Former Lodge, 2 Woodlands, Ballymacanallen, Gilford, CRAIGAVON, Co Down, BT63 6JJ

Former Gate Lodge, Bannvale House Estate, Gilford Built c.1880

This is a single-storey, two-bay gate lodge built around 1880, originally forming part of the Bannvale House estate and serving as the north entrance to that property. It now stands at the entrance to the modern Woodbank housing estate on the north side of Gilford village, with the main road north from the village passing directly to its east. Despite alterations and changes to its setting, it retains historic character and is of note as part of the group of buildings associated with Bannvale House, one of the principal linen houses in the area.

Architectural Description

The lodge is asymmetrical in plan, L-shaped, with a projecting gabled entrance porch set into the re-entrant angle. The principal elevation faces north. The gabled right bay projects and is lit by a single window; the porch projects further and is lit by windows to the north and west, with the entrance door facing east; the apex of the porch has a blank rectangular plaque. The east elevation is lit by a single window. The west elevation is lit by a bipartite window with a brick mullion. The rear elevation is abutted by a flat-roofed modern extension of no architectural interest, and is concealed behind a high yard wall.

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with angled ridge tiles. A tall rendered chimneystack sits on a plinth at the valley of the return, with a moulded cap and terracotta pots. The bargeboards are plain replacements. Rainwater goods are ogee-profile cast iron.

The walling is basalt rubble brought to rough courses, set over a projecting plinth with chamfered pale brick trim, and with stepped brick quoins. The contrast between the black basalt and pale brick dressings gives the building its distinctive character. The windows are replacement 4/4 hardwood sashes with flush, deeply chamfered sills and chamfered brick surrounds. The doors are modern hardwood. The original fenestration and entrance door have been lost and the interior has suffered some loss of historic fabric.

Historical Background

Bannvale House dates from the early 19th century and is one of a series of linen bleachers' mansions built along the River Bann between Banbridge and Moyallon, reflecting the area's significance as one of the most important inland linen manufacturing districts in Ireland during that period. The house is thought to have been built by James Uprichard, with an original lease of 1809 bearing his name. The Uprichards were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and were prominent in the linen trade. James Uprichard and his younger brothers Thomas and Henry founded the linen bleaching company J, T and H Uprichard, acquiring bleach works at Springvale in Lawrencetown shortly after 1830. To fund this, they sold part of their Bannvale land to Hugh Dunbar, who went on to establish the linen thread mill at Gilford. The bleach works at Bannvale itself appears to have fallen into disuse after Springvale was acquired. Springvale Bleach Works became a highly successful enterprise, expanded by William Uprichard in 1884 at a cost of £10,000, and eventually closed in 1955.

On James Uprichard's death in 1840, the house passed to his second son William. Henry Albert Uprichard inherited the property on his father's death in 1884 and it was he who commissioned this gate lodge as part of improvements made to the estate that year. At the time of construction, the estate had three gate lodges; two survive today, the earlier dating from around 1850 and this one from around 1880. The current lodge first appears, captioned, on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901–2, and was inserted into the valuation records in 1884 at a valuation of £2 10s, let at that time to Hugh McCutcheon.

Subsequent recorded occupiers of the lodge were: James Nicholson (1896), Hans Quinn (1902), James Sturgeon (1904), Daniel Cumberford (1908), John Wilson (1911), John Henderson (1923), Richard Wilson (1929), and William Irvine (1932). The 1901 census records 23-year-old James Nicholson, coachman at Bannvale, resident in the lodge with his wife and two young children. By 1911 the tenant was John Wilson, a general labourer, living there with his wife and two adult sons who were also general labourers. The census records that the couple had had nine children, of whom only three survived.

At the time of the First General Revaluation of 1933, the occupier was Herbert Vaughan and the house was revalued at £4 10s, subsequently reduced to £3 10s following an appeal by William F Uprichard of Elmfield. By 1934 the house consisted of a kitchen and a bedroom, was let at 2 shillings a week, and was no longer considered to be a gate lodge, though Bannvale's owner remained the landlord. A map and dimensions of the house were recorded at this time.

In 1948 an area of 11 acres belonging to the estate was sold to the Northern Ireland Housing Trust for £1,425, and 48 new houses were under construction on the site by 1949. In the same year the lodge was taken over by the Northern Ireland Housing Trust and used briefly as an estate office, raising its valuation to £6. In 1952 it reverted to use as a dwelling at the previous valuation, after Moira Rural District Council withdrew permission for it to be used as anything other than a house. In 1953 it was let to J Harper at a rent of 2 shillings and sixpence.

Henry Albert Uprichard, who commissioned this lodge, preferred nearby Elmfield Castle as his main residence and let Bannvale out to a number of tenants during the 1890s. He died in November 1901 and left Bannvale to his second son, also named Henry Albert (1880–1916), along with a share in Springvale Bleach Works. The younger Henry Albert worked as a tea merchant in the firm founded by his grandfather, Forster Green and Co, eventually becoming Managing Director. He lived in the house intermittently in the early 20th century, but by 1911 Bannvale had been let to a widow, Anne Jane Kane, and her two daughters, who kept a single domestic servant. Kane appears to have been connected to the Uprichard family by marriage: Henry Albert's brother William was married to Nancy Kane, daughter of the Rector of Tullylish.

Major Henry Albert Uprichard served as Commander of the 2nd Battalion of the West Down regiment of the Ulster Volunteer Force. He enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War and was killed in action during the attack on Thiepval in July 1916. He is commemorated by the Major Uprichard Memorial Orange Hall at Tullylish. He had been a wealthy man, inheriting a portion of his grandfather's fortune, and was an enthusiastic polo player who also rode at steeplechase and point-to-point meetings, hunting with the County Down Staghounds and the Iveagh Harriers.

Following Major Uprichard's death, Bannvale House was sold and from the autumn of 1916 was used as an orthopaedic hospital for wounded soldiers, extending the facilities at the nearby Dunbarton House by a further 30 beds. Bannvale House is now used as an administration building for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.

Setting

The lodge has been cut off from Bannvale House by Northern Ireland Housing Executive development to the west and north, and now occupies an urban setting. Directly opposite, to the east across the main road, stands Bannvale Terrace. The original relationship between the lodge and the house has been substantially compromised by this modern development, though the lodge continues in use as a private dwelling.