single-storey lean-to outhouse with a corrugated iron roof. The rear elevation is largely blank, except for a small square opening in the centre containing a wooden frame with a quatrefoil opening. The south, east, and west facades are finished in lined render with sandstone dressings to the openings; the rear is finished in rough cast.

Although no concrete evidence documents the construction date, the lodge is believed to be contemporary with other Gothick gate lodges within the estate, provisionally dated to circa 1804-13, a period of extensive building and grounds development at Mount Stewart reflected in the estate account books. The lodge appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 without the front porch, which is undoubtedly a late Victorian addition. The chimney stacks are awkwardly positioned and are probably also late Victorian additions.