Gate Lodge, Moyallon House, 68 Moyallen Road, Moyallen, Portadown, CRAIGAVON, BT63 5JY

Gate Lodge at Moyallon House

This is a picturesque one-and-a-half-storey two-bay gate lodge with an attached gate screen, built around 1863 and attributed to Thomas Jackson & Sons. It stands on the west side of Moyallen Road at the east entrance to Moyallon House and is L-shaped in plan, extended to the rear.

The pitched roof is covered with natural slate, single-lap to the south pitch and scalloped to the dormer, with roll top ridge tiles. A central pale yellow brick chimneystack carries three terracotta pots. The rainwater goods are half-round cast iron, and bargeboards to the gables and dormers are plain.

The walling varies by elevation. The south elevation is basalt rubble laid to courses, while elsewhere it is rendered with ruled-and-lined finish. The principal east elevation features stucco quoins and a moulded stucco plinth. The windows are a mix of original and replacement: ground floor windows on the principal elevation are original tripartite cast-iron lattice frames (with internal secondary glazing), while other windows are uPVC casement replacements. The principal windows have ornate classical stucco surrounds. Those at attic level have semi-circular heads with fleur-de-lys detail inset with fan moulding, and moulded sills with corbels. Secondary elevations have plain long-and-short stucco architraves.

The left bay is gabled and defined by quoins, with a window to each floor. The right bay features a dummy entrance comprising a timber door incised with decorative detailing, topped by a four-centred arched overlight, all within a stucco long-and-short architrave with pendant hood mould and key block. A wall-head dormer sits above a ground floor window to the right of this bay.

The south elevation is centrally abutted by a later lean-to glazed timber porch. A bipartite window stands to its right, while to its left is a former four-centred arched brick-dressed yard opening, now infilled with a uPVC window over a rendered apron panel. The original brick-dressed door opening remains within the porch, and brick quoins above it mark the extent of the original elevation; the extended section is uncoursed basalt rubble.

The rear elevation is plainly detailed with a window to each floor at the return and to the left bay (with dormer to the upper floor). A modern rear door with metal canopy sits to the north cheek of the return. The north gable is abutted by the east wall of the walled garden, which also serves as the estate boundary wall, and is lit by a single attic-level window.

The gate screen abuts the south-eastern corner of the lodge and comprises ashlar sandstone piers with moulded caps topped with ball finials; the gates are modern timber. To the right of the carriage gates is a gabled wicket opening in dressed stone with trefoil detail to the apex, containing an ornate Tudor-style latticework wicket gate.

The lodge sits at the eastern entrance to the Moyallon House estate at the end of a sweeping tree-lined gravel drive. The east entrance opens onto a pavement slightly beneath the raised road level. To the rear is a concrete yard occupying the east end of the walled garden, enclosed by a tall rubble stone wall on all sides. The yard is accessed from the drive by a pair of cast-iron gates on plain square piers with pyramidal caps.