Gatelodge, Belmont Hotel, Rathfriland Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3LH

Gate lodge to the Belmont Hotel, Rathfriland Road, Banbridge, constructed around 1860 and attributed to the architect Thomas Jackson. It stands at the northern end of the Belmont Hotel grounds, on the south side of Rathfriland Road, in the townland of Tullyear. The listing covers both the gate lodge and the gatescreen. The building was previously included within the listing of the Belmont Hotel and carries group value with that building and the former linen stores set within their mature landscaped grounds.

The lodge is a small, single-storey, stucco-rendered structure with a hipped roof, rectangular on plan, and of neo-classical design. The roof is covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. A stuccoed chimney sits centrally on the ridge and features a projecting cornice. A moulded plastered cornice runs below the overhanging eaves on all sides, and all window openings have moulded plastered surrounds with painted stone sills and a painted plinth. Timber soffits and eaves are present on all elevations, though the original rainwater goods have been replaced with PVC fittings.

The front elevation faces south-east onto the driveway that leads uphill towards the hotel. It presents a symmetrical three-bay façade with a projecting central porch, itself hipped-roofed and flanked by Doric-style pilasters, with equivalent pilasters at each corner of the building. There is a single window opening either side of the porch, fitted with replacement fixed-pane timber windows, and a replacement timber panelled front door.

The north-east side elevation faces Rathfriland Road from behind the railings and has a single window opening to its centre, also fitted with a replacement fixed-pane timber window. The rear north-west elevation has two blocked-up window openings. The south-west side elevation, which faces into the hotel grounds, is entirely blind with no openings.

The lodge sits behind its original gatescreen, which consists of panelled tapered masonry piers surmounted with pyramidal caps, associated railings with lollipop finials, and complementary boundary walling. The lodge retains its original footprint.

Despite the loss of the original windows and rainwater goods, the building retains original historic fabric and detailing, most notably the Doric-style pilasters to the projecting central porch.

Historical background

The associated Belmont House is said to have been built in 1838 according to a datestone, though the house and gate lodge do not appear in the relevant Townland Valuation book of that year, raising doubt over the accuracy of the datestone. The earliest written reference to Belmont House, Banbridge dates from 1850, suggesting a probable construction date for both house and lodge of around 1840 to 1850. The gate lodge first appears, captioned as such, on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860. Both the house and the gate lodge are thought to be the work of Thomas Jackson, an architect responsible for several linen mansions along the River Bann.

In Griffith's Valuation of around 1862, the gate lodge is listed with Robert McClelland recorded as occupier, who was also resident in Belmont House. In practice, a gate lodge of this kind would typically have been occupied by a servant. The large-scale map of 1861 shows the lodge with its porch to the front elevation, and it remained relatively unchanged through subsequent map editions. An extension to the south-west elevation, now gone, was built at some point between 1892 and 1903 and appears to have survived until at least 1986.

Individual occupants of the lodge are not clearly documented until the First General Revaluation of 1933, by which time it was occupied by William Finlay. At that time it was described as a well-built gate lodge in good condition, consisting of two rooms — a bedroom and a kitchen — in rubble masonry under a slate roof, with a scullery and water closet extension in wood and corrugated iron. It was valued at £3 15 shillings. A succession of tenants followed Finlay into the 1950s. Belmont House was listed in 1977 and is currently operating as a hotel; the lodge lies within its grounds but is not currently occupied. The lodge was placed on the Heritage at Risk register in 2008 and remains on it.

J. A. K. Dean, in The Gate Lodges of Ulster, identifies the lodge as contemporary with Belmont House, describing it as somewhat less elegant than the main house but a solid neo-classical design.

The lodge is of local significance as a survival of Banbridge's linen heritage. The linen store located to the south of the gate lodge and to the rear of Belmont House first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860 and was possibly built at the same time as the house, around 1840. Griffith's printed valuation records it as yarn and linen stores within the valuation of Belmont House. It was associated with a bleach mill and bleach greens to the north of Belmont House, and later with the Belmont Weaving Factory, constructed between 1860 and 1892, all forming part of the McClelland and Smyth linen business. The linen store was separately valued at £20 in 1902, and appears to have lain vacant for some years around the turn of the 20th century before being converted into a row of dwelling houses known as Belmont View around 1930. The building is now derelict but is the only physical remnant of the McClelland and Smyth linen enterprise at this location, and one of the very few buildings in Banbridge that were solely dedicated to the linen trade and still survive in any form.