Glendun Lodge, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

Glendun Lodge is a two-storey, five-bay country house built between approximately 1812 and 1833, situated within parkland to the south-west of the Glendun Road, north of the village of Cushendun in County Antrim. It was one of the first summer residences — or "bathing lodges" — to be constructed in Cushendun, and was built for General Edmund McNeill, a local landowner who is also likely to have built the nearby Rockport Lodge. The architect is unknown. The listing extends to the house, its outbuildings, gate and walling.

Historical Background

Cushendun developed as a seaside resort in the early 19th century, when the Napoleonic Wars cut off travel to mainland Europe and Ireland became a popular destination for British tourists. The previously isolated Glens of Antrim became accessible with the construction of the Coastal Road between 1832 and 1842, and villages such as Cushendun were transformed into fashionable seasonal destinations. A number of summer houses were built along the coast by city-based professionals and merchants during this period, including Glenmona Lodge and Glendun Lodge at Cushendun.

Glendun Lodge does not appear on William Martin's map of 1812 but had been erected by the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, which depicted the house — then unnamed — and a number of indistinct structures arranged around a courtyard (subsequently replaced by the 1850s). The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835 described the property as "Glens Cottage," noting it as "the summer residence of Major James Higginson, a roomy two-storey house … within half a mile of the sea [with] some planting around it." The Townland Valuations of 1834 recorded it as a Class 1B dwelling — a slated building of medium age, slightly decayed but still in good repair — valued at £11 2s, measuring 41 feet in length by 28 feet in depth and standing 22 feet in height. The site at that time included a stable, coach house and barn.

By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1859, the property had passed from Higginson to Richard C. Dobbs, a local magistrate, and its value had risen to £22. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 shows the site in its current layout, suggesting the existing outbuildings date from at least that period. Ownership subsequently passed to Conway Edward Dobbs, a Dublin barrister, who remained at the property until his death in 1870. His relative Madeline Dobbs then took over, and by around 1885 the property was leased by the McNeill family to the Reverend Samuel Brennan, curate of Cushendun Parish Church. Brennan appears to have remained at Glendun Lodge until around 1901, when the Census of Ireland recorded him living in a first-class dwelling of seven rooms with outbuildings including a stable, coach house, cow house and fowl house.

Ownership of Glendun Lodge passed to Ada McNeill around 1904, granted to her by her cousin Ronald John McNeill (1861–1934) of the nearby Glenmona Lodge. Ada McNeill did not immediately occupy the house but leased it to a Captain John Casement. She was, in C. E. B. Brett's words, "a redoubtable individual, known throughout the Glens as 'Miss Ada'," and was one of a group of women active in promoting the Celtic Revival locally. It was through the antiquarian Francis Joseph Bigger that she became interested in Irish language and culture; she was an early member of the Gaelic League and served on the organising committee of Feis na nGleann, first held in Glenariff in 1904. Through her connection with Captain John Casement, Ada McNeill became a close friend of Sir Roger Casement — the Irish diplomat, writer and nationalist executed in 1916 for his role in the Easter Rising — who stayed many times at Glendun Lodge while on holiday. She is recorded as having held a romantic attachment to him and visited him during his imprisonment in 1916. Ada McNeill continued to reside at Glendun Lodge until her death in 1959.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the total rateable value was increased to £40, and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) it stood at £44. Following Ada McNeill's death in 1959, the property was acquired by Patricia English of Broughshane, who subsequently presented Glendun Lodge, together with Craigagh Wood and Cushleake Mountain, to the National Trust.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described Glendun Lodge as: "About 1810: a very handsome tall four-bay two-storey house, roughcast and whitewashed, looking up the Glen; the 16-paned Georgian-glazed windows unusually wide; a curious wide bracketed three-light doorcase with an uncommon geometrical ornamental pattern; very wide eaves." The building was listed in 1980, having sustained fire damage in 1979 and been subsequently restored to its original condition. It was included in the Cushendun Conservation Area, designated in 1980 to protect and enhance the special qualities of the village, and continues to be used as a private dwelling.

