Castle Dillon Twin Gate Lodges, Drummanmore Road, Castle Dillon, Co Armagh

Castle Dillon Twin Gate Lodges

A pair of identical square Palladian gate lodges built in 1760 to mark the main entrance to the demesne of Castle Dillon near Armagh. Both lodges are now derelict. They are connected by rendered link walls to reconstituted gate pillars, forming a unified entrance composition on the north-west side of the demesne, off the Drummanmore Road, facing the intersection with the Ballybrannon Road.

Each lodge is a one-bay, one-storey building with a roughly square plan measuring 5.72 metres by 5.88 metres (19 feet by 19 feet 6 inches). The walls stand 3.60 metres high and are constructed entirely of high quality rusticated rock-faced limestone in a pink-brown colour, with deep V-joint channelling throughout. A strong cornice runs around all four sides.

The north and south elevations are crowned by full-width pediments rising to 5.50 metres at their apex. These pediments are detailed with moulded stone horizontal raking courses and plain ashlar tympanum. The north facade, facing the road, features a blind doorway measuring 1.50 metres by 2.45 metres with large triple keystones; the central keystone has a smooth finish while the flanking keystones are rock-faced like the rest of the wall. The blind doorway opening is lined with cement.

The south facade mirrors the north, but substitutes a window for the blind doorway. In the east lodge, this window is subdivided by two mullions and two wooden transoms, creating six panes in each division, with a stone sill positioned close to the ground. In the west lodge, this has been replaced by a later sliding sash window (one over one), though photographic evidence shows it originally matched the mullioned and transomed design of the east lodge.

The east and west elevations are plain rusticated walls with no features. The demesne wall meets the rusticated wall on the appropriate side of each lodge. Entrance to each building is via the west wall, where a doorway opening (1.50 metres by 2.45 metres) with triple keystones contains ledged and batten double doors with three over-lights, now without glass. In the west lodge, a 1950s flat-roofed porch measuring 2 metres by 2 metres, rising to the height of the link wall, has been built in front of this original entrance, with openings for a window and door.

A single brick chimneystack rises from the centre of the east wall of the east lodge through what was formerly a slated roof, now mostly ruined.

Two rendered cement link walls with concrete coping, 2.50 metres high and 4.50 metres long, connect the lodges to the central gate pillars. The present pillars stand 3.50 metres high with rusticated limestone surfaces, crowned with a cement cornice and blocking cap. These are a post-war reconstruction of the original rusticated pillars, which rose approximately 6.40 metres (21 feet) high and measured 1.80 metres (6 feet) square, with thirteen rock-faced courses, substantial cornice, and blocking cap. The present pair of wrought iron gates, with square sectioned bars and simple decoration, represent the lower half of the original much taller gates.

The twin lodges remain a well-known local landmark, notable for their robust Palladian composition and high quality stonework.