Rockport Lodge, Gates And Railings, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

Rockport Lodge, Gates and Railings, Cushendun, County Antrim

Rockport Lodge is a large late-Georgian house built around 1813, making it one of the first summer residences — or "bathing lodges" — to be constructed in Cushendun. It stands in the townland of Castle Park, to the north-east of Cushendun village, situated directly on the edge of the bay in a salt-swept garden, just to the south-east of the ruins of Castle Carra. The house is accessed via a tarmac avenue from the west side off the Torr Road. The listing covers the house, its adjoining outbuildings, the gate screen, and the cast-iron railings.

Historical Background

The village of Cushendun, located along the River Dun, began to develop as a seaside destination from the early 19th century. With travel across mainland Europe cut off by the Napoleonic Wars, Ireland became a popular destination for British tourists, and the previously isolated Glens of Antrim became more accessible — first through growing visitor interest and later through the construction of the Coastal Road between 1832 and 1842. Villages such as Cushendall and Cushendun were transformed from minor settlements into popular seaside resorts, and a number of summer houses were built along the coast by city-based professionals and merchants, including the impressive residences of Glenmona Lodge and Glendun Lodge at Cushendun.

The date of construction of Rockport Lodge can be established with some accuracy to 1813: it does not appear on William Martin's detailed map of 1811–12, but it is mentioned in a contemporary account of the village written in 1814 by a Ms. Ann Plumptre. A memoir of Ronald McNeill (Lord Cushendun) recorded that "a great friend of my grandfather at Cushendun was the last Lord McNeill of the old creation. He had a mania for building and, having taken a great fancy to the neighbourhood, he built two houses there, one after the other, on my grandfather's property of which he took a lease, namely Rockport and Glenmona Lodge." The building was designed by an unknown architect and was built by General Edmund McNeill, a local landowner.

The house first appeared on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, depicted in its current general layout — a square-shaped dwelling with a long outbuilding range hugging the coastline. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835 described it as "the summer residence of Major-General McNeill MP [of Cushendun House] … a modern two-storey edifice and very commodious." The contemporary Townland Valuations set its value at £20 and 13 shillings, with £2 added for its "vicinity to sea, being a good situation for sea bathing."

By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1859, the property had increased in value to £38 and was leased from the McNeills by Nicholas Crommelin, a former army lieutenant who resided at Carrowdore Castle in County Down but used Rockport as his summer residence. Crommelin continued to occupy the site until his death in 1869, after which Rockport Lodge was briefly acquired by Joseph Richardson, who occupied it from 1870 to 1874 while his own residence of Springfield underwent renovation. Richardson was followed by Charles Higginson, a lieutenant in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who had formerly resided at Springmount in Ballymena. The Higginson family held the property until the 1930s. Following Higginson's death in 1896, Rockport Lodge passed to his sister Louisa Olivia Higginson. The Census of Ireland of 1911 described the house as a first-class dwelling of 19 rooms with extensive outbuildings including a stable, coach house, cow house, dairy, store, and laundry. Louisa Higginson continued to use the house as a summer residence until her death in 1935.

In 1936 the property passed to Sidney Parry, a rubber planter of London, and under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) its value was increased to £57. The Parry family vacated the site around 1943, when Rockport Lodge passed to Robert Walshe, a local cinema owner. In 1953 the property was occupied by John Archer, a former Town Clerk of Belfast, whose wife was described by the architectural historian C. E. B. Brett as "a highly-strung lady who held séances in the house and was much troubled by ghosts." The Archer family remained until around 1963, when the site came into the possession of Sir William Cecil McKee (1905–2003), a prominent unionist politician who had served as part of the British Expeditionary Force in the Second World War, served as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1957, and was knighted in 1959. Much of the land and property in Cushendun, including Rockport Lodge, was acquired by the National Trust in 1954; however, McKee purchased Rockport Lodge from the Trust outright in 1967. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the rateable value of the property remained at £57.

The house was listed in 1976 and in 1980 was included within the Cushendun Conservation Area, designated to protect and enhance the special qualities of the village. Around 2010 Rockport Lodge underwent extensive renovation, which included the installation of cast-iron rainwater goods throughout. At the time of survey, the building continued to be occupied as a private residence.

Exterior Description

Rockport Lodge is a two-storey, four-bay house finished in white-painted roughcast render, set on a rendered plinth painted in a contrasting colour. The roof is a hipped slate roof with a lead ridge, a deep overhanging eaves with timber-panelled soffits, and four tall white-painted rendered chimney stacks with stepped cornices and three buff clay pots each. The building has a rectangular plan form, with three two-storey canted bays projecting from the south-west side. The windows are wide, white-painted Georgian casement windows with glazing bars throughout.

The rainwater goods, installed during the circa 2010 renovation, comprise half-round cast-iron guttering supported on out-and-up iron brackets, discharging to circular-section downpipes.

The principal elevation faces north-west and is four bays wide, with a chamfered corner to the west side. The ground-floor bays align with those on the first floor above. The entrance doorway is recessed and not centred on the elevation; it contains a painted timber door with decorative glazed top panes, sidelights to either side, and a transom light over with decorative glazing bars. Wall-mounted lantern-style light fittings are fixed to either side of the entrance.

The north-east elevation has a single-storey extension at ground-floor level with a slated hipped roof. This extension contains a mixture of square-headed and semicircular-arched openings leading to an enclosed rear yard and amenity area. At first-floor level, the elevation is three bays wide: the left bay has a square-headed opening, the central bay has a semicircular-arched window opening, and the right bay is blind. A small rectangular rooflight is set into the north-east slope of the main roof. The main elevation is abutted on the left side by a white-painted linear outbuilding that extends back to the north-east side of the main house.

The south-east elevation directly overlooks the bay and is set back behind a low stone wall with high iron railings above; there is a single entrance gate to the right side. This elevation is three bays wide with a slightly irregular fenestration pattern. The ground-floor bays generally align with those at first-floor level, though there is a larger 3-over-3 timber sliding sash window to the right side at ground-floor level. The main elevation is abutted on the right side by a white-painted linear outbuilding extending to the north-east.

The south-west elevation is the most architecturally remarkable face of the house. It is formed of three two-storey canted bays set under the deep overhanging eaves, so that the triangular recesses between the bays create a fascinating zigzag pattern. This impression is further enhanced by the arrangement of the windows: five openings on the ground floor, three on the first floor, and two circular oculi above — one either side of the central bay.

The railings to the south-east boundary are original anthemion cast-iron railings, which contribute significantly to the character of the setting.

Outbuildings

A two-storey white-painted outbuilding extends to the north-east side of the main house, running parallel with the coastline. Its walls are roughcast rendered, and it has a hipped slate roof with two large modern rooflights to the south-east slope and three white-painted rendered chimney stacks centred on the ridge, with stepped painted cornices and buff clay pots. The south-east side of the outbuilding contains a series of rectangular door and window openings with timber windows with glazing bars, directly overlooking the bay. The south-west side contains a pair of timber doors with large glazed panels opening onto the south-east side of the main house. The north-west elevation contains a series of square-headed window openings and a single wall dormer overlooking the enclosed rear yard. The north-east elevation is blank.

Interior

The house retains its original plan form. Interior detailing has been partially altered, though the building retains considerable internal character alongside its adjoining outbuilding.

Setting

Rockport Lodge sits squarely on the very edge of the bay in a salt-swept garden, enclosed to the south-east by a low stone wall with original anthemion cast-iron railings and a single entrance gate. The ruins of Castle Carra lie just to the south-east. The building makes a positive contribution to the heritage of the Cushendun area and sits within the Cushendun Conservation Area.