Exterior

The house is finished in white-painted roughcast render throughout and sits on a rectangular plan with a projecting bay to the right side of the principal elevation. The main pitched slate roof carries a metal ridge and four stone chimney stacks positioned at mid-ridge, each topped with octagonal buff clay pots. The overhanging eaves have timber-panelled soffits and wide timber fascias with half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular-section downpipes on the front elevation; the rear elevation has a mix of cast-iron and uPVC rainwater goods.

The principal elevation faces south-west, overlooking the Glen, and is accessed via a gravel avenue from the Glendun Road to the north. It is five bays wide at ground floor, with the bays aligned with those above on the first floor. At the centre is a recessed doorway containing a painted timber door with decorative glazed top panes, sidelights on either side and a transom light over. Above the door is a canopy supported on carved painted timber brackets set on carved pilasters, with a doorbell to the right and a wall-mounted lantern light to the left. There are two window bays to either side of the doorway. The windows throughout this elevation are wide timber sliding sash windows with horns and exposed box frames painted in a contrasting colour.

The north-west elevation is blank, with a white-painted roughcast render finish. The north-east rear elevation, set within the enclosed courtyard formed by the outbuildings, rises to three storeys including the basement. A doorway at basement level leads to the tarmac and grassed rear yard. The fenestration on this elevation is irregular, with a mix of timber sliding sash and timber casement windows, all with a green painted finish. There are two small roof dormers centred on the overall elevation. At basement and ground floor level the bays align with the first floor windows above; there is a small window at first floor centred on the elevation, and ground and first floor bays to the right have a tripartite window arrangement, with linear window openings at basement level.

The south-east elevation is of roughcast render with a white painted finish. The main house has two small timber casement windows at attic level. The south-east face of the projecting front bay has two large multi-pane casement windows with glazing bars — one at ground floor and one at first floor level — together with a small timber casement window at basement level to the left of the main gable end. Outbuilding No. 3 abuts the main elevation to the right. The ground here gently slopes towards the north-east. The projecting bay to the right of the principal elevation carries a slated hipped roof and contains replacement small-pane Georgian-style timber casement windows.

Interior

A panel carved with the McNeill crest is present in the dining room chimneypiece, supporting the family's connection with the building. The interior was restored following fire damage in 1979.

Outbuildings

A substantial group of stone outbuildings is arranged around a large rear courtyard to the north-east and south-east of the main house, accessed through a corrugated metal gate to the south.

Outbuildings Nos. 1 and 2 to the north-west, positioned parallel with the main house, have whitewashed stone walling and brick-vaulted ceilings to their interiors.

Outbuilding No. 3 to the south-west, also parallel with the main house, has a whitewashed rendered finish to the stone walling with a slate roof over. It has three door openings: the two on the left are disused and contain vertically sheeted painted timber farm doors, while the right-hand opening has a timber door frame with the right side missing. Internally the walls are lime rendered, with a partially exposed ceiling retaining lath, plaster and exposed ceiling joists.

Outbuilding No. 4 is positioned perpendicular to the main house on the south-east side. Its south-east walling is of whitewashed render with a slated pitched roof carrying a rendered chimney stack overgrown with greenery. The right-hand opening is concealed with corrugated metal sheeting. To the left is a passageway leading through to the rear garden of the main house; to the right of this passageway opening is a window opening concealed with strips of timber nailed to the frame. The north-west wall of Outbuilding No. 4 has a timber casement window to either side of the passageway opening. Its north-east wall abuts Outbuilding No. 5 and its south-west wall abuts Outbuilding No. 3.

Outbuilding No. 5, at the north-east end of the courtyard, is six bays wide. The elevation has window openings and two square-headed door openings to the left, and a segmental arch-headed opening to the right fitted with a pair of vertically sheeted timber farm doors with metal ironmongery. A small dormer is positioned above a square-headed door opening, almost centred on the elevation. The walling is of roughcast render with a white painted finish and brick detailing to the eaves, with a pitched slated roof over carrying black clay ridge tiles and a rendered chimney stack.

Setting

Glendun Lodge is situated within extensive parkland to the south-west of the Glendun Road, positioned to look up the Glen. Glenmona Lodge lies to the south-east and a caravan park to the north. The house is located to the north of the village of Cushendun and falls within the Cushendun Conservation Area